Sunday, April 25, 2021

Let the fishing season begin... Finally!

Let the fishing season begin...

I've been impatiently waiting for opening day of Trout season. Trout streams are open on January 1st, trout ponds however open on the 4th Saturday in April.

I get opening day fever, a throwback to growing up in MA. where streams and ponds opened officially on "Opening Day" (Not sure if this is still the case) it created quite the party atmosphere and many crossed fishing lines on the rivers, and ponds I fished. It was always so crowded, at some spots you were elbow to elbow with others on both sides of the river or pond banks, whether it was the Nissitissit River, or Sucker Brook in Pepperell, MA.

It's Opening day for Trout ponds in NH this coming Saturday the 24th the fourth Saturday in April. Jarrod and I will take the boys, get the boat out, trailer wiring ready, and hit Mt. William pond. Lots to do between now and then.

Saturday on Mt. William pond. What a great day fishing, it was 36 degrees when I got up, warmed up quickly to the 60s, windy though, almost lost my hat a few times.

It was odd James and Jarrod both saw a sign at the pond that said opening day was Friday the 23rd, when everything I read on NH Fish & Game website said the 4th Saturday in April. Oh well.

We started at the back and went along the whole back side, not a bite, we finally settled in a cove, out of the wind. We got blown off anchor 6+ times in 25' water getting there. Once the trout started hitting they hit hard for about an hour then nothing.

First fish was caught by Jarrod, big surprise! A beauty of a Brook Trout (Brookie). I owe him $10 for the first fish! And the biggest fish! We caught 6+ fish total had another 5+ on and lost 'em, it's a delicate balance learning to not have slack in the line, reeling vs setting the hook by pulling up on the rod without ripping the hook out of the fishes mouth a great day learning and relearning for all. We kept 3 fish total and used them for teaching fish cleaning to the boys, we each did one fish. they're in the freezer we'll fry them up later.

Second Brookie was caught by James

TV "Star Struck"... Had a hey "I know you..." moment. I got to see North Woods Law" Sargent Kevin Bronson, I recognized him immediately when we got to up at Mt. William Pond on Saturday while launching the boat.

Pretty cool seeing Kevin, there were too many folks milling around and we had to get on the water so I didn't get a chance to talk to him. He was just doing Fish & Game stuff, and talking to all the fisherman, good to see them at the ponds and lakes locally, everyone I saw had valid boat stickers.

We didn't see any of the environmental boat police, looking for Millfoil, Zebra clams etc.on boats, they tend to hold you up for 10 minutes or so looking for info on where you had your boat last, looking for Millfoil attached to trailers, motors, etc.

I got to rewire my trailer the lights aren't working, spent 15 minutes mucking with it and gave up.

~That's my fishing story and I'm sticking to it...

Thursday morning 4/22 around 1AM, I woke up to hear a loud rushing sound, opened my eyes wondering what could be making that loud a noise, not a car or truck, I realized it was a cold front coming in, it was the wind, it came roaring down from the Weare hills to our house, Hannah barked at the noise one time then went back to sleep as did I.

Tuesday afternoon Rose & I took ZEB to the vet for his Lyme shot. There's still another shot but the vet has to order it. Leptospirosis... For Fox/Raccoon, etc. that carry a particularly bad disease. Dogs can get leptospirosis from puddles or bodies of water that carry urine from infected wildlife. The bacteria infiltrate a dog’s body by burrowing into their skin. We have a lot of Foxes, Raccoons, around here.

Hah, I told you I put grass seed down, well now its all washed away, Wednesday we got a deluge of rain, it was coming down in sheets, so now I have puddles of grass seed piled up around the yard.