Last Day of Fishing This Year

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Detritus
Posts: 538
Joined: Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:50 pm
Species: Anything we can catch
Location: Vergennes

Last Day of Fishing This Year

Post by Detritus »

And what a day it was.

New Year's Eve 2021 began for the crew of the Country Angler at Redgate, splashing our old heavily modified walkaround at about 6:50 am. Aboard today were the usual suspects, Myself, Brody, and Liam, who was ready to test out his newly acquired VT boating license. Pretty easy conditions today, as compared to other frostbite trips of the past. Temperatures around 40 degrees, but foggy with a slight occasional drizzle, light wind.


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We weren't going to be alone out there today, with the known fishing buddies also heading out being 3 other vessels. My friends James and Paul on James' boat, with Paul's son Zack. Also heading out is everyone's favorite marathon wintertime rowboat troller, Dilly Worm. But today, he brought is powerboat. All Veterans of the inaugural season of the Vergennes Fishing Team. The last boat was Zeb, (Stubborn1vt).

Zeb was launching south of us, and the other two boats were launching north of us. Our plan was to launch in the middle, and scout all three before we decided where to set up. The first stop was Diamond Island. Nothing on the graph, which the boys were complaining was still displaying it's nighttime color scheme. Then south to Basin Harbor. Nothing. Scotch Bonnet, nope. Over to Barber Point, Yep, nothing there. We did see a boat out in the fog in front of us trolling, and we hailed them on the radio, asking if that was "Surprise" in front of us. The vessel responded "This is not Surprise". Hmm, OK, haha. He said he was 1 for 2 so far. That was a surprise enough for us, since our traditional sonar still looked like a sheet of copy paper on our boat. Hopped down to Cole Island area, same. Then back to Button Bay Point. Still not a dot on the screen. Is this thing broken? Well, we decided to run back up north and set up there, since that's where Dilly and James were. At least we could hang out on the radio.

18 Miles later, we got our first spoon in the water.

We knew there was going to be fish there, because there is always fish there. We just didn't know how many there was going to be today. Check out this screen. Not exactly copy paper.

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And that wasn't even the busiest screen, it was just the one I snapped in between setting rods in a free second I had. This report is going to be a little light on good pictures since we were so busy. We weren't even set up before the first fish was on. Laker. I asked the boys if they wanted a picture. "We have a million pictures of lake trout", as he was quickly returned home. OK then. Guess these guys have caught a few fish in their time.

We talked to James and Dilly, who were across the pond. Those guys were already up near double digits of fish boated, all Lakers. Which was cool to hear, since James' passengers were on their first cold water fishing trip on the lake. Zack, on his first cold water fishing trip ever.

After that, it was just plain on. The next hour and a half, was just reeling in fish, and setting rods. And Get this: mostly Salmon.

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That last one was about a 17" fish, but pretty fat. That kid makes fish look small. 6'1" in the 9th grade. He got big all of the sudden. Here's another fish from a couple of weeks ago, another one of my kids. Which one do you think is the bigger fish?


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Yeah, Brody's is bigger.

At some point in all of the craziness, we got a call from the real Surprise. Which was cool, because we knew those guys were fishing somewhere out there today. I got to talk to Randy for maybe 1 or two sentences, before running back out on the deck to help land fish, reset, and other stuff. When we were done with that doubles, or doubles on 1 rod, or whatever it was, I called him back, but there was no answer. I'm assuming they went south out of range. Sorry Randy, we were wicked busy when you called.

With all of this action, we called our buddies over to try their luck with the streak of silver we had found, maybe they could pull in a big one. All they had been landing over on the other side of the lake were Lakers.

Here's James.



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Here's Dilly.


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We knew that if we were going to be able to fire up the grill, we were going to have to tone down our presentation a little, so we could cook our simple chili dog lunch. Basically what we did was troll about 15 minutes or so, and every rod that had a fish on and we reeled it in, and didn't set it back out. That brought us down to just a couple of rods in the water, down from 6 for lunchtime. As much as Liam loves to catch fish, he also loves hot lunch while frostbiting.


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So for those of you looking for the tips and tricks that I sprinkle in these fishing tales, you've finally made it to that part.

Shiny hammered spoons had the most action today. Copper, Gold, but mostly Silver. But, as a matter of fact, the absolute most successful spoon today was a crummy 3" purple white and silver Warrior with black dots. It used to be mostly a chrome color, but, the ticket today must have been the dried on smelly jelly from 2 years ago, the 1 foot cheater line with huge knot tails hanging off, and the rust? I don't even know how that thing got into the mix, but, there you go.

We did however land fish on a purple and blue Yozuri pin minnow, a Jig Head Swimbait (green and clear), Speedy shiners, and everything else we dragged through the water. But Shiny spoons landed the most.

The majority of the fish came off of the free sliding cheaters, one rigger set at 80, the other at 70. Actual depth of the riggers being about 10 feet less than that each (for us). So that put the cheaters running at about 35 and 30 or so. We were also running big planer boards, each with a leadcore rod on the outside edge, 4-6 colors back. Halfway down the big planers were snap weight rods, 5oz hanging after 50' was put out, with an additional 70' payed out before attaching to the planer release. So, the hot depth zone for these fish was between 28'-35', but, we caught fish on every rod, every depth.

Speed seemed to be an important factor for us today. You could very reliably trigger a strike from a fish by pulling the throttle back a bit, and counting to 10 or so, or pushing the throttle forward a bit and doing the same. It was like the fish liked the sudden change in speed, and would hit. GPS SOG was about 2.4 or so heading North, and close to 2 heading South. That kept the fish hawk probe speed at depth reading 2.1 neighborhood, however fast that really is I'm not sure, but was working well.

Total fish count today was 14 for 30. 10 Salmon boated, 10 Salmon lost, 4 Lakers boated, 6 unknown fish lost. Flying silver all over the place shaking the lures right out of their mouths. Ordinarily frustrating, but, with the small size of all of the fish, and all of the action, just straight up entertaining. At one point, James was even cheering for Brody reeling in a fish from across the water, just so much fun.

Here's a little thought to leave you with as well, looking towards the future as you do on New Years Eve.

Last winter Liam and I were trolling in Willsboro bay one day, and we heard Ron and Mike of Digitroll and On The Job talking about the "Phantom Bayliner" trolling on the other side of the bay on the radio. That turned out to be us, and we started talking to those guys about the Salmon catch from year to year. Ron said it's like the stock market, it goes up and down. Well, if that's the case, we're in for some good Salmon fishing in the next couple of years. 20 small healthy Salmon caught released in a few hours of fishing? Yeah, they're small now, but man, those are good numbers.
"Country Angler" - '93 Trophy 2002 - Cold water boat
"Strike Three" - '04 Triton SF21 - Warm water boat
"The Dumpster" - '90 Starcraft SF14 - Camping Boat

Jack
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Detritus
Posts: 538
Joined: Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:50 pm
Species: Anything we can catch
Location: Vergennes

Re: Last Day of Fishing This Year

Post by Detritus »

Here's some pictures of our last fishing trip that I never got a chance to do a report for. Very similar trip, just different food cooked, and about 10 minutes before we were going to head out the door, my baby girl got out of bed and ran downstairs and asked if she could go. Of course I said yes, but if you think trolling and cooking keeps you busy, try cooking, trolling, and having this little 6 year old firecracker aboard. She's even exhausting for her brothers sometimes.

Mary and Liam.


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Sausage, egg, cheese, hashbrown breakfast sandwiches.


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Mary's not impressed.



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Brody fighting a fish.


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Liam on the net.



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Laker on a Honeybee Spoiled Ham.



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Salmon for Liam.



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A couple of Salmon for the baby girl. She likes to reel in fish, and her brothers like to keep her happy.



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Jelly Donut.



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"Country Angler" - '93 Trophy 2002 - Cold water boat
"Strike Three" - '04 Triton SF21 - Warm water boat
"The Dumpster" - '90 Starcraft SF14 - Camping Boat

Jack
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Reelax
Site Admin
Posts: 5730
Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:27 pm
Species: Salmon, steelhead, brown trout
Location: Fletcher, Vt

Re: Last Day of Fishing This Year

Post by Reelax »

Now that is some serious family fun! Thanks for sharing Jack. The data and info will be useful for our annual Jan 1st trip this year.

Splashing in 4 hrs :mrgreen:
Matt B
TruViking
Posts: 308
Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2020 10:25 pm
Species: Those who thrive in Cold H20
Location: Burlington, Vt

Re: Last Day of Fishing This Year

Post by TruViking »

Thank you for the post.
The smiles say it all!
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Dilly Worm
Posts: 276
Joined: Tue Jul 16, 2019 9:22 pm
Species: target salmon & catch togue

Re: Last Day of Fishing This Year

Post by Dilly Worm »

excellent report, thanks for putting in the time to write all that and to post all those great photos of the kiddos with their many fish !

All those small and growing salmon are a good sign.
I do not exaggerate when I talk about fishing - I underestimate, like I say "just one more cast honey, then I'll come home" !
Keep Calm and... Fish On !
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Surprise
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Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:03 pm
Species: FROSTBITING

Re: Last Day of Fishing This Year

Post by Surprise »

Wow!
What an end to the year and the start of another with calm winds and unseasonably warm weather. Lake temp still 43-44. I thought we would chat and also share the day as we came out of otter as we started. My radio went out so we were silent right off. Turns out that one of my power spade connectors had loosened upon checking when I got home.

Jack, What a crew you have and they "A Best Dad" for sharing. Happy New Year Gang . Look to see you again soon.

Ron, Mike and I had a fun day with spotty fish takes today . Nothing definitive in any of the three areas visited in three days out of Arnold, Converse and Big Otter....but there is this year.

Fish On! Randy
Fish On!
Gecha (Gerry)
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Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2011 12:26 pm
Species: whatever crazy enough to bite

Re: Last Day of Fishing This Year

Post by Gecha (Gerry) »

Thanks Jack for another beauty report.
Kiddoes having fun, great catches, good food, such memorable time for your family.
Great way to end the year, and a wonderful way to start a new one.
Gecha (Gerry North of the Border)
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