jbmaine

Yes, and not just about fishing. Every so often I'll get a " something is about to happen" thought, and more often it's right. Had it all my life.

Getting that far away from the crowd. Love it!!!!!!!!!

Water quality does make a difference in the fishing. I've seen it multiple times. As the water quality gets worse the fishing goes down hill as well.

Well said!

Spooking fish with the noise we make. In my experience this ( like many things in life) is a sometimes yes and sometimes no answer. I've seen it go both ways. I've fly fished waters for native trout where a bad cast resulting in excess line splash will shut the fishing down for some time, and I've caught many fish right by the boat. My PB LM was caught 5 feet from the boat, in five feet of water, with the TM and sonar both going. In some water I fish there is so much boat traffic on a summer weekend that if bass were spooked every time they heard a noise, they would die of exhaustion by days end.

First, let me give everyone a massive big Thank you!!. Last month I asked for your prayers and kind thoughts for us with my missus up coming cancer surgery. So many of you responded and we can't begin to tell you how much it meant to us. Her surgery was last week and yesterday we were told the pathology came back with the best possible results, and now officially my wife is cancer free!! We are still on pins and needles and are so glad they were able catch it early and treat it ( remove it) before it spread. Can't tell you how good it feels to be able to plan our next days, weeks, months with out Cancer hanging over us.

The missus and I have never had " pets", but we have always had" furry family". We love animals of all sorts. Currently we have two rescue kitties that nobody else wanted. They are the sweetest cats you could imagine. Here's one of ours in a stare down with one of my outdoor buddies waiting for lunch. Here's lunch time at our house.

I fished out of a canoe for many years before buying a boat. I tried several canoe's before settling for a Radisson brand canoe. The Radisson was ( for me) the perfect fishing canoe. There are several sizes and styles to choose from. Mine was the 14Ft. pointed .I loved it because it was light , 41 lbs., foam lined, came with oar locks for the two paddles. I used to sit on the bottom of it and row it to troll. Sit in one of the seats to cast, used a trolling motor sometimes to get around . It was light, stable, tracked well and was very quiet to fish out of. I don't know how this compares to your current canoe but it might be worth a look. FYI -The sports pal is the heaver version of the Radisson. Radisson Brochure:Kiwi Kayak Brochure.qxd.qxd (sportspalcanoes.com)

WOW! thank you so so much everybody. Can't tell you how much the missus and I appreciate all the support. We just got back from a pre surgery appointment and so far everyone on her team has been top notch. Mrs. Jim ( she's kind of shy about using her real name) is being treated within the Mass General Brigham Wentworth Douglass hospital system and we are lucky the hospital is only thirty minutes from the house. Jim

A few weeks ago our world changed when my wife, the love of my life, was told she had Cancer. They tell us it was caught early, that her prognosis is very good. She is lucky there is a well regarded Cancer center near by. A week from today she goes in for surgery, then a few days wait for the pathology to come back, then a plan for further treatment as needed. If you can, will you please send an extra thought or prayer our way. It would mean the world to us. Thanks Jim

If I could step out of a time machine, I would love to fish the lake we had a camp on when I was a kid, as it was back then. I would also love to fish the Androscoggin river from Errol down thru the thirteen mile woods as it was back in the seventies when I first started fishing it. And-if I could really crank the old time machine up I would love to see and fish this area as it was before it was settled. I have often wondered what it must have looked like back then.

More times than I can count, and yes I loved it. In my younger days I was mostly after trout, and I had a 4X truck with a cap, and a roof rack for my canoe. Using this I was always in northern Maine or New Hampshire fly fishing as far off the beaten track as I could possibly get. I fished weeks not seeing another fisherman and these were some of my happiest times.

This time next month I'll be 70. I used to fish until I dropped. Back in the day I thought nothing of getting up at 2AM, driving three hours and hitting a northern trout river in time for the morning hatch. Staying two or three days, sleeping on the ground. Heading home, put in 60 hours at work, and doing the same thing again. Standing in a fast moving river all day really builds up the old leg muscles. But, as in most things, time takes it's toll. Back surgery, foot surgery, arthritis, and more, and I'm happy to sit in our comfortable boat while I fish. Usually 3-4 hours does it for us.

Thanks for all of the replies everyone. Really appreciate it.

Good job. Overcast drizzly days and spinnerbaits go hand and hand with us as well.

That had to hurt. I've spent a lot of time in those waters. Makes what ever size boat you are in feel too small. Watch: Whale breaches water and lands on boat in New Hampshire | Watch (msn.com)

Hi All, The missus and I spend most of our time fishing a few different lakes, and the last few years we have watched almost all of them decline in terms of fishing, water quality, aquatic life to the point it's getting down right discouraging. Today I'll talk about two of them. The first lake is about 1000 acres. This lake has special meaning to me as we had a camp on it when I was a kid. I learned to fish on this lake over 65 years ago. This lake was a gem. 20 years ago we we could easily catch twenty or more LM a day. We used to fish the morning, stop for lunch, go for a swim, then fish some more before heading home. There were frogs and turtles everywhere. Around 2008 the lake had bad spring flooding. That summer the lake exploded with massive weed growth. By mid summer there were " rafts" of weeds floating on the surface. We thought of the term Sargasso to describe them. The water clarity disappeared and was full of particulates. Within a couple of years the fishing really fell off. It was so bad we barely fished it. By 2017 however it seemed the lake was starting to come back. We had a couple of good years there. Then Hit Covid . Our Governor implored everyone to take advantage and enjoy the outdoors, and boy did they. Some years before the state had put a really large public launch on this lake and wow does it get used. Today the missus and I won't go near it after Memorial day or before Labor day. Every weekend all summer long this lake gets over fifty additional boats on it. On some weekends the launch gets full by 9AM and the overflow parks all down the road. The fishing is iffy at best, the water quality is awful, ( we wouldn't swim in it now if you paid us) and we haven't seen a frog or turtle in years. I don't see this lake coming back. The second lake-- Also about 1000 acres. This has been a great SM lake. We've got a lot of really good fish out of this lake over the years. One of the things the wife and I like to do is cruise around the lake during the spawn to see how many beds there are, to see how healthy the lake looks in term of SM. For a number of years there was no change. We saw hundreds of beds every Spring. But, starting three years ago the number of beds started declining. This year I don't think there was much of a spawn at all, we've only seen a handful of beds all along the lake. The water clarity is down to about half of what it was and so far no frogs or turtles at all this year. This lake is also becoming popular with the well to do. Last few years more seasonal camps are being sold and replaced with " mansions" Well, thanks for letting me vent. Here's a couple of " mansion" pics from yesterday. These are personal homes, not lodges.

Don't get me wrong .I believe in stealth also. There is a certain pond in northern Maine I used to fly fish for native brookies. The trout were tucked in around a spring. I learned to wait until there was a breeze to riffle the water before casting. If I casted when it was calm the line splash would spook the fish. I'm just saying every so often there are exceptions. The misses is a very interesting fisherwomen. She has tendinitis in both hands, arms, and so has very little strength in either arm. A zebco is all she can handle and her casts are more of a lob and go most anywhere. A weightless senko is about all she uses. If she hooks a fish I have to reel it in for her ( that's why I was holding the fish). With all that I can't begin to tell you how many times she has out fished me. Yes, she did catch a seven pounder, on a cast that ended up far from where she was aiming, in the middle of open water with no structure in sight, six feet of water, dead featureless bottom, in an area I would never have cast to. It taught me to never take for granite where fish might be.

I didn't measure the length or girth but my digital scale read 5 lb. 2 oz. This catch flew in the face of all the " Ya gotta be stealthy to catch the big ones" kind of talk. We were in a large cove with constant 6 ft depth and submerged weed bed up to two feet below the surface. I had set the trolling motor to slowly move us across the whole cove. So TM was going, sonar was pinging away, I was fan casting as we went. This one hit a spinner bait five feet from the boat. I actually saw the blur as it come out of the weeds. It doesn't look it from the pic. but the one five pics. down is one the missus caught ( on a Zebco reel) and was two pounds heaver than this one.

Here's a few of our better ones over the years.

My fishing experiences live in my memories. I can revisit them anytime. I've always found that's enough for me. Any pics. etc. are a bonus. If, when or how I catch another record will stay with me also.☺️

Hi all, Seems dogs have been in our forums of late and I thought I'd add this as a safety reminder. Don't know if this gentleman was fishing per say but it seems certain having a life vest saved this dogs life. Dog Missing After Boat Accident Found Alive With His Life Vest On (msn.com)

I consider myself to be a peaceful person. That being said , I have a very short fuse when it comes to seeing people being cruel to kids and animals.

This is one I've never seen. So glad those guys were there. Fishermen in Mississippi pull off dramatic rescue of 38 dogs treading water (msn.com)

Whatever you are most comfortable with gives you the best chance to catch fish with, big, medium, or small. I only use spinning and have had no trouble in the salt bringing in stripers, blues, sharks, what ever.