Monday, December 5, 2016

SweetWater Brewery Fly Fishing



                   

Had a sweet time fishing the Chagrin River with SweetWater Brewing http://sweetwaterbrew.com/# guys. It was actually my very first time getting my feet wet in that river. The bottom terrain was unfamiliar, but hospitable, limestone and gravel, deep pools, much deeper than I'm used to in the Vermilion & the Rocky. Had brought along (feet) spikes, but never had to use them. Would like to return to the Chagrin River when I have more time to dig in, more time to put the camera away and fish.




Friday, December 2, 2016

Fishing Story #5

It was the night after the Super Moon, November 15th that I caught the most walleye I've ever caught in one fishing trip.
Super Moon 4 AM
The water was smooth as glass. There were a couple of other guys fishing on the rocks by the boat launch, but not doing very well. As Kevin was leaving I said to him, just wait until those clouds finally break and that bright moonlight hits the water, it'll make these fish go crazy. And sure enough, after everyone left me there in the silence I prefer, the clouds opened up and I started nailing em! I caught a total of 24, only keeping one for the next day's dinner table. It was quite magically being out there in all that silence, and I was relishing it all when all of a sudden I heard the clanking of metal coming from the boat launch. I turn to see a giant buck staring at me. He stood for a moment, maybe enjoying the peace just as I was, then his hooves clanked away back into the silence of the night.
19th walleye

Friday, July 22, 2016

Outdoor Research's Astroman's Short Sleeve Shirt

I've been a fan of Outdoor Research products for years now. http://www.outdoorresearch.com/en/ Recently I have been wearing/testing out OR's men's Astroman short sleeve shirt and as usually very impressed.
When out on the yak you can  expose your body to the merciless UV sun rays continuously for hours on end. It really wears me down at times and cuts my adventures shorter. This shirt has 50+ UPF and breathes incredibly well. Be sure to follow washing instructions as to not destroy the sunlight protection. OR products are guaranteed forever, but that is for defects. This shirt is made partially of nylon, which is very fragile, and I have snagged the shirt already and ripped it once in the three weeks of wearing. I used Tenacious Tape Max Flex Patching to repair it. It is also excellent for patching tent mesh and sleeping bags. https://www.mcnett.com/gearaid
I really like this shirt for beating the heat. Due to the extreme dryness of this Ohio summer though, I've not had the opportunity of testing it against mosquitos. Will keep you posted.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Fishing Story # 4

It was a blazing hot day at the Avon Lake beach. Had seen a large common carp lingering around the boat launch so I got out some sweet corn. 'Whatcha catching?' I asked passing two kids fishing the small creek that feeds into the lake by the launch. They were hooking creek chub with hot dogs. 'Cool,' I said telling them if they dry out the dogs they will stick to the hook better. 'I'm going to go over here and catch a carp.' I had one in a matter of minutes. Once again another carp was following underneath the one I was towing in with the 8 lbs line. I had the ultralight rod and it was bending so much I wondered if it would snap! The kids came running over. A guy was getting ready to launch his boat so I didn't have proper time to wear the carp down. It kept going under the rusted metal girder trying to fray and break the line. The guy went to get his net, but as I brought the carp to him he pulled the net away saying no, had to be tail first. What? That's not how I do it, and that is not how the carp wanted it either and with one last burst of muscled energy it pulled and snapped the tormented line. I shrugged it off. The real fishing would be later that night with Paul.
As soon as the sun had set Paul started nailing em. He landed a Fish Ohio channel catfish, but that was not the prize of the evening. Using a walleye lure he pulled in a 14 1/4 inch giant goldfish! I had heard rumors long ago about giant Lake Erie goldfish, but thought they must be koi fish. But no, there really is a population of giant goldfish existing in the lake! A call to ODNR confirmed it and they said just let it go back into the lake. So it was set free.



Monday, July 4, 2016

Do Carp Mate For Life?

Fished the Black River a few days ago because I keep hearing how fishing sucks right now. In less than 45 minutes I caught a 15 inch smallmouth, a 21 inch common carp, and another fat 23 inch 5.75 lbs common carp on sweet corn. (did not catch the bass on corn) The hook i use is a #12 treble, which is about the size of my pinky nail. Carp love sweet corn, but fishing with corn in a river can be tricky. And you have to be stealth with carp, the smartest fish in my opinion. After i crept down a tight, steep embankment to catch the fatty, I barely had a patch of land to stand upon. He put up a great fight and felt even bigger on my ultralight lined with weak 8 lbs. flourocarbon. As he was giving in, surrendering, I noticed something underneath, swimming under his shadow following every move until the final end. I don't know if fish maintain a mate-to-mate relation, I'm not sure, but it sparked a flame of sadness in me that burned hotter than the summer sun above. I took the hook out, took the photograph and measurements and let him gently back into the water. 


With this sadness I called it quits. What if my intentions were different? What if i was actually the angel of death? Back atop the embankment I looked back down. The two were again swimming side-by-side, just as I had spotted earlier and then took aim. Then I drove away in silence.... and shot the sunset.


Saturday, July 2, 2016

DIY Kayak Storage Rack

To protect my three yaks from rain and UV rays I decided to put together a shelter consisting of PVC piping and plywood.




 Since I did not want to apply any unnecessary pressure on the PVC piping I used some old door hinges to attached it to the wall so I could add tar paper and shingles.





 In the end I added a tarp to keep out any rogue rain drops and to help further protect it from the sunlight.

Friday, July 1, 2016

A Great Father's Day Gift

Fished the tail end of the walleye for the Maumee River run with my Dad. He wanted to use live bait and had set a trap down at his end at the Vermilion River. I went down to the a creek inlet next to the Avon Lake boat launch and caught about fifty in a couple minutes with a drop net. When we went down to get his bait catch the cage was nearly empty. So, he was content that I had taken the initiative  to catch some the night before and had kept them alive and healthy in one of my many aquariums with an aerator. And the neighbor girls got a kick out of catching the little shiners with their bare hands.
Lily holding a minnow.
The banks of the chocolatey Maumee River.
No one was really catching much that day. One of the guys wading by us pulled in a walleye, used my tape measure and being half an inch too shy of 16 he released it. I think it equated to one white bass per angler that day, but during the heat of the run there is no limit on white bass and it is not uncommon to bring in 100-150 in a day.
Regardless of catching 100 or none at all, there is nothing like fishing with your retired father on a beautiful day. We planned another trip out to Maumee (one hour drive) but our schedules never fit right and eventually the run was over, the walleye & white bass finished the spawn and were back out into Lake Erie. But I took him to my secret smallmouth Vermilion River smallmouth hole and pulled in an 3 1/2 lbs. 18 inch smally. He really liked the spot and we go there whenever I come out to visit because it is only about a mile from my folks' farm house. 

Fishing with your Dad is an excellent Father's Day gift.





Monday, June 27, 2016

The Fuji Finepix XP200 Waterproof Camera

Fishing with John on his brother's, Jim's private Avon Lake lakeside, we both new rain was in the distance, but hoping it would split (watching via radar) and pass us up in the middle. But this was not the case and it came down hard! We watched as some kayakers struggled by to beat the storm wondering how much further they had to go....

The storm was getting closer, the sky darker, more sinister, yet we fished on. And regardless of catching any fish, I planned on walking away from it all with a decent photograph. That's when you need a good waterproof camera in your fishing vest, always at hand's reach. I use a Fuji Finepix XP200. It is waterproof for down to 50 ft, shockproof from a 5 ft drop, freeze proof, 16 million megapixels, full HD video, Wifi, GPS, and has an excellent dust proof zoom range. I put over 50,000 pic through my yellow XP200 and had to purchase a new one for an upcoming event, so I had go get a used black one, which I will probably get another 50,000 shots through.
When the rain hit I was ready and shot some video of the Lake at her pissisest. 

And of course walk away some awesome extreme fishing shots. John has this photo of himself now framed in his living room.







Thursday, June 9, 2016

NRS Pilot Knife

After going thru three or four vest knives, I decided to give the NRS survival knife a go. It was designed to fit onto my NRS PFD Chinook vest. I wanted something easy to detach in case of an anchor line tangle/situation. The Pilot has all the features I'm looking for in a kayaking knife. It is also designed for scuba use. NRS makes a smaller version of this knife - the Co Pilot, but when I'm fishing in extreme cold with thick gloves I went for the larger of the two. It comes in black, green, blue, and of course bright orange.
Easy detachment and a ridged thumb side, which is a great safety feature for cold wet hands.
I'm using it clipped in facing up, but it can clip in north - south - east - west. It is to one's own personal preference. 






Thursday, May 12, 2016

Fishing Story # 3

So here's my fishing story from today. was fishing carp at the Vermilion River this afternoon when I saw something strange surface. Figured it was a swimming muskrat and grabbed my camera and ran downstream for it to bank and pose for a shot. Well, it didn't happen and it vanished for awhile. About ten minutes later it appeared several yards downstream and once again I put down the rod and grabbed my Nikon, but was surprised to find out it was not a muskrat, but a fish instead. It was fish I had never seen the likes of - somewhat pinkish in color, with a duck-like face covered with bumps. The dorsal fin was set very far to the back. I snapped four shots before it started to go back down. At this point I ran for my net and waited for another twenty minutes or so for it to surface again. wasn't happening and i needed to get on the road to Michigan and check into the hotel. Kept thinking of what that fish was the entire trip and then it hit me - a STURGEON!! Not a giant one that most of us imagine a sturgeon to be, only about 9 or 10 inches, but a sturgeon nonetheless. Incredibly rare. And very cool....





Monday, April 11, 2016

GoPro Aluminum Housing

Just received this item, an aluminum housing unit for GoPro 4 Black. Very nice, good design, but I did find a flaw. The screw heads were too long, actually the screws themselves were too long, and I had to bore out the holes with a 9/64th drill bit to get it right. Also, had to add two stainless steel washers. Not a big deal. I prefer this housing over GoPro's rinky-dink generic rubberized plastic housing they sell for $40. This item can be found on eBay for half the price, even less if you order it directly from Hong Kong, but I chose a place here in the states so it would arrive faster.
I went with this type of housing for two reasons; the audio mike is not covered up and muffled by the waterproof plastic housing, and this device allows attachment to any standard tripod. And filters can be added - most importantly a polarizer. But, there's a catch to that. In order to use a polarizer you have to be able to turn it correctly to block out/intensify. How do you do that with a camera you can't see out of? GoPro has an app that uses your smartphone as a preview/remote trigger. So DON'T go and buy the cordless remote! You already have it and it won't cost you a dime, the app is free.




Sunday, April 10, 2016

Fishing Story #2

I was just telling Paul about my buddy who had just lost his rod while putting it down to bait his wife’s hook. ‘There goes your rod,’ she commented nonchalantly as it disappeared down into the depths while his hands were occupied. This was just 10 minutes after i had told Brent about the Russian guy who had done the same thing and lost his rod to a big cat or carp just days before. I felt like i had started a domino affect.
Paul and I were en route along the bank and I suddenly bring us to a halt. Is that a grass carp finning the top of the still waters? No, it’s not finning, actually it is not moving at all. Upon closer inspection we find it is a floating fishing rod. I tie up a husky jerk walleye lure and snag it, bring it back to shore where we find the rig is still intact and with a half an hour of drying the long lost Russian rod is usable. So i put on a Norwegian black hook and catch a monster goiter cat before giving the pole to Paul to later restore and add to his rod rack collection. Paul nailed a huge goiter cat and some others before the yank of the clock chain pulled us to leave. 
As I’m loading the poles and gear Paul rounds the front of the truck and says we should take a walk about the lot because he just found a dollar bill tumble-weeding along with the southeast breeze. i find another dollar and he yells from the lucky side of the lot he’s found a five and another two singles!
good fishing day. free rod. free money.

Saturday, April 9, 2016

Hook-Eze

This is a cool little gadget from a place down under. 'Takes the pricks out of fishing.'
Comes two to a package. I find it really handy for protecting the inside of my car and hooking my dog accidentally. 

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Goiter Cats

Though it was raining (as usual) my friend, Tom came a-knockin' at the front door. I saw his reflection peaking thru the front window off the screen of my laptop as I was doing some photo editing. He asked if I wanted to go fishing? Like anyone even has to ask!! He wanted to have some fun, get away for awhile before boarding the plane for Florida the following afternoon. So we geared up, put on some waterproof coats and headed down to the local pond to do some 'goiter cat' fishing. Though it has been cold and still snowing/sleeting/hailing/raining some guys have been catching some. 'Da catfish, deh be a movin' I was told by the Russian guy whom I've seen there many times over the summer. But the water was extremely cold, the fish sluggish, but I still wanted to get a chance to use my new GoPro Black. (insert link here later)
Example of a Goiter Cat
Paul dimed the name 'goiter cat' for the pond's catfish with their unique mouth and under chin deformities, probably from many generations of inbreeding. Walker Pond is a catch & release pond. I usually try to go for the big ellusive grass carp. 
36 inch grass carp
Carp are very smart and shy. Great sport. Catfish put up a good fight and will eat just about anything. Carp are picky and more of a challenge. The grass carp is an invasive species to North America. The common carp don't usually get as large, especially in a pond. But I have caught some huge commons in Lake Erie in the past. They tend to have a thicker girth and are more powerful.
Tom and I did not catch anything at the pond, just a handful of bites here & there. But it was good to hang out, and later that night we put back a few cold ones with some pirate rum.
'There are good ships and wood ships, and ships that sail the sea, but the best ships are friendships, may they ever be!!' Will be a sad day when he finally moves to Florida in June. But friends we will always be...


Friday, April 1, 2016

Backwater Assault Paddle

This is a cool device with many applications. Lightweight and super strong. I bought the olive green version. Definitely worth the $30. And if you want to avoid shipping costs buy it on Ebay.
And they send you two cool stickers.

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Lake Chop


Though the boat launch was closed, the following day, Easter Sunday I took the yak out though the water was a silty mess, virtually un-fishable. But I had been away down south for two weeks and getting back out on the water was not simply a need, but a must. And I waned to test out my new DIY anchor trolly system if all else went bust. People kept telling me I was a brave man to venture out there in the kayak. I would say that bravery is more like the by-product of logic, of knowledge. Sure, I know that if I venture too far out into open water, like several miles, and the southwest wind turn due south and pics up from 8 mph to 30 mph, and the water temp being less than 40 degrees as it is, then I might never make it back, just like some unfortunates did this past month. One always has to keep in mind that this lake is very temperamental and can turn on you in a heart beat. And not just on The Great Lakes, the weather can turn fowl in any given situation. http://wkbn.com/2016/03/20/body-of-kayaker-found-in-northeastern-ohio-state-park/
Here's the water of Lake Erie at mid afternoon.
 Here's the water 10 hours later.
(Nikon D810 iso 250 white balance auto Nikon DX 12-24mm f.4 lens focus set at infinity aperture set at f.13 10 second exposure using cable release)
The trolly system worked great and I feel comfortable with it, but still a bit hesitant using it in water depths more than 30 feet. Always have a knife on your vest or in reaching distance when using an anchor. If the chop gets too choppy, better to chop the line loose. Better to lose a $25 anchor system than all your tackle or expensive fish finder! Oh, and that thing called 'your life'. I'm always putting my gear at the top of priorities....
After a good sized lake storm I enjoy combing the beach for washed up lures and oddities.
I would definitely rather chase a storm than have a storm like this chase me....