Day on the boat pleasant one.
There was an old time comedian, I believe it was Jerry Colonna, who started and finished his spiel with “Strange things are happening.”
In complete dishonor I plagiarize, “Strange things are happening.” Both in our boat and the boat of Mike Arena of Westfield.
In a shakedown cruise of Rene Lariviere’s and my boat the Char-Jo out of Sesuit Harbor on the Cape our goal was to collect tinker mackerel while they were running to provide frozen bait for the summer and fall striper fishing.
We had some luck on the mackerel, so shifted to some trolling of feathered jigs, a lure which makes the feathers bellow out like a swimming fish when you pull back, release, pull back sharply on the rod.
I found myself more active jigging than usual, out whipping youngsters like a Paul and Debbie Davidson and Rene as our daughter Jo varied our trolling speeds, with advice from her mother Char, who knows less than less about trolling.
Back to my hyper broom sweeping of the rod.
No luck, so we returned to still fishing for mackerel, which proved more interesting than merely pulling up little mackerel.
Apparently he had a bite more shocking than a mackerel nibble. This was true as Rene had a healthy looking shark beside the boat, but it took one look at me looking at it, and shook free.
We continued to take mackerel, while visions of sugarplums in the shape of large striped bass later in the summer danced in our heads.
A potpourri of Pisces joined the mackerel with squid the most interesting. They were placed in a bucket with live mackerel and each time they were touched, they squirted ink until the entire bucket was black. And where is an ink pen when you need it?
The final hour was spent trolling with our feathered Hoochees replaced by mackerel.
Then wham! Bam! a striper Sam. Suddenly, as quickly as it started my line went dead and I thought I had gotten hung up on a buoy we trolled by.
Add a feast in the sun of kielbasa, potato chips, homemade turtle cookies and other heart stoppers, with a soft surf that rocked our tummies to sleepiness, then that is more than enough reasons to get out on the water.
TWICE CAUGHT: Joe Arena of Westfield and his son Eric were enjoying a day of shad fishing on the Connecticut River, with Eric landing shad at a four to one ratio over his dad.
But it turned to Daddy Day when Joe’s lure was banged.
Eric thought his dad had hooked into his line down river.
Nope. Joe’s line was swimming up river, and fast and furious.
When his surprise fish was brought into the boat, a large keeper striped bass, father and son were in for another surprise.
The striper has a Mambo Minnow in its mouth and was dragging nearly 200 feet of mono-filament line along with the lure, giving some idea of the strength of the bully bass.
Joe’s summary, “I’ve fished for more than 50 years, and there is always something great that it happens in the great outdoors.”
BOMBASTIC BLUES: Capt. Brad Glas of Hel-Cat II reports that bluefish have turned on with a vengeance in the Rhode Island/Connecticut waters and they are the bodacious, king size choppers. He said there are striped bass on the bottom but it is nearly impossible to get a jig past the blues brothers.
Hel-Cat II remains on a weekend schedule until June 16 when there will be fishing from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. On June 23 trips will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. or fluke, sea bass and porgies.
For more info go to capt.glas@comcast.net
FISHERMAN OF THE YEAR: I agree that there should be more than one Massachusetts Fisherman of the year. Earning it is deserving it, an opinion from this hallowed chair.
Steve Muniec wrote, “I was dumbfounded when the sole award went to someone in the Youth Division. Why there wasn’t an Angler of the Year awarded in both the adult and the youth divisions has many fishermen wondering the same thing.
“It took the wind out of a lot of people’s sails.
“It is fantastic that MassWildlife recognizes the youths with this program. Hopefully it has gotten more youths involved in fishing and just being outdoors in general.
“But, and I’ve discussed this with past Anglers of the Year as well as other fishermen, you are not comparing apples to apples when it comes to what it takes to obtain a pin in each division. Some of the youth division weights are literally half of what the adults are.
“Any Angler of the Year, myself included, could take a youth for a long weekend and get them close to a dozen fishing pins while we might be able to collect a couple, if that. “
Yup, I can’t see why there isn’t also an Adult Angler of the Year, or even two.
BASIC PISTOL COURSE: Holyoke Revolver Club will sponsor an NRA Basic Pistol Safety Course with hands on procedures held at the clubs indoor range at 413 West Cherry St., Holyoke June 16 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Registration must be made by June 12. For more info or registration call 413-534-9734 or or send request to the club address or to Ann Robinson, Safety coordinator at 142 Jarvis Ave., Holyoke, MA 01040 or theturtlechick@juno.com