Joys of trolling

Although I'm mostly a fresh water fisherman I like fishing in the salt, and once a year or so I find myself on a boat trolling.  It's not my favorite way of fishing, but it has its charms.  On a good boat with a good captain and among pleasant companions, it can be great.

Yesterday was one such day.  It was the second time this year I've fished with Capt. Billy Pipkin out of Ingram Bay Marina on Virginia's Northern Neck.  His boat, Liquid Assets, is big enough at 43 feet to handle the sometimes rough waters of the Chesapeake Bay, and he's a skilled captain.

While you're waiting for a fish to hit it's very social, so good companionship is important.  My friend Joe drove down with me from Maryland, and my friend Capt. Dave was assisting as mate.  I had met some of the rest of our group on a trip earlier this summer and a couple were new to me but were friends of Capt Dave, and all were good guys to hang out with.

And I came back with a good supply of filets from the bluefish and Spanish mackerel we caught.

Going fishing is always the best decision

I don't think I've ever decided later that going was a mistake.  I've come home comfortably hot, cold, or wet and sometimes discouraged concerning my lack of success, but never sorry I went.

Yesterday I had almost decided to cancel my plans to fish the upper Patuxent between the reservoirs because the forecast was for the mid 90's and I was already hot after my morning old guy exercises, but I happened to glance at the thermometer shortly before 11 and it hadn't hadn't reached 80 degrees yet.  What the hell, it would only be a 20 minute drive and I could always return.

A half an hour later under the shade of the stream-side trees, I was standing in the cool water just over my ankles catching fish:  two small bass on a B&B and about a half dozen fallfish when I went deeper with a crystal bugger.  It's a small stretch of water, so I was finished with it in just over an hour.

Looking back on the week, Monday I caught almost nothing and yesterday it was mostly something commonly called a "trash fish", and yet I returned both times satisfied with good memories of the day.

First week of the Fall Semester

On Wednesday I was able to register at noon on the first day of classes which is earlier than normal for the Golden ID (geezer) program, but it was too late to receive the professor's e-mail that there would be no discussion classes that day.




Fortunately, outside the classroom there was a display of aquatic insects of the Middle Patuxent that was ideal entertainment for a Maryland fly fisherman.



The first lecture was yesterday and the course, "Evolution of Life and Environment on Planet Earth (And Beyond)",  looks to be interesting.

Tidal Patuxent

Having spent the past week getting in tune with the ocean tides, I apparently needed to wean myself away gradually because I found myself heading to one of the close to home tidal areas today.  Although I didn't check the  tables until I got home, my visit turned out to correspond closely with one tidal cycle since I arrived at Hills Bridge just after the low at 10:18 this morning and left about a half hour before high tide at 2:27 in the afternoon.

It was my first time with my new wooden kayak paddle, and I enjoyed using it very much.  Only caught one small fish although I had heard some promising reports concerning largemouth bass.  I guess I'll have to sharpen my tidal bass skills because although I hadn't been there in quite a while I plan to be returning.  It's a beautiful area which is amazingly wild considering it's only 20 miles from Washington, DC.

This year's beach house

We've had quite a variety during the 25 years we've been renting houses for the week in Bethany Beach, Delaware.  Some we've stayed in multiple times and others just once.  This year it was one of the better ones, and we're likely to try to rent it again.

It was larger than most we've had with two screened in porches, a deck which extended the full width of the house, and a huge living room.  Actually there were two living rooms with the smaller having the TV.  Having only three bedrooms was unusual for a house this size, but three are plenty for our family.  It was not on the beach, but the ocean was visible from most of the house.

The weather was excellent, and we had daughter and fiance all week.  Son Greg made it down for a couple of days.  We had friends Margaret and George over for dinner one evening and had brunch at their house in South Bethany yesterday before leaving for home.  Great week.

Summer fishing summary

Since it's getting close to Labor Day, I'm going to summarize fishing trips that I haven't mentioned previously on this blog.

-Three or four times I've fished from the canoe at Rocky Gorge Reservoir, and as usual only caught one or two bream on each of the short trips.

- Twice I've explored new places on familiar rivers and probably wouldn't return.  Once was on the Monocacy at Buckeystown where I did catch a number of bream and a small bass, but there's a park there which made the whole experience too public, especially since rapids discouraged me from exploring upriver.  Another time was downriver from my usual spots on the Patapsco, on parkland accessed off U.S. Route 1.  Not only was it also too public, but I caught nothing at all there.  Fortunately I had some luck upstream, so I didn't feel blanked for the day.

-Although I've been avoiding fishing the nearby pond this summer, I did go out once in the rain and had decent luck with bream, a largemouth, and a crappie.

-The day before yesterday I had another good day at Nolands Ferry on the Potomac even though the river level was higher than I prefer for the wading spots behind the island.

All in all, a good summer.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

I finished reading this Ernest Hemingway novel a few days ago, so I've been able to reflect on what I feel about it.  Initially I read it as a teenager, but I don't remember exactly how I reacted to it then.

Spoiler alert:  If anyone reading this thinks they may someday read this book and if knowing the plot beforehand spoils a work of fiction... read no further.

The action takes place over four days, and the young protagonist experiences during those days a lifetime of experiences and emotions.  The band of guerrillas in the Spanish mountains during the civil war become Robert Jordan's family and lifelong friends.  He first experiences romantic love with the even younger Maria and reflects as he faces his likely death that he considers his life as complete because of the intensity of the four days.

Like the rest of us Robert Jordan has his work, and he sometimes has to put his love for Maria aside to focus on that work which in his case is blowing up a bridge of strategic importance to the cause that he is fighting for.  There is his painful resignation that, "the world is a fine place and worth fighting for and I hate very much to leave it."  As an outdoorsman, Hemingway always provides the reader with  the sights, sounds, and smells of that surrounding world and makes us feel the sadness of anyone having to leave it.

Hot action on the upper Monocacy

Weather's hot and so was the fishing today.  In a little over an hour I caught 2 smallmouth bass and about 15 or 20 bream.  Hot fly was the B&B.  Bass weren't as big as I've been catching on the Potomac but jumped and fought well on the five weight.

This is the furthest up the Monocacy I've ever been.  Water level was 2.11 at Bridgeport and 1.83 at Frederick.

Hibiscus flowers along the Potomac

At least that's what I think they are.  Anyway, they're growing along the Virginia shore near where the Monocacy River flows into the Potomac.

I caught some nice smallmouth today, first on a chartreuse bullet head darter and then on a chartreuse wooly bugger which I lost shortly after.  I then tied on a white and red bullet head darter which also worked.  All fish fought well and jumped multiple times.

Levels were 1.79 at Point of Rocks and 3.17 at Little Falls.

The Spanish Civil War

As I frequently do, today I looked up historical events of the current date and learned that the Spanish Civil War began on July 18, 1936 although some sources give the date as the 17th.

When the civil war broke out, the existing government was a representative republic who were challenged by the Fascist insurgents led by Franco.  The civil war is often viewed as a prelude to WWII because Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy supported the insurgents while the USSR supported the Republican government.  In addition to the Soviet government, non-Spaniards, often communists or socialists, joined the opposition to Franco because they believed that the Spanish Republic was a front line in the general war against fascism.

 I'm currently reading Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls which takes place during the Spanish Civil War, so this subject is on my mind lately.  The novel's protagonist is an American who is fighting on the side of the Loyalists, those who support the government, and is a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the name given to this group of Americans.  The Abraham Lincoln Brigade became viewed by the American government as a communist front because of the large number of communist party members, and even 30 years later the organization's name still appeared on federal government job applications as a subversive group.

It's popular to comment about the polarization of current American politics, but a civil war such as Spain's shows that political polarization can be much more extreme.  The main character of For Whom the Bell Tolls is not a communist but accepts their leadership in the absence of any viable place for political moderates.  I'm sure that among the insurgents were non-Fascist conservatives who similarly allied themselves with leadership that they did not fully agree with.  Amidst the bloodshed everyone had to chose a side, and the voices of moderates from the political right and left were lost in the thunder of combat.

History is valuable in giving one a perspective on the present.

UXO pulled up with anchor

UXO stands for unexploded ordnance, and this one was brought up off the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay during a fishing trip Saturday.  The military has used obsolete ships as targets in a number of spots on the Bay in years past.  Holding the bomb is my friend Capt. Dave who is a retired charter boat captain in the Northern Neck of Virginia.

 
Besides the bomb, we also caught rockfish, blues, and croaker, but the fishing was slow despite the hard work of Capt. Billy Pipkin. 

He's an excellent fishing guide and an entertaining guy to be around.  His boat was very comfortable for the six anglers invited by Capt. Dave who organized the trip.  I had a good time.

Nice day at Nolands Ferry

View is upstream towards Point of Rocks where the water level was listed at 1.16.  Little Falls reading was 2.94.  Fished for a couple of pleasant hours and caught a nice smallmouth bass on a white Bullet Head Darter using an eight weight rod.

Wildflowers on my walk

Like many old guys, I'm walking daily for health and enjoying it even though I have to get out early on these hot days.  Every day I pass by wildflowers alongside a wooded area of the park.

Because the exercise requires that the walk is nonstop, I don't bring a camera.  A few days ago, however, I came back with one.

And, of course, when the lilies in the pond flower, they always attract my attention.

Overnight to Bethany Beach

Tuesday we drove down for a couple of days to take advantage of the perfect weather.  Pam took this picture the evening of the first day.

Past Potomac high water

 At the top edge of this picture is most of a plastic lawn chair that apparently came down river in a flood until it stuck in the branches.  The chair is about 20 feet above the current level of the river, and the tree is on Nolands Island upriver from the Nolands Ferry boat ramp. 

Yesterday's level was 1.80 at Point of Rocks and 3.21 at Little Falls.  I was there to fish and landed three smallmouth bass and one bream and hooked and lost three other bass.  Losing fish is common when fishing for smallmouths, but in recent years I've lost very few so I believe the law of averages caught up with me.  All of the bass but one were hooked on a chartreuse bullet head darter that I ordered from Joe Bruce of Westminster, Maryland.

June Fishing

Fishing at the pond has been very slow.  The only good outing was an evening a week or two ago when I caught two good crappie and a largemouth all within a half an hour or so.  It's probably key that it was an evening rather than an afternoon.  On the afternoon trips this month (2 or 3) the only catch was a small bass one day when I felt like fishing the 7 foot fiberglass rod that I haven't used in about 20 years.  In May I wrote that bluegills were pretty much a sure thing at the shallow end, but that certainly is no longer the case.

I did another trip this month based on wanting to use a particular rod.  That one was to Thomas Point Park because it is a close place to fish the salt with my 9 weight rod.  Didn't catch anything, but it's a nice place that I intend to return to.

Yesterday I set out to fish Antietam Creek near the Civil War battlefield, but it was high and off-color from a recent rain.  Instead I continued to the Potomac at Shepherdstown, West Virginia which was running pretty clear.  I didn't want to wade very far, but I did manage a nice smallmouth and a bluegill within a short time.

The June fishing trip to the Gunpowder is described on June 7th below.

Gormania, West Virginia

Spent a couple of days visiting.  Above is Pam, her sister Kathy, and Kathy's husband Bernie in front of Kathy and Bernie's home which is the house that Pam and Kathy's mother grew up in.





Their clematis plant was so handsome I wanted a picture highlighting it.












Gormania is very near the headwaters of the Potomac River, and the river flows a few feet in front of the house.

The House and Yard: Early Summer

 

Masemore Mill on the Gunpowder River

The agricultural mill was built in 1793 and is now a private residence.

Yesterday I fished the Gunpowder for the first time in a couple of years.  Although I got only one fish, I felt satisfied because the last visit or two I caught nothing.  The river is a nationally known trout stream, and being located near a highly populated area it gets heavily fished.  The trout have become very wary and hard to fool, so any fish caught is cause for pride.  The one I got fell to an old fashioned wet fly.  He was a brown trout of  only about 10 inches, but he fought hard on the  four weight fly rod.

I was concerned when I arrived in the parking lot in the late morning because it was filled with cars and was relieved to realize they didn't belong to fishermen.  There was a gathering of Maryland state troopers and men and women in business attire.  As I suited up in my waders, I listened to them planning an upcoming event that would be attended by the Governor and also heard mention of the name of the famous fisherman Marylander Lefty Kreh.  I checked into this later and discovered that a trail  along the river was to be named for Lefty and that next week there will be a dedication ceremony.

A Lesson Before Dying

Early in this Ernest Gaines novel the reader learns that a young black man in Louisiana in the late 1940's has been convicted of a murder he did not commit.  Racial injustice is not the primary story, however, because I believe a white man caught in the same circumstances and using the same disastrous judgment may have also been found guilty.  A white man would not have been compared to an animal during the trial, though.  Ironically, it was the defendant's own attorney who in an effort to save him from execution says there would be no more justice in killing him than killing a hog.

It is this comparison which moves the story forward as another young black man, Grant, is pressured into regular visits to the condemned man to convince him to face death as a man despite what has been said about him.  Grant is a contrast to the jailed man;  he is intelligent, educated, and attractive to the women of the black community.  He is also somewhat confused and indecisive about his own life and feels restricted by the limited opportunity of his economically depressed racist surroundings.  He often thinks of leaving with his married but separated pretty girl friend, but stays and continues his job teaching school which he finds unsatisfying.  As he gradually effects change in the prisoner, he also changes.

My complaint against some novels set in the segregationist South is that the characters are simplistic;  all the blacks are good and all whites bad.  Although Gaines writes using simple words and sentences, his characters are not at all simple.  The black characters are a mix of flaws and good intentions, and most of the whites are not so much evil as unquestioning of the society they were born into and its privileges to them and the injustices to others.  This is the way most people are in my experience.

A Lesson Before Dying is often taught in schools alongside the classic To Kill a Mockingbird.  The novels take place in similar Deep South locales, at times not far apart, and with an inter-racial crime crucial to the plot, but the stories are much different.  I very much admire them both.

More May fishing

Four or five trips, all to the pond except Friday, May 11 to the Patapsco where I caught my first smallmouth of the season.  Other than that, it's been all bream.  Been using sponge spiders the past two days.  I'm catching on every trip because on the shallow end of the pond it's pretty much a sure thing this time of year.

Daughter Rebecca receives Masters

Tuesday at the New York University's Institute of Fine Arts.

Short but pleasant trip to the Apple.  Good dinner Monday night in Brooklyn and lunch Tuesday on the Upper East Side.

Father looking all of 65 years and daughter a lively 28 years.

May Fishing, so far

Have been out four times and caught fish on each trip.  Two were short trips to the park pond, and I caught only a few bluegills.  Best day was yesterday at the pond when I caught two rainbow trout, one largemouth, and 6-8 bluegills all on an olive marabou streamer. 

Only other notable trip was last Wednesday, May 2.  That afternoon I walked over to fish the pond  and realized that it was in the process of receiving another stocking. As I watched, I began a conversation with the guy who appeared to be heading the crew, and he told me at their previous stop they had put in a couple of 10 pounders.

Now, how many times in my life am I going to have a shot a 10 pound rainbow trout? And at a 10 minute drive from my house? As I drove my brain starting working: Should I have exchanged the five weight fly rod for something heavier? Should I go back and get a net? Was the guy who told me the story having a good laugh with the rest of the crew about my gullibility? What the hell, I'll press on.

Northwest Branch goes under Route 29 at the fall line, and the stream descends very rapidly through a series of falls and rapids. It's an amazing sight for just outside the Beltway, and between the fast water there's some fairly deep pools. There were a couple of fishermen there including a guy my age with hip boots and a spinning rod who I thought I had seen at the park pond as it was being stocked.

Yeah, I saw some stocked trout swimming around in confusion, but none looked anywhere near 10 pounds. I fished for a couple of hours and didn't catch any of them. Oh yes, I did catch an 8 inch bluegill. Not for a second did I think I'd hooked a monster trout.

Greg in Performance

My son Greg has played in a heavy/thrash metal band for a number of years.

 He's played with other bands and went on a three month tour with one, but Burning Shadows is always his main group.  Greg writes almost all the music, plays lead guitar, and does some of the vocals.






I chose these two images from the band's website.  I don't know who took the pictures.

Maryland Day

An annual family oriented event at the university.









Watched half of a lacrosse game:

Flags from many nations.  I'm not certain of the significance.

Beekeeping demonstrations...

 Cooking demos...











As always at these events, there was a wide variety of food.  I chose crab cakes which were very tasty, but the grilled food sure smelled good.

 
It's much less of a cow college than when I was an undergrad, but the College of Agriculture remains a place of interest.

Upper Patuxent Catch and Release Section

Hadn't fished the stretch of water down from the Hipsley Mill Road crossing in a number of years, so I drove up there yesterday afternoon.  Although I don't normally think of the Pax as pretty in comparison with most trout streams, it looked so nice and the day was so pleasant that I didn't feel all that disappointed that after two hours I caught only two fall fish and no trout. 

After a bite of lunch, I spent the last half hour walking back upstream towards the parking lot.  When I came to a deep slow moving run that looked very promising earlier, I decided to give it another try and was rewarded with what might be the best trout of the year so far.  The rainbow fought hard, and my estimate of him was about 14 inches when I got him into the net.  Used the same olive marabou streamer all day.

With George and Margaret at Bethany Beach

As always, we had a fun overnight with great food and conversation.  That's them above with some anonymous passer-by in the frame behind Margaret.

Foundations of Architecture

In the last few weeks of this class, we've been focusing on creating hypothetical changes for the Journalism building, one of the newer structures on campus.




My changes evolved into a greenhouse with an entrance from the atrium under the stairs. There would be brick walls leading into the greenhouse which would have a matching brick wall. Each wall would also serve as a planter for small shrubs.

The past 10 days fishing

Three trips total, two to the pond in the park and one to the Izaak Walton League Lake. Last week caught a largemouth bass on a short trip to the park, and some bluegills at the Izaak Walton League. Yesterday stayed at the park pond longer a got a couple of crappie, some bluegills, a largemouth, and a rainbow trout. Everything caught on marabou streamers, black last week and yesterday chartreuse was the most effective color.

University small band jazz

Having seen the big bands last month, last night Stan the Man and I went to the chamber jazz concert. Since it's still Passover, Stan and I had a kosher dinner at Hillel, the university's Jewish center. I don't often have kosher meals but I like the food, and it's healthier than I would have gotten at the barbeque place we often go to before a basketball game or a concert as Pam pointed out.


The first group was a sextet and this, the second group, had the same instrumentation but added a trumpeter as the seventh musician.

April walk in the park

Yesterday.










Pam has researched these yellow wildflowers, but I forget the name.

Another mixed bag from the pond

Largemouth bass, two crappie, and a bluegill, all on the same black marabou streamer. Fished for less than an hour today and about an hour and a half Sunday. Threw them back because Pam already had steak planned for dinner.

Mixed bag from the pond

Two crappie, one rainbow trout and a bluegill all caught on black bead head marabou streamer.





I stopped in mid-cleaning to take another picture because I decided a close-up of the stringer and the two yet to be cleaned fish was needed. The fly is visible attached to the reel.

The House and Yard, Early Spring