herder

Yes it is! Also challenging up there with all the boats on moorings, holding the rod in one hand while paddling with the other is quite interesting while getting pulled into the lines.

Got back from a trip to Massachusetts, we've been going up there as a group camping and kayak fishing now for 15 years. The number of fish caught this year wasn't as great as years past, but the size was the best we've had. One day was a complete blow out with 20 to 30 kt winds and driving rain. The following day was calm, I had 10 fish, 2@33", 1@35" and my biggest ever up there at 41" the rest were in the mid 20's This was my first trip this year in the brine I guess it's ok to post here, they are a kinda of bass, and it was recent ?

Well after not being able to get out for a little while, a friend invited me and my son to a private lake up in North Jersey. Not sure about the rest of the country but here many of the lakes are private communities. Anyway, we launched our kayaks at 9:00am, and it took a couple of hrs to find some willing participants. I forgot my depthfinder so I was a little lost for a while as I’m always checking for drop offs etc, this lake though has a max depth of around 14 ft, water visibility was around 2 ft. Finally was able to find em on the shady sides of docks and pontoon boats. Wound up with 6 Largemouths, 6 Smallmouths and one Sunfish. All throwing a wacky worm and 3” Keitech Swing Impact on a 1/8 jighead. Sizes went from 6” to 18”

? Become a politician???

Back in da day we used to get the square grouper ?

Was up in the Adirondacks camping, what a beautiful place. My best fish was this Largemouth, we only fished for 1 and a half days due to rain and thunderstorms. Largemouths, Smallmouths, Pike and a Sunfish were caught. We had a camp Mallard hanging around to keep us company. On the thunderstorm day there just happened to be a local brewery we had to visit.

Here's a new one for me up in the Adirondacks

Can't tell where I'm at as to the insane amount of pollen that is coating everything here

Went fishing yesterday up in North Jersey. This was a trip planned 2 weeks ago, it's a private lake and my friend has a place there and invited 3 others to fish there. Were all retired and were celebrating one of us who just retired. We were all on kayaks, we really didn't know that the air was going to be as bad as was reported. On the water from 8:30 to 4:30, we all survived, though none of us has any health issues that we're aware of. We caught Largemouths, Smallmouths, Perch, Crappie and our recent member to the weekday fishing club got about a 15 lb carp for the biggest fish of the day. At times the sun was blocked out, so it was like fishing on a really cloudy day. None of us have ever seen anything like this. Pic of me with a nice smallie and a 12" crappie that kinda shows what it looked like here.

North Jersey Delaware River

Summerfest is back from Sierra Nevada after a brief hiatus, great beer. Listened to the Mets on my old transistor radio while doing some yard work, beer eased the pain of listening to the Mets.

70 years up in North Jersey I just assumed that profanity was part of our vernacular

Well, friend of mine called me up and said ya wanna to try a lake near him up in NY? He said he saw some guys come off the lake in kayaks and he went over to talk to them, they showed him some pics of really nice bass they caught that day. Went up on Wednesday, which was my first fishing day this year. Temps were up to 90 and wind was outa the NW, we moved around for a while before I got bit. First fish of the year was the biggest smallie I’ve had in years, then had pretty good action for the rest of the day. Wind really picked up and white caps on the lake, caught all the fish up to that time on jerk baits. We moved back to a cove on the south end and there we caught just largemouths, I switched over to wacky worms off the docks. I wound up with 10 landed and about 5 hooked but got off. 4 smallies and 6 largemouths, all were good size fish. Went back on Thursday, pretty much same weather with high hopes of a repeat. Well that was not to be, fished for 5 hrs for just 1 good largemouth. Had to get off the water as we were beat, hot and tired after paddling around for hrs. Big thanks to BR enlightening me to using a jerk bait early in the season, my buddy was impressed with the action I had on it, I had landed 6 fish before he hooked 1.

These were at Costco for 25$ for a case of 16 oz's, couldn't pass em up and well worth it.

Well the Dogwoods and Forsythias just started blooming, gotta get myself in gear. Grilling up some burgers, and time for a few of my favorite beers at one of my favorite times of the year.

Tonight's brew

Good luck with the new grill, I haven't used charcoal in over 30 years. I'm still using a Weber Gold Genesis for about 25 years now. I did have to replace the flavor bars and the grill grates, looks like I'm going to have to find replacement burners now. I'm running on direct natural gas, don't have to worry about running out of propane, just have to remember to shut it off !!!!

Couple of these while grillin' sausages.

2 from last night, searching through the fridge for some singles. Founders was 18 months old and still great, Horny Goat someone must have brought it over and it was ok, nothing great. Both were 8.5%, so 2 were enough ??

Been think'n about using Reapers for probably almost 50 yrs !! Thanks to wrb for letting all us know this is about it for them. The 25% off at TW sealed the deal, of course had to get other stuff for the free shipping ?

Couple of local NJ beers while making Chicken Marsala, the Recession Buster is a special release thanking the people for supporting them for 5$ a 4 pack of 16 oz beers!