Hammonasset Fishing/Camping with the Family.

Day 1. Went down to Hammonasset to do some fishing/camping with my parents. Got there at 5 pm on wednesday and went over to the hammonasset river with my brother to see if i could find some bait and caught a few hickory shad on small white grubs. First shad ive caught in 8 years. Caught a few schoolies too. Saw some bunker but didn't have any luck snagging any. Went back to the site with intentions of fishing the next morning. Well after a bike ride down to the beach around 8 pm i came back and told my dad the sound is flat as a pancake and zero wind. Next thing ya know were going night fishing! We set up 2 rods off the beach and i tossed out a shad head and we had one quick hit and drop on my dads rod then at 11 pm my rod goes. Clicked the bait runner and fish on. Two times i thought i lost the fish but it was just swimming in at me. After a few minutes and some awesome runs i had my second heaviest fish ever on the sand. My Mom and Dad said hey i know you release everything but this one is dinner. I couldn't argue. Had no more hits fishing until 1:30am. Once back at the site i measured and weighed the fish. It was 38.25 inches and just over 20 lbs.





Day 2. We had a late start cause we slept in but managed a few more shad in the river and went to the beach for about noon. We didn't have a single blue fish hit for 5 hours.. but the sea robin show was unlike anything i had ever seen. To the point that i went to my car and grabbed my bass rods and went on to catch 36 robins on spinner baits, paddle tails, grubs and ribsters on a jig head. It was a lot of fun with everyone i caught having 3 or 4 friends following it. Talking with some other people fishing no one has seen any blues yet but it should be any day. I did catch one 8 inch snapper while going for the sea robins. We called it a day and went to the site to eat the striper. Had it on the grill and it was amazing. Might have to keep one every once in a while. Good few days spent with family.

Bday Pike Trip w/ Josh Rayner

 Its my 29th birthday tomorrow and my gift to myself was a fishing trip for pike on the river.. so pretty much a standard Saturday. Had my fishing buddy back on the boat for the first time in months and hoped to have some of the luck I've had recently. We did and then some! Pike gods were smiling on us today. Launched at 7:30am water temp was 73 degrees water clarity was stained. With in 10 minutes Josh had us started with a really fat 36 inch fish. Got it on a black and blue swim jig with a paddle tail trailer. Was his second biggest pike from the river ever and a great start to the day. 

36 "

We hit a small cove and found 3 small pike. 12", 27", 28" Also got 5 largemouth on tiny buzz baits. Worked our way out to some big weed lines on the main river and Josh threw out a big chartreuse Houdini Shad and had a monster swing and miss then right under the surface we watched the fish find the bait chase it and hammer it. Was one of the coolest moments i have ever seen while fishing. The fish went 38.5 inches and was a beast. Kind of fish that makes ya knees shake! Seems these fish are putting on the feed bag and are starting to fill out. This pike is Josh's new PB from the river, with only his 44 inch from bantam beating this one. 

38.5

 About a half hour later i start a long battle with a large pike.. seemed like my lures didn't have any hooks. Fish short struck my spinner bait twice so i threw my jerk bait and it swung and missed then hit as i was lifting it out of the water.. missed it again! So i took my third rod and tossed out my black chatter bait and bam fish on! Got this to the boat the third trophy sized pike of the day at 36.25 inch. Was unreal the quality of these fish and how fired up they were. Not long after we were at the other end of the weed bed i hook up again and my rod made that sound.. that great sound of a big pike pulling line of your bait caster. Josh and I were in shock as we got this one to the boat. Fish went 37 inches and had a massive head on it. We called it a day not long after with 7 pike. Was the best dam birthday trip i could have asked for. 4 pike over 36 inches all on different lures was simply an amazing day. Thanks Josh for being with me on this great day.

36.25

37

37 release

Finally got my brother on a good fish!

It had been a while since i got my twin brother Keith out on my boat.. mostly because every time he comes fishing with me we have awful luck and get skunked. I decided to take him to the CTR for pike because he had only caught one pike in his life and it was 19 incher years ago. I knew if i could get him on a solid fish he would start to understand why i fish so much and why i love pike and fishing in general. Water temp 72 degrees, clarity murky and the tide was super low. Lowest ive seen it in a long time. Hit 2 spots that produced good fish last week with zero hits and Keith starts getting the here we go again vibe. 

  
  Moved to a little cut in the river to get out of the ripping current and i picked up 2 pike, 25.75 and a 22 inch. Small but was some action. Keith had a few blowups on a buzz bait and we got to see a huge bowfin swim by us within about 10 feet. Ignored us completely but was my first time ever seeing one. Then we headed north to a huge weed bed on the main river and i get smashed on my spinner bait. Next cast i see this large fish follow me all the way to the boat. Then nothing. I tell Keith take a cast back there and let your spinner bait sink for 4 seconds and reel it back slow. Next words out of his mouth were " FISH ON " knew immediately it was that fish. After a great battle on the spinning gear and some great runs we had this beast of a fish in the boat. I told him how to hold it and he went for it no hesitation. The fish went 37 inches on the dot and was Keith's biggest fresh water fish of his life and also the first trophy sized fish of any species in his life. I couldn't have been happier for him and after all the bad trips we have had that fish made up for it and then some. Congrats Brother!