June 13- We've begun again.
July 1- The season is on, and today we hit Billingsley Sea with waders occasionally a big fish haven. Occasionally, meaning not all the time, weather was great, water was nice and cool and fishing wasn't all that great. Let me rephrase, fishing was great, catching wasn't. Bud landed 2 average size largemouth, I on the other hand, got nothing, which seems to be the trend for this year. Still a great day.
July 2- We decided to give the kayaking another try today, last year we tried it with kayaks and I spent most of my time in the water, which isn't how it is supposed to be. But after I found out that the kayak I had was for people that weighed under 200 lbs, definitely not me. So this morning we set off for Wompatuck State Park, glorious weather with high hopes and here is how it went. Bud arrived nice and early and we loaded kayaks and ALL the gear that goes with them into the truck and off we went, finding Wompatuck was a breeze. Finding the boat launch was a bit of hike, fortunately we weren't hiking, we drove only to find the ramp entrance locked and gated. So we drove around a bit and found a little camping village which may have had access to the water, but it was pretty deserted, looked like one of them places that closed right after everyone drank the Kool-Aid. So I called the number we had for the Park and was told that we had to go to the main entrance to get someone to unlock the gate. No problem, or so we thought, we get to the entrance and it was deserted, so we wandered around a bit in the hopes that someone would show up, but no luck there, so I tried calling again, no answer but we did notice that the phone i was calling was in the office where we were standing, apparently the person that we called was no longer there, even though he had told us to come to where he was. Now what to do? So we waited and read some of the signs posted at the office, No smoking near the window, 5 bucks per person to get in, 2 bucks to open the ramp, 12 bucks for a day of fishing sounded reasonable, IF we could find someone to pay. And then a state park vehicle pulls up and girl gets out and we state our case and she looks over at our kayaks and asked if they were our boats, we confirmed and she told us, GET THIS, that only flat bottom boats that were rowed were allowed into the water. I pointed out that the kayaks were reasonably flat on the bottom and that yes we rowed them, she kinda sorta saw our point and made a phone call to the other entrance to see if they fit the description of allowed vehicles, and as our luck would have it they weren't. We were amazed, seemed a simple enough thing to be able to do, but not for us. So its back into the truck and onto the road again.
We fish quite a bit at Whitman Pond in Weymouth but it is a bit weedy and occasionally a little smelly, and hasn't put out much fish for us lately. So we checked the map and found Great Pond, I think that was the name and headed off, we found it easy enough and even found the road which would lead us to the waters edge, we knew it was the right road when we saw the sign that said " no fishing, no swimming, no dogs, i'm surprised they let us look at it" Now what? We knew it was inevitable that we go to Whitman's so off we went to Sandy beach, least i could check out the Kayak thing. It went great, not tipping, no swimming, and of course no fish, but we did get to enjoy the water with the kayaks and did some serious traveling. The day ended with a comfortable feeling about the kayaks, least for me, Bud had been using his for a bit. And now we knew this was a viable option and looked forward to fishing more via kayaks.
July 8- Fort Devens, our little hidden gold mine of fish was today's target, Young Will and James (2 of buds boys) were even going to join us or at least that was the rumor. So once again we packed up kayaks and wading gear so we could all get our feet wet so to speak. Turned out the boys had been up later then they had planned so it was just Bud and I. We got to Devens nice and early, early enough that the gates were closed and we had to travel over hill and dale carrying the kayaks to get to the water. But we hit the water and off we went, right across the beach to a nice little cove that was fairly shallow and rocky so hadn't been in there much before but the kayaks allow us to pretty much go anywhere. And the fish finders were going nuts, plenty of fish, now we had to find what they wanted, Bud was fishing a black slug i believe and snagged 2 largemouth, he did snag a third that changed its mind before it got to the boat. And I of course caught nothing, so rowed out to the main body and started to hit the edges of the water and just as i was starting to think, maybe I'm not cut out to fish I got hit and I caught my first fish while Kayaking, very very cool, wasn't big enough to move the boat but it was great, then I got another one, and then I hooked up with something huge that actually move the boat, Turned out the be a rock and i lost hook and bait. So i had to re rig so i set up a drop shot with a little black power leech, looked like a bit fat black tadpole and rowed over to the other end of the pond it began, I grabbed 3 fish in the matter of minutes, largemouth, small largemouth but largemouth still the same and another fish that I didn't quite recognize, turned out to be lake trout, i guess. I was chatting with bud about what i was fishing with, and while we were talking the hook was in the water and another fish hooked itself, but I still get the credit, so i shared the bait with bud and we fished some more, however our day of catching was at an end and it was noontime and much hot, and rowing all over gods creation can wear out and old guy, or 2 for that matter. Glorious successful day. Kayaking - not problem, catching fish - no problem, home for a great BBQ - no problem. Life is good.
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