Video Wednesday - Tautog Gone Wild

Mike Laptew posted this video of Tautog (commonly called tog) schooling on a deep water reef off the coast of Rhode Island.  Also some cruising striped bass in the video as well.



Everyone posts up video of tarpon and sailfish and these exotic species, I thought it would be cool to see a view of a more common fish and something that the average angler has a chance to go fish for.  Thanks Mike for a great video.

Hopefully I can find a cool video each week to post on what I hope will be an on-going feature of Video Wednesday.

Skates don't count...I was skunked

Left early Saturday morning

to head south and try to see if we couldn't coax some flounder to pierce themselves on our hooked offerings. 

Launched the boat without any difficulties and it wasn't long until Chi-Chi Bobriguez had the first flounder in the boat.

 Try as we might, we couldn't stretch this one to 18", it came up short at about 17 3/4".  Another few drifts through that hole and Chi-Chi's phone rings as he hooks up with another fish.  He takes the call, I reel up the fish.  The first keeper of the season is in the boat as this flounder was easily 18 1/2"!  That fish was caught in front of an audience

We tried multiple spots the rest of the morning, but weren't able to hook up with any more game fish.

I did manage to land a skate, which felt like a nice flounder at first, but skates don't count.  No fish for me on this trip.  An uneventful trip back north, washed the boat, trailer and our gear and back home to head out to watch the Belmont Stakes and visit the Greek Festival.  A great day all around!

LL Bean Men's Vacationland Sneakers

Today I got to try out my new boat shoes that I bought for myself for fishing and crabbing.  I bought the LL Bean Men's Vacationland sneakers because I wanted something that I could get wet, but I didn't necessarily want to wear sandals (I'm not a big sandal guy). 

From the LL Bean website, the shoe features

• Cushioning midsole has side drainage ports that let cool air in and water out
• Quick-drying upper is pieced with cool mesh for extra breathability
• Flexible nonmarking rubber outsole is deeply grooved for traction on wet surfaces 

      As casual and carefree as a vacation should be, these lightweight, breezy shoes are just right for relaxing days spent boating, beachcoming, sightseeing and playing backyard sports. Quick-drying synthetic-leather upper is pieced with soft, breathable mesh, so your feet stay cool on hot summer days. Cushioning midsole is perforated with side drainage ports that let air in and water out, yet keep feet dry on wet pavement. Mesh-covered sock liner speeds up drying time. Flexible nonmarking rubber outsole is deeply grooved for traction on wet surfaces. Imported. Fit best with lightweight socks.

After spending almost 12 hours in these shoes, my initial reaction is I am thankful that I bought them.  They gave me great grip on the deck of the boat and insured I wasn't slipping and sliding around.  They were super comfortable and have a fit that makes sure your foot isn't slipping around inside whether wet or dry.  When I did get them wet (full submersion loading the boat on the trailer), they didn't get that weird wet sneaker feeling and they didn't feel like they weighed 50 pounds.  It was hot and sunny outside and my feet didn't sweat inside the shoe.  LL Bean recommends a lightweight sock inside, but I went with no socks and found them perfect.  The fit was true and the shoe comes in medium width or wide width.

If you are looking for a shoe to wear around the water or in the water, you definitely can't go wrong with the LL Bean Men's Vacationland Sneaker!

Winning Some Swag

Thanks to the blog Tight Lined Tales of a Fly Fisherman, I am a winner.  Ok, not a winner since I didn't win the first prize but I still won something.  Yeah, yeah this is like T-ball where everyone is a winner and gets a trophy.  No, we didn't go get ice cream after the game.  I digress, we were asked to share our most KAVU day and I posted about the striper charter I was on last November.  Somehow, I was selected as the third prize winner and will be receiving a KAVU hat, shirt and stickers.  A big Thank You! to TLTFF and to KAVU for sponsoring the contest.  Once I receive my swag, I will put up a review of the gear.

Hitting the Sand

Saturday we headed south to hit the sand and try to see if any stripey ones were heading north within casting range.  After a quick stop at my wife's grandparents' house, we were on the beach and getting ready for some fishing.  I had stopped at a bait shop on the way down and picked up some bunker to toss into the surf, but had neglected to check my rigs and make sure I had what I needed, this would prove to be a costly mistake.

After airing down the tires on the truck we headed onto the beach and found a nice open spot where we wouldn't be crowding anyone.  My daughter made a beeline for the ocean and even though the water was around 60 degrees, she played the whole time we were there.  I got the spikes set up and started to rig up the rods.  I brought one rod to chunk bait and my new plugging rod to give that a break-in and see how it performed.  I looked in my bucket of rigs and found that I had nothing really to use to target stripers.  Oh well, make due with what you got.  I got the bait out and soaking and rigged up my Tsunami Airwave to give it a test.  This rod casts like a dream.  I paired it up with a Penn Battle reel, Suffix 832 30lb braid, topped with a 30lb mono leader.  I tossed out tins, bombers, poppers, everything I had with me and this thing handled them all.  I am anxious to get a fish on it to see how it does under stress, but that will take time.  I need to put my time in and pay my dues before I will be rewarded.

When I got home, I hit the internet to learn about how to properly rig for stripers off the beach and learned about the fish finder rig.  I ordered the right material I needed and will give them a go the next time I hit the surf.

 Photo courtesy of Stripers Online

I did manage to land a horseshoe crab on the bait rod.  Nothing like reeling in a nice wide bodied horseshoe crab.

Gone Fishin' Striper Charter

The alarm on my cell phone went off at the ungodly time of 2:30AM.  Normally I would throw that thing against the wall and roll over, but today was different.  I was heading to Rock Hall, MD for a striper charter.  We were going on board the vessel Gone Fishin' for a seven hour trip: leave the dock at 5AM and return at noon.  Capt. Mark who runs Gone Fishin' had another work obligation so he sent Capt. Jamie to run the boat for us instead.  Assisting Capt. Jamie was the First Mate for the day Capt. Noah.  First impression of the boat, damn, what a nice boat.  The thing was spotless and in super condition.  This was one of the cleanest boats I have ever seen.

We headed out of the marina and into the bay and Capt. Jamie and Capt. Noah got to work setting up the planer boards and started to put the rods out into the spread.  They didn't even have all the rods out when we had out first hit and the line popped out of the clip.  First angler up to battle the fish was Andrew who had organized the trip for us.  The spread wasn't even all the way out and we had our first keeper in the box.  This was shaping up to be an epic day.

After landing that fish, the rest of the rods were put out and we were on our way trolling through the bay.  Not long after, another line popped and the battle was on.  After getting the reel straightened out and a battle of about 300 yards of line, another keeper was in the box.  Epic day still going.

I was next up and waiting patiently for the line to pop.  It did and the fight was on.  Although this wasn't much of a fight and didn't feel like other stripers I had caught before.  And for good reason.  Here is my catch of the day.

How exactly I caught a bunker when we were using bunker patterned swim shads about the size of this guy, I will never know.  And he was hooked in the mouth, not snagged.

The morning continued much like the beginning with the rods going off pretty quickly one after the other.  By 830 we had 6 slot fish in the cooler and things were looking good.  Until the tide changed.  The wind and the tide were going against each other and gave a pretty good chop to the water.  This put the fish and the bait down deep and we were unable to reach them.  This condition continued for the remainder of the trip.

The Gone Fishin' crew worked hard though and added extra lines out to try to target the deeper fish.  It just wasn't meant to be.  When we arrived at the dock, Capt. Noah cleaned our catch for us.  Most of the fish were fileted, and very cleanly done.

This was a great trip with a super crew on an unbelievable boat.  I will definitely be hitting these guys up again in the future and would recommend anyone looking for a charter trip to give these guys a chance.  They know what they are doing.

Delaware vs. Yellowstone: A Tale of the Tape

http://www.hotelcasperwyoming.com/yellowstone_national_park.html

Why do I want to experience Yellowstone National Park and all it has to offer?  Let's compare Delaware to Yellowstone...

Area of land: Delaware covers 2,491 square miles; Yellowstone 3,468 square miles (YNP is 1.4 times the size of the entire state of Delaware

Highest Point

Delaware, Ebright Azimuth 448 feet

http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2893

Yellowstone, Eagle Peak 11,358 feet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eagle_Peak_Yellowstone_National_Park.jpg

Geothermal Features

Delaware

Yellowstone over 10,000

http://exogenerian.tumblr.com/post/12824713955/onceuponawildflower-yellowstone-thermal-pool

Geysers

Delaware

Yellowstone over 300

http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/geyser/Interesting

Animals

Delaware

http://www.urbanitebaltimore.com/StaffReport/archives/2011/12/26/chicken-poop-power

Yellowstone

http://www.yellowstoneparknet.com/wildlife/moose.php

http://www.imagesbyslwalker.com/portfolio.html

http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/slidefile/mammals/mountaingoat/Page.htm

http://www.examiner.com/article/yellowstone-s-grizzly-bears-and-other-wildlife-at-risk-from-climate-change

http://www.yellowstoneparknet.com/wildlife/mountain_lions.php

Scenic Vistas

Delaware 

http://www.worleyparsons.com/Projects/Pages/DelawareCityRefineryRepoweringProject.aspx

Yellowstone

http://www.yellowstoneparknet.com/blogs/?pubcontentid=4819&reporttype=full

Trout

Delaware

http://www.ag.auburn.edu/fish/image_gallery/details.php?image_id=719

Yellowstone

http://www.nps.gov/yell/naturescience/wsc.htm

In summary, why is it important to keep Yellowstone's fish and wildlife populations intact and healthy?  Because people have a tendency to screw up everything we touch, it's in our nature.  Yellowstone is one of the last nearly untouched and intact ecosystems left on the Earth.  It's a  wonderland with over half of the world's geothermal features located within its boundaries.  The three hundred geysers found in the park?  Yeah, they account for over 2/3 of all the geysers on Earth!  Where else are you going to go to see grizzly bears, elk, moose, mountain goats, pronghorns, mountain lions, big horn sheep, and on and on?  Where can you go and fish for the native arctic grayling, westslope cutthroat trout, Yellowstone cutthroat trout, and the non-native brook trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, lake trout?  Certainly not in Delaware.

Humans try to make things better.  We can't help it.  Nature has it figured out pretty well though.  

I've dreamed of visiting this hallowed ground and fishing in one of the last, nearly intact, natural ecosystems on the Earth.  I want to experience animals living as closely as they can to being unaltered by humans and their impacts.  I would love to see and hear elk off bugling in the distance, grizzly bears foraging for food (from a safe distance), bison traveling across the grasslands in a huge herd.  I look forward to hearing coyotes howl at the moon after a long day hiking through the park and fishing streams we cross.  Most importantly, I really, really want to fish in the park.  I want to catch cut throats, I want to catch rainbows, I want to catch browns.  I want to stand in the middle of a giant blanket hatch on the Madison river while trout rise all around me and I search frantically in my fly box for the one fly I haven't tried yet since all the others have been refused.  I want to splash big foam hoppers close to the bank as non-discriminating cutties rise with reckless abandon to completely hoover my offering.  I want to embark on a hike at daylight to reach some distant lake that few anglers see each year.  I want to take in all the beauty that is Yellowstone National Park.  And I want to photograph and maintain notes so that when I return I can share it all with you.

Disclaimer:  “This is my submission for the Trout Unlimited, Simms, the Yellowstone Park Foundation and the Outdoor Blogger Network – Blogger Tour 2012 contest.”