The Newest Nimrod

Fishing with small children can be quite the trial for the most earnest of Nimrods. It can also be incredibly satisfying (a fantastic article sent to me recently). Fellow Nimrod Tobin, his son Lincoln, a container of freshly unearthed worms and I took a short drive to the local watering hole last night after work for some hard-earned angling after a long week. After traversing the gauntlet of poison ivy we found a nice quiet spot to test the skills of our nightcrawlers. Soon after convincing Lincoln that fish do not, in fact, eat rocks and small boulders we started to see a little action on our corks. In no time at all we were pulling in slabs and taking survey of the many species taken by our trickery: largemouth bass, white perch, black crappie, pumpkinseed and bluegill (no trout). It was great fun and Lincoln's screams of excitement were the best part. He even caught two fish of his own. Not on rocks, though, of course.

Family Fishing Trip

Hit up a big lake in Kentucky for our yearly male vacation to a selected body of water for a little fishing and a lot of beer/bourbon drinking. Lots of fun and huge crappie. I'm already looking forward to next year.

(the contents of the last photo greatly contributed to a fantastic mid-morning breakfast)

A Winter Crossing

This past Sunday we finally gathered for an outing on the ice. I've been working on this for a while and I'm sure it helped that Mother Nature promised a day of fine weather. Patrick, Matt and first time nimrod Bird loaded up the family truckster and headed up to Rock Pond for a (late) morning of fishing. There was immediate action while the workers were digging holes and the maimed nimrod seized the opportunity to reap the benefits of his horrid back gash by snatching the triggered tip-ups and landing two bass. The rest of the day proved slow with high-points involving watching Bird chase a wayward bucket lid to the far end of the pond and Patrick making his own pond uncomfortably near Matt's person. After getting off the ice a hot meal awaited us at the homestead. It was a fun day and I'm looking forward to doing it again very soon.

Belgrade, Maine | July 4th

Newbie Nimrod, Brent Johnson, and I ventured to Belgrade, ME for the 4th of July weekend (near Augusta) and had a great time on Messalonskee Lake. While the fish lacked size generally, they were abundant. 

We lost count on the smallmouth bass and yellow perch, and each took in a nice-sized chain pickerel. Weather was mostly beautiful with a chop on the water only during the high-noon hot hours of the day.

Sightings included a nesting pair of bald eagles, snorting deer, families of loons, and Swedish meatballs.

Brent's been going to this lake-side cabin since he was 5 years old. It's a great place and worth looking into  a rental for next summer or a design retreat in the fall. 

Return to the Sud

Yesterday morning the Original Nimrod and I got back out on the Sudbury River after a disappointing trip a few weeks earlier. We hoped the water would have gone down and we hoped the shiners we picked up would change our luck. The water didn't really go down and our shiners didn't produce but I did manage to trick one confused bass into attacking my plug. The first fish of the year turned out to be one of if not the biggest largemouth of my life. 4 lbs. 9 oz.

Far Flung Adventures

Here are a few pic's from some of my favorite long distance trips: Alaska, Australia and...well, Canada.

The 2004 Alaska trip was taken with graduate school friends: 4 outdoor educators in the ultimate outdoors. We paddled the entire length of the Noatak River; 400 miles from its headwaters at the heels of the awesome Brooks Range, to its delta at Kotzebue, a native Inupiat whaling village on the edge of the Bering Sea. Along the way we were eaten alive by mosquitos, stalked by a grizzly bear, and the tops of my ears burned from the incessant sun such that they "crackled" when I squeezed them. I was the only fisherman on the trip and caught one large salmon (which I didn't land on 8lb test) and numerous arctic grayling. We dined on grayling frequently. I lost the treasured lure, a swedish pimple, on the last day of the trip.

In 2000, I traveled to Australia on numerous occasions to consult with the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. Located in the famous Blue Mountains of New South Wales, the interior streams and incredible rocky coast harbored speckled trout and almost anything, respectively. I'm not a trout fisherman (unless they're willing to take canned corn niblets) so I never pursued the elusive, non-native, hatchery-raised trout. The most common ocean catch was something called a "flathead." Named appropriately, they look like a cross between a sauger and a very clean catfish. And they are delicious when grilled alongside giant prawns and snappers. I once tried grilling an octopus.... that makes for a good story.

During our college years, and shortly thereafter, my little (though much taller) brother and I used to take an annual all-bro' excursion. We paddled the Rio Grande, swam with manatees in the Crystal River of Florida and voyaguered across many lakes of the Boundary Waters Wilderness of Canada. He snapped the last picture of me while I was pan-frying smallmouth fillets over an open fire. Does it get much better than this?

Alas, I haven't done anything like this since Alaska!! It's time to start planning.

Fishin Buddies

Everybody needs one...or two...or, let's be honest, you really can't have enough fishing buddies. Here are a few shots of Patty, Kim + Tobin and some of their personal trophy slabs. May you have many more tight lines. Fishing season is now fully upon us. It's about damn time.