Just daydreaming a little bit

Work and the weather still have me kind of down and not interested in doing much lately but there is one thing I  have been doing regularly and that is daydreaming.   Daydreaming about what, well the upcoming hunting season obviously, haven't you?

I was thinking about writing a post about my goals this season, but decided on just a post about things I am looking forward to and have been daydreaming about lately.

A pair of geese from last year

Early Goose Season - Seeing I'm still green when it comes to duck and goose hunting I'm dying to get out there and try the things I've learned from last season as well as implement the things I've been researching during the off season and this early season sure helps with getting it going.  Ofcourse the recent increase in sightings and sounds of geese on the lake near my house have helped with my daydreams.   I've been daydreaming about a 15 bird limit lying at my feet for weeks but honestly I'll be happy with two or three.


Main Moose Hunt - No I didn't win the Maine moose lottery but a friend of mine did. My buddy Jim has a camp in Maine and entered the lottery for the first time ever this year and wouldn't you know it, he was picked for a cow permit.  Unfortunately the permit wasn't for the same zone that his camp and land is in so he put it out for trade and was lucky enough to make a trade.  So the last week in September will find a team of us at Jim's camp praying for good moose hunting weather and some luck.  I've had visions of a large cow moose walking right into Jim's shooting lane, which in my dreams is right near the logging road.

NJ Bear Spring 2009

NJ Black Bear hunt - Yes it's true.  New Jersey finally got it together and put an end to the Anti's games and have a complete bear management plan in place and approved that includes a black bear hunt.  New Jersey has been fighting the Anti's since their first Bear hunt back in 2003 and their last in 2005 and it looks like science has won over emotion once again.  I never did participate in the previous bear hunts but I will be participating this year.  I figured seeing I see more bears than deer down there and I have the best bear magnet around - my buddy Billy - that we should give this a try.  Ofcourse I won't layout the scenario that I've been day dreaming about here because if I did Billy probably would back out on me.  Billy, remember that spring turkey trip were you almost got run over by those black bears well let's just say that in my dreams this trip one is going to top that trip.   BTW, bring your sneakers.  :)

These have been the ones that I have been daydreaming about the most but the typical dreams of a big buck and green heads just pouring into the waterholes show up once in a while to break up the cycle.

So what have you been daydreaming about?

Off The Grid - Trailer

This a must see for any fly fisherman or trout junkie for sure.   If this doesn't make you sit up and take notice and you don't get a sudden urge to jump out of your seat and grab your gear then you need to see a doctor because I think your heart stopped.

Currently touring on the Fly Fishing Film Tour, "Off the Grid". Here is the description from the producers Beattie Outdoor Productions:

"When we set out in the spring of 2009 to film our new movie, Off the Grid, we decided to look for people, places, hatches and fish outside the norm. We started out west, chasing hatches and trout in Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho and Montana. From there we traveled north to Southeast Alaska and BC. We made a brief stop in the midwest, then completed our filming on the remote flats in Mexico. On behalf of our entire crew, we are proud to present a unique cut created for the 2010 fly fishing film tour, a sneak peak at the new film... Off the Grid. We hope you enjoy the show!"

Smallmouth fishing on the Delaware River

Well it seems the like the summer heatwave we are having here in Connecticut has surely put a damper on my outdoor activities this past month so I finally have something outdoors related to write about.  My daughter spent the past week visiting family in New Jersy and Pennsylvania and I had to pick her up from my dad's house and decided to take a a couple of extra days to visit with m y dad and step mom and partake in some smallmouth bass fishing on the Delaware river.  I love river smallies because it doesn't matter how small they are they all have attitudes and fight like a bluefish.

When I was growing up , many of my summer visits to to see my dad would usually include a fishing trip on the Delaware River in the Delaware Water Gap which always meant a new adventure.  My dad doesn't believe in going to a bait and tackle shop to buy some bait when you can get all the free bait you need right from mother nature.  If we weren't turning over leaves on the side hills looking for worms, we were turning over rocks in the river looking for some smallmouth candy, Mr. Helgramite.   ofcourse when you are little and you get a chance to play around in the water on a hot summer day you take it, but see we weren't supposed to be playing but picking bait.  The rule was simple, no fishing was allowed until we had enough bait for everyone and as we did with many of my dad's rules we would ignore them and splash around in the water or start fishing.  At some point my dad would have filled the bait pail with enough helgramites, crayfish and stone cats foreveryone.

The nice thing about this trip is that Dad is retired and can pick bait every day if he wants so I didn't have to pick any bait, just use the bait he had already picked for us.  My brother Steve joined us for the Friday trip which started off with a stop at a local general store along the river for some Taylor Ham, Egg and Chess sandwhiches.  Can't get taylor ham in CT so this is always a treat.  We launched out of the Smithfield ramp on the PA side and motored up river up to the top of the Poxono Island were we started our drifts.  Our setups were some  6 foot Shakespeare ugly stiks, which are my dad's favorite, a size 2 circle hook and some small split shots. Yes it's true, i actually used spinning gear instead of my fly rod, yup I was old schooling it for sure. Basically we just drift our offerings along the bottom as we drift down river.  ofcourse depending on the bite we might throw a little hardware as well. 

The river was low and clear with water temps in the high 70s and we had storms on the horizon but the cloud cover was nice to have.  Fishing was slow for sure but I picked up 6 fish with the best being about 13 inches.  I won't tell you how my dad and brother did because i don't want to sound like I'm gloating or anything like that.  We did get a good dumping of rain about 10:30am and I still made them do another drift or two during the deluge of rain before we headed back to the launch.  On the ride back to the house the rain had stopped and the animals were out.  We had seen over a dozen deer and two real nice bucks, along with some turkeys.  I took a picture of one of the bucks and as you can see he is a beauty for sure.

We decided to hit the river again on Saturday even though they were forecasting sunny and super hot with temps hitting 90s.  The game plan was the same except this time my daughter would join my dad and i and we would meet up with some friends as well.  Ray and Raymond were already on their first drift as we were launching but we caught up with them and started at the same spot along the Poxono island.  Fishing was even slower today and it took about 3 or 4 dirfts before I got hooked up.   My daughter finally got a nice smallie and then another and I knew that I was in for a fight.  Well neither of us did super great but she bested me with catching more fish and the biggest of the day.  I keep forgetting why I ate to take her fishing....It's because it usually ends up with her catching more fish and the biggest fish.  Oh well, she gets bragging rights until the next trip.  In the summer it doesn't take long for the Big D to get crowded with swimmers, tubers and canoes so we were off the water about 11:30am and head home to some air conditioning.

The Delaware Water Gap is one of my favorite places and it's always great to get back out there and share it with friends and family but even better when you can throw in a couple of those Big D smallies.

A few more pictures from the trip.

My dad and Daughter

A beautiful PA buck

The Big D after the rain

Quack...Quack....

I know we are in the middle of a heat wave up here in the Northeast and you probably think I'm crazy for even thinking about ducks right now but it's not too early to start making the lists of things to get done prior to the seasons starting.  Boat repairs, decoy repairs, blind repairs, some dog work, working on some new spots, etc.

One thing for certain is the Annual DEP waterfowl meeting coming the end of this Month and I'm sure this will be occurring in other states as well and it probably flies under most of our radars thanks to the beautiful summer weather.

Migratory Bird Hunting Regulations Meeting

Will be held from 7:00 PM-9:00 PM on Friday, July 30, 2010, in the rear conference room at the DEP Marine Headquarters, 333 Ferry Road, in Old Lyme.

This meeting provides interested parties an opportunity to comment on the proposed hunting season regulations for the 2010-2011 migratory bird seasons.

The DEP will present proposed regulations and take all public comments. Final hunting season dates will be formulated shortly after the comments are compiled and evaluated.

Check your state to see when they have their annual meeting schedule and add it to your calendar.

Enjoy the weekend.

Looking forward to the long wekend

Sorry I haven't posted in a while but I've been jsut a little busy.  I've been tied up at work and looking into buying a boat so fishing as been on the back burner expect for fooling around in the ponds for Largemouths.

I did buy a boat.  She is a used 17' Center Console Sunbird with a 90hp Evinrude that should allow me to get started running my own boat down the shore for fluke and stripers and ofcourse a little fun on the lake.  In haven't owned a boat in probably 10+ years and even then it was just small aluminum boats so this is a little new to me.   So I am working on getting comfortable with her and cleaning up the odds and ends that need to be addressed before heading down to the shore.  Overall it is a nice clean and usable boat and a great way to start for me but controlling the itch to just go is tough.  I plan on playing in my local lake for another week before heading down to the shore for a lesson.

I will be out chasing stripers and fluke with the boys this weekend on my friends boat and the weather looks great, seas are going to be flat and ofcourse Ernie will be all charged up about the shark trip he was on last week so it should be for a fun time.

Don't forget to take some time to reflect about what Independnce day means to you in between all the great outdoor activities and BBQs.

Happy 4th of July everyone!