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| Bugs and Bass 2014 http://vaturkey.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8958 |
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| Author: | Coalman [ Tue May 13, 2014 7:49 am ] |
| Post subject: | Bugs and Bass 2014 |
Bugs and Bass 2014 has started. Lobsta' Bait http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alewife Good run last evening. When I saw the flocks of seagulls and cormorants arrive I knew something was going to happen. Got a tote limit in about an hour. Six foot cast net. That will do half the summer. Boat is in the driveway. Now I have incentive to launch and trap. Tentative splash date Memorial Day Weekend.  
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| Author: | Coalman [ Mon May 19, 2014 8:37 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Bugs and Bass 2014 |
05-17-14 Good times with Fishstarcraft, Willy-C and Rickski at the falls today. Thank you Willy for bringing the eats. That Moe sure hit the spot. All toll, morning and evening tide, I got about 50. 05-18-14 Can't net today. At dusk they were charging the falls like salmon. Best run I have seen in a few years.  05-19-14 You can net on Mondays. Was at the falls at 0430. Home and in the shower by 0530. Pulled the basket about a dozen times. I can taste the lobsters now. 
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| Author: | Coalman [ Sat May 31, 2014 8:53 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Bugs and Bass 2014 |
05-30-14 You can't have a successful Bugs and Bass season without bait. Splashed the USS Coalman at high tide. Joe came down to the dock to go out and look for spawning horseshoe crabs for our eel bait. He said it has been pretty slow so far this year. I accompanied him and it seems to be heating up. We are allowed ten per day with our netters permit. Now we have some eel bait. Bring on Bugs and Bass 2014. 
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| Author: | Coalman [ Sat May 31, 2014 7:48 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Bugs and Bass 2014 |
05-31-14 Drowned 14 traps today. It still reminds me of putting up firewood. You touch the traps a few times before you get to... Stack the deck.  Saw this lovely lady fishing all by herself at the trestle. Where has she been all my life?  Alewives for bait.  The crab harvest yesterday meant striper bait today.  Looking forward to boiling the first bug of the year and catching a linesider with our home grown bait. |
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| Author: | Coalman [ Tue Jun 03, 2014 9:16 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Bugs and Bass 2014 |
06-02-14 At the river at 6PM. Home with a limit of salted alewives at 7:30PM. Got enough bait now to run a few more traps. Life is good! |
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| Author: | Coalman [ Mon Jun 09, 2014 12:51 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Bugs and Bass 2014 |
06-06-14 Went looking for alewives Friday. Found these two had beat me to the best vantage point. They also had a pair of mallards keeping company. Never saw one fish.  06-07-14 First run of the lobster traps brought in four keepah lobsters, five shorty's and four horseshoe crabs. Got my limit of eels this weekend too. Saw these mute swans on the way out. I don't see them in the river much. Bay yes, river no.  Slung eels till dark looking for a striper or two. Skunked, no takers. 06-08-14 A change of bait didn't help my luck. Filled the live well with alewives and proceeded to fish quite a few drifts. Took Roccus's advice and never "married a spot". The last place I tried on the way in was where I caught the bait. Got a bite but had a circle hook on. Forgot you aren't suppose to set the hook.  Back at it this week. It was good to replenish the salt in my veins. |
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| Author: | Coalman [ Thu Jun 19, 2014 1:23 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Bugs and Bass 2014 |
Captain-Commitment-Knowledge-Network Saw a recent episode of "The Bait". A question was asked to the captains' on how they can be so successful year after year on the Bering Sea. As each answered in his own way it reminded me of being in my own boat. What do these words mean to you? To me....... Captain Defiantly the most important crew member. It is his job to know every working aspect of their boat. Along with being responsible for all crew members at all times. Captains must earn their crews respect as the go to person on any question about the vessel. Commitment Committing to learning your quarry. Using your time OTW to gain experience. Knowledge Not only of the fishery but what has worked in the past? Tides? Winds? Bait? Knowing the seasonal fish or shellfish movements. Network You develop and refine a network of family, friends and co-fisherman you can lean on. Each of these things can only be gained with time and experience OTW. Each mariner has a particular niche as they strive to master their chosen fishery. Sometimes I have more fun on someone else's boat when I don't have to be the captain. Lots of less pressure. I can sit back and enjoy the trip rather than in a situation like lobster trapping on my boat being the captain, the deck hand and the bait boy. I was also thinking about what another lobsterman said because I call my traps a lobster line. Traditionally it is called a string. To me a string of traps is a trawl. A buoy on each end and a string connecting all the traps. I still prefer the term line as a lobster trapper who runs singles. I put my traps in a line so when other lobsterman see my two buoys they think I have a string of traps between and will not lay traps in the gap.  These words do not only apply to fishing. They go a long way in a turkey hunting community also. |
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| Author: | Coalman [ Thu Jun 19, 2014 1:26 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Bugs and Bass 2014 |
06-09-14 The labor is worth the reward.  I do don't think he can get therah from herah.  06-14-14 Good morning on the boat. Six keepah lobster. All very soft. Shells like paper. The bugs are just coming out of the shed. Put them all in my lobster car to harden up a bit. Sea worm hatch in the headwaters of the Squamscott River. Lots of small bait at Fox Point. No busting bass noted. Bugs in the AM and striped bass fishing this afternoon. Hope the thunderstorms hold off. Life is good. |
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| Author: | Coalman [ Fri Jun 20, 2014 7:47 am ] |
| Post subject: | 3 Bites....3 Stripes |
06-19-14 Found myself here last evening. Big tide. The island out front was almost covered. As the tide started to move out I remembered this guy named Dick told me that just as the tide gained momentum that the fish held right over a lower end eating rock. He was right! The skunk is off. Three nice stripers saw the inside of the USS Coalman before getting the release of life. 28”, 29” and 29.5”. Live home grown Squamscott River eels for bait. Healthy strong fish. Drag peelers. I left biting fish. I owe that Pinney guy a beer. 
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| Author: | Coalman [ Sat Jun 28, 2014 1:43 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Bugs and Bass 2014 |
06-22-14 47 degrees at the slip at 0530. Headed out to sling some slime. The ospreys greeted my day.  The Squamscott River felt nuclear.  Could barely see the trestle.  The trestle through the fog. The gateway to adventure.  Saw some bass working a rip. Got ahead of it and drifted in. They were boiling all around the boat. Wouldn't touch an eel. My guess worm hatch. Sounded like they were sucking something in right under the surface. After fishing for a couple hours in a dozen spots I was getting pretty close to admitting the skunk when I landed the first striper. One more followed an hour later. Both shorties. Been trying circle hooks. Both bass were lipped hooked. It reminds we of Wicked Tuna...Reel, reel, reel! Great Bay and the trestle on the way in.  Good day to be alive! 06-28-14 Little warmer this AM than last week. 47 to 51. I'm starting to like this summer. It was hit or miss on the bugs this morning. Ended up with better than a pound per trap. Very few shorts. One hard shell keeper and the rest shedders. The lobsters seem to be in broken bottom rather than on the flats and in the mud. Caught a real nice recently shed female. You could see from the shape of one rear flipper she had been notched before. She got another notch and the release of life. I'll be eating her prodigy some day. Set my "hero or zero" traps last week. A lonely out of the way spot that is over a mile round trip back to my main trapping area. Those two traps produced three big keepers. It was good to have a a couple heroes on the line today. The traps were reset. Stay tuned. It was a negative tide this morning. Finished putting today's catch in the car just as the tide turned in. Met up with Ray and being such a beautiful morning to be OTW I opted to stay out a little while and watch Ray pulls traps. It was a good day to be on the Bay. 
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| Author: | Coalman [ Mon Jun 30, 2014 9:03 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Bugs and Bass 2014 |
06-29-14 OTW at 0530. Little warmer today. 54 degrees. Six bites, two eels that turned into the circle hook and one fish that just "fell" off resulted in three linesiders gracing the deck of the Coalman. 2 34" big shouldered linebackers and a 23". All still swimming for others to enjoy. There are no selfies with an Iphone.  Not a big circle hook fan but for the sake of the resource I'm trying. Every bass this year caught on circles has been lipped hooked. Man do lip stuck stripers fight like bulls. Heard a roar in the northern sky as I passed through Fox Point.  Found out from a Pease Greeter the plane is an Atlas double decked 747. It had 317 Army personal aboard "heading over". http://www.peasegreeters.org/about.htm Because of their bravery protecting our freedom I can bring you Bugs and Bass. A salute from the captain and crew of the USS Coalman for your service. It was behemoth.  The only crowd today was the no see 'ems. |
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| Author: | Coalman [ Fri Jul 04, 2014 12:21 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Bugs and Bass 2014 |
06-30-14 Fished the Bay last night till dusk. The wind made it hard to drift. Bass 1, Coalman 0. There wasn't a boat in sight.  07-04-14 Glad the weatherman was wrong. Thought I'd have to dress like the Gloucester Fisherman checking traps with the predicted rain. OTW at 0630. Sunny and blue sky. Just an inch to spare getting under the trestle. High tide means we aren't restricted to following navigation buoys. Pointed the bow NE and skimmed the flats three miles to the first trap. The first string of eight traps produced seven keepers. The next string of five traps, nine keepers. The last two traps, Hero and Zero, four keepers. Pulled the furthest one back. It caught three keepers on two checks. Time to let the trench repopulate. Took that trap from 18' of water to 44'. Caught what has to be a three pounder in 12' today. Lots of female keeper lobsters got measured. If you had a female in a trap she always had one to three suitors. The bounty included only one hard shell. The lobster had barnacles growing on it. Gonna need a mallet to crack those claws. Everything else today was new shell. They are sure shiny and colorful in their new armor. Today catch in the coolers. Future lobster salad in the car.  Saw a Cinder Worm spawn on the way to check the Hero and Zero traps. There were a few fish boiling on them. What a phenomenon of nature. It is like opening up a candy store to an elementary school and all the goodies are free. http://www.saltwatersportsman.com/trave ... worm-hatch For the fly fishermen out there. http://www.orvis.com/news/fly-fishing/c ... der-worms/ Have a safe and happy 4th. |
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| Author: | TScottW99 [ Sat Jul 05, 2014 8:33 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Bugs and Bass 2014 |
Yum! 
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| Author: | Vic [ Mon Jul 07, 2014 10:23 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Bugs and Bass 2014 |
Coalman, Love reading these. Just wonder why you catch all those rockfish/stripers and let them go. I like eating them, don't you? Vic |
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| Author: | Coalman [ Thu Jul 10, 2014 5:03 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Bugs and Bass 2014 |
Hi Vic, Not a fish eater but I could like off shellfish. I have been through the closed season of the early 80's. Striped bass are hurting through out their range. If we all let them go or just kept half a limit our children will thank us. 07-09-14 Yummmmm  and Double Yummmmmm 
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