2014

This year was rather uneventful. I upgraded some of the fish sizes, and started to get an idea of how difficult chasing some species was going to be. During these years I was at school during from fall to spring and rarely fished during this time. I had a few trips in the fall and winter targeting trout and got skunked every trip. .

My major achievement this year was learning how to catch carp. I spent most of my summer chasing them, and to this day they remain one of my favourite species to target. I used a bolt rig set-up that allowed the carp to hook themselves in the corner of the mouth. I used this rig in my local creek with good success and also managed a few carp out of a few other spots. You can see that my terrible handling progressively gets better as the year goes on.

The highlight of the carp trips was on a nostalgia trip with my dad. We drove a few hours to where my dad grew up as a kid, and there was a park there with a creek and a pond. A bunch of families were fishing on the deeper side of the pond for bass and panfish. We set up in the shallower area on the other side and targeted carp. Every time a carp ran we had families walking by stop and watch (most were there to fish as well). The last (and largest one) took my rod into the water since I forgot to reset my drag. A kid and his dad were walking by with a little spider man rod. The kid asked my 100 questions while reeling the fish in. So I got him to help me let it go. It was a blast and I really do hope I made his day.

Some carps the last two were from my dads nostalgia trip

After the carp fishing we tried a spot that used to hold a population of inland rainbow trout. This was no longer the case as the water was very warm and silty. It did hold some stonecats though so that is a new species. Afterwards we tried a trout farm that did not actually have trout, but it did hold a lot of bass and sunfish.

Species #16 Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)- yes I am well aware it took a few years to catch a fish it should have taken two minutes no need to rub it in

 Species #17 Green Sunfish (Lepomi cyanellus)- Also aware this should have taken 2 minutes

Species #18 Stonecat (Noturus flavus)- The largest member of the madtom family, also has venomous spines, do not step on

Species #19 Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens) my first picture wont load for some reason, so this is a random one from Thunder Bay. My first one had a severe case of black spot

The one that didn't get away

     We had an awesome trip in Virginia. We stayed in a nice little cabin on a campsite, and spent 3 days touring around all the sites of Virgina. The most notable for me was the Luray Caverns, the way the stalagmites and stalactites loomed around a eve that has stood the tests of time was astounding. It almost made rocks seem interesting. We also stopped by a Mexican food restaurant, and I got to try chimichangas for the first time. The deep fried delicacy was so incredible I will remember it for a very long time, like 2 years later at the very least.

     We had booked a charter the last day of our trip, and were taught a very important lesson. Plan a backup day. The charter was booked for a night fishing trip on the Potomac River. During the day we visited Arlington National Cemetery and somehow got lost in the Pentagon parking lot. The weather was beautiful all day, but it had other idea when night came around.

     Three storm fronts from different directions hit us at different times. Our charter guide was hoping to reschedule as the weather was awful ad even if we could get out the bite would be slow. Since we were leaving that day, rescheduling wasn't possible so we tried to wait it out. The rain finally let up, we got out on the water and boom, storm from another direction, so we headed back and checked the weather network. Sure enough three storm fronts. The last one didn't have any lightning so when the torrential rain from storm 2 ended we headed out.

     We set the lines out in the middle of the Potomac and began waiting. After quite a while the first rod folded over. My dad got it and after a short fight, landed a 15lb Blue Catfish. After another long period of time the second rod folded over and my brother got this one. This fish was substantially bigger. My dad helped my brother with the rod as he was having a hard time controlling the fish. A back and forth struggle ensued and after quite some time, my brother landed a 35ish lb Catfish (turned out to be 30lb). We didn't get anything for the next hour and I was a little worried that there wouldn't be anymore interested.

     My little brother took this time to start ruthlessly mocking me, my dad, and the charter guide. "What's the biggest fish you caught? Mine was 35lbs!" It was pretty funny at least he was clever with his bragging. I was really just glad that he was enjoying himself, since he doesn't normally like coming on fishing trips. I couldn't imagine how upset he would be if he was the one left out. So I figured the little amount of torment would be well worth having him join us on a few more trips. I also figured karma would kick in and I would get to catch something.

     Karma eventually did kick in as a rod started dancing. I grabbed it almost the second in folded over and started reeling. I was not ready for the power of this fish. It took a lot of effort to lift the rod to reel in line, and I had noodle arms (I may or may not still have noodle arms, that is a subject of discussion for a later time). It was slow going at first as the fish would take long powerful runs every time I started to gain on it. Eventually it started swimming at the boat. I needed to reel in as fast as I possibly could to keep any tension on the line. It saw the boat and decided to head the other way, but by now it was too late. It was tired and I was able to steer it into the net.

Species #15 Blue Catfish (Ictalurus Furcatus): You can tell it apart from a channel catfish by its anal fin

straight is a blue, curved is a channel. You can also see the noodle arms

     A big thanks goes out to our incredible guide for sticking it out for us. We will definitely be planning a rain date the next time we go on a charter.