Dads Biggest Trout Ever! 10/21

I just got back from a weekend up in new hampshire for my girlfriends birthday, stayed on winnipasuakee river at her grandparents house and hardly got to do any fishing, but I caught one largemouth and most the spots i tried to fish up there were closed from Oct 1st - March 31st. Which to me is a crock of you know what... So on my way home i get a call from my dad as happy as can be and he tells me, " i just got back from 5 minutes of trout fishing at wharton brook, i got 1 nice brown first cast and second cast i got about a 7 lb rainbow. " I couldnt believe it, my dad has fished for trout his whole life and always trys to get me to go but i always say im not going trout fishing for dollar bill sized stocked fish. Well today i put my foot in my mouth. He brought it home for pictures and on the ride it dropped a ton of eegs in the bed of the truck. He weighed the fish and it came in at 6 lbs 8 oz and around 23 inches. Which beat his old best of 5.5 lbs. He caught it on the old meal worm marshmellow combo on 4 lb test. He didnt have a net so he walked right into the water shoes on and all to land this fish with a whole group of fisherman around him cheering him on and cursing him up and down lol Congrats dad! but hey...im still not going trout fishing =) Here's some pics, My dad is 6 foot 7 & 280 lbs lol so he makes it look small and the other one is my mom holding it, the brown is 14 inches which really shows the size of the rainbow.

Testing the Motor w/ a Pike Bonus!

 RiverJosh and I only had a few hours to fish after work tonight so we went local. 10 minute drive to Lake Beseck. Tossed in the boat for trip #2 and fired up the motor for the first time..(first pull) And took it for a nice little joy ride. The boat flat out flys and once up to speed planes nicely. 

We have now been to Beseck a few times in search for the " Pike " that may or may not be there. So far it has been a failure. But ive see photos of people getting pike and have heard from a few fisherman that there is a pike population there. So we continue to give it a shot. Last time we got 1 pickerel 0 bass and missed one solid hit, Tonight josh got a nice pickerel on a pink sluggo and a yellow perch on a white grub. A few minutes later i got a 2 lb largie on a white spinner bait by the dam.

Then right before we were going to leave we checked one last area that had a pike vide to it and i got smacked on my spinner bait, the fish left a wake flying to the right and we both knew this was gonna be one our first beseck pike and second and most importantly the first pike in my new boat! It was 26.5 inches. Not very big but i wouldnt have cared if it was a 14 incher. lol Now with this pike it puts me and josh combined to 98 Pike on the year. All on lures and all released. 

Maiden Voyage - Haulin Bass CT

Last Thursday i finally pulled the trigger on Jacks boat. It was just what i was looking for and id been looking at that add now for three months. After spending 3 hours at the DMV with Jack the transaction was complete. I took it home slapped it in the garage waxed it clean and vacuumed out the whole thing. He did an amazing job on the vinyl in this boat.

I put my trolling motor on it and my little 4 HP Merc and took it too bantam for its first outing. The boats space and comfort is unreal compared to what ive been fishing in and it very stable. .... Ok now to the fishing. It sucked. lol Our first 4 fish in the boat were Pickerel. Then i caught a 4 inch yellow perch and a small largemouth while trolling for pike with huge spinner baits. Not one sniff from a pike all day.  Happy to catch a bass in my boat!

On our way home i went straight to a outboard in Cromwell. It was a 1985 Johnson 20 HP long shaft for 600 dollars in great condition and after talking to the owner he knew his stuff and took great care of it. Fired it up and handed over the cash put the motor on the transom and brought it home. Then had to go to walmart buy the whole fuel line and tank set up which is crazy expensive. Bought brackets to hold the tank and the battery in place during transit. Looking forward to getting out there and trying this motor!

Thanks again Jack!

My New PB Largemouth. CT River! by: Josh Rayner

Joe and I started our day at a "pike lake" in Central CT. With the weed kill chemicals leaving a milky green haze in the water, (similar to that of Bantam Lake but worse) we decided to go back to The River. We had been there a couple weeks ago in search of pike, only to find water temps still in the 70's and no pattern had formed. 

Today was similar. Water temps are now down in the 63-65 range. It was slow. We saw more of a presence of pike in our spots today, but they are still in between, as opposed to other fisheries we've been putting some time in to. 

The bass suprised me in a way today, hitting large, gaudy spinnerbaits decked out for enticing pike, run on steel leaders.

On the other hand:

Joe and I heard what sounded like a fish jumping behind us, we both turned to find this at the surface. An 11" bass trying to choke down a 9" perch. Unreal. The barb on the perch's gill plate was stuck in the bass' lip. We successfully seperated them and both fish swam off. 

Working weedlines, working weedlines, a bass here, a perch there, not much happening... BANG! Joe hooks up. It's a pike and a good one at that. It races at the boat, and Joe kept right up with his new burner reel. Never lost tension. Now the fish is boatside with a ton of gusto! The hook pops without warning. We all know that feeling. You did everything right and the unexplainable happens. I even felt that one in the pit of my stomach. Our guess was over 40" and what would have been Joe's personal best.

3 casts later, I hook up on a fish eating from the same school of bait. Feels like a good fish. Pulling line on my Curado. It surfaces, its a bass!? I'm not going to lie, the second I saw this fish I horsed it to the boat and told Joe "lets not mess around here, get the net!" Great assist Joe, thank you.

I'm proud to say this CT. River bass went 6 lbs. 14 oz. and is my personal best.

Wading for Pike = Awesome

Went wading for pike yesterday during conditions i thought would be prime for pike with a cold front, rain and wind.. Well 3 hours of no action literally not one hit proved me very wrong. I was frustrated to say the least but today i decided id give it another go. Bantam after rain has been good to me in the past and today i did it in waders yet again. My very first pike rod and reel was just last year and was in waders bass fishing in the CT River. Its an amazing thrill to have a fish with the size, power and teeth in the water with you as you fight them. Ive been dying to have it happen again. Well today it did. My second cast of the day i got slammed by a fish that pulled line for about 5 seconds and was gone. Didnt snap me.. hook just popped loose. Was an exciting start.

 About 20 minutes later i was throwing a Dynamic XXL jerk bait fire craw pattern and it got smashed. I knew it was a solid fish and slowing started backing up from waist deep water  to knee depth. As i got the fish close it made multiple jumps and even at one point went right between my legs which was freaky. lol But i skipped rope and landed my biggest fish in waders ever. 36 inch pike probably around 12 pounds. Very fat and healthy after a measurement and a few quick photos i sent her back. At this point i didn't care if i caught another fish.

 Then i tied on a spinner bait and got a 29 inch pike on my 3rd or 4th cast. I kept on fishing for another hour and right before i left i threw out my dynamo fire tiger 7 inch swim bait and a massive pike hit it at my feet sending the lure 3 feet into the air but no luck on hooking up and she never hit again.  Left feeling pretty good about the day and it made the taste of the day before a little more tolerable.  Very difficult to get photos while being alone and in the water but here's just a few.

36 "

29 "

Bantam 9/08 and 9/11 Custom Spinnerbaits by Josh Rayner

In the weeks following Joe and Larry's epic day at Bantam Lake, Joe and I have re-visited the "hot spot" a handful of times in an effort to duplicate the experience with little success. Granted the pike are just starting to actively feed after a long summer, we've been anxious to get on some big fish even if it turns out to be a slow day.




Saturday we hit the water around 11. It was a short-lived outing, but before the monsoon we would soon endure, we each boated 2 pike and I got a bonus smallmouth on the way up to the north side of the lake which was way too windy to fish effectively. All 4 pike were taken by way of the 9/16oz. Booyah Top Secret spinnerbait in 4 feet or less in South Bay. I was throwing a sort of firetiger rendition with a chartreuse blade which seemed to be great with clear skies above. Joe was throwing his modified one with a hot pink blade and some red added to the skirt (details/photos below), which seemed to work well when the weather moved in. Both of the smaller pike we caught short struck and within a second hit again. The rogue smallie liked a white super fluke, who must have been suspending off of the sudden drop off Joe had noticed on the Humminbird. It was incredibly windy on the north end, and the rain chased us off not to mention soaked us to the bone.





The water was still very stained from the weed kill, but improved upon since our last visit. This however forced us to make some changes to our gear. As far as we could tell, gold and silver willow leaf blades and natural colored spinnerbait skirts were simply not cutting the mustard. We had to adapt. We took matters into our own hands and made quite possibly the ugliest spinnerbaits imaginable. Prior to these outings, I had purchased a War Eagle spinnerbait with white willow leaf blades. The glow that those blades put off is nothing short of shocking. It almost gives off a glow around the entire bait. We figured the brighter and more obnoxious the color of the blade, the more "glow" it will give off, especially in murky water on overcast days. So we purchased some hot pink and chartreuse spraypaint along with some gaudy replacement skirts and we had at it. We also threw a few trollers and jerkbaits into the mix. Using a Sharpie we added some subtle detail to our blades, and Dip-n-Glo markers to add some extra ugly to the skirts. I personally like a treble trailer hook on my pike spinnerbaits. Joe prefers a single. A spinnerbait is a very modifiable lure and the possibilities are endless.












a few of my bright ideas haha



Joe's spinnerbaits are already missing paint from teeth



Back to the lake again today, this time in our waders along the banks of South Bay, rigged up with more terrible looking spinnerbaits. I started off with this clown colored thing, then after about 3 casts I quickly realized that the water clarity had improved even more since Saturday. So I decided to throw a different spinner, with only half of the big willow painted chartreuse with polka dots, a white/chartreuse skirt and a chartreuse fluke trailer. I believe Joe was throwing white/chartreuse as well. In any event, we each missed a few strikes, Joe lost a nice one at his feet by the Morris launch, and I ended up landing one around 30".







Our success has been minimal but consistent, and any action from pike is exhilarating even if its just the flash of a short strike or a glimpse of a giant follower. As we learn more of the lake, it can only give us more options for times when there aren't 20 trophy sized pike stacked on one shallow flat. I'm still kicking myself for wanting to sleep in that day. - Josh