Well I got my grass mowed and did some important correspondence with a couple of my fellow Facilitators, to prepare for work this coming week and the nice weather finally got to me and off to the lake I went
When I got there the wind was howling and the SW wind was sending some pretty good rollers to the launch . I got ready and satin the truck for a half hour to let it die down a little. By 6 pm it was starting to let up but I still hadn't put in yet, I waited a little longer then put in but stayed in the little cove near the launch to stay out of the wash and wind.
Finally I was able to slowly make my way across to where I wanted to go. Nothing seemed too interested but I lost a couple small ones(HHH) and just before dark I caught my skunk fish, whew that was cutting it close. Nice to head out in shirtsleeves instead of bulky sweatshirts and rain gear. I'll take it for a really short day. 🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🇺🇲🇺🇲🙏

So I got the boat all done and ready to start putting on the "Poor Mans Fiberglass" or PMF as I will call it. First I filled in the slots on the bottom with foam to make it easier to cover and to add a little strength. I also drilled the pontoons and added some small all-thread to hold them firmly together. Once I got them all tight I cut them off even with the nut.
I have never used the PMF before and I have to say it's much harder to work with than I hoped. Mainly just getting all the bubbles out and getting it to all lay flat was a chore. All of that tan is one piece of cloth that raps all the way around the pontoon. 1 piece down and about 20 to go. Before I cover the bottom I will trim all the spray foam I used to glue the 2" foam in place. It was not dry enough to trim yet.

Went fishing 🎣 in Manasquan Inlet this evening on a cold, cloudy day with light north wind and incoming tide. Saw a big bluefish caught when I parked my car. Nobody was near my spot. Caught, tagged and released a 23” bluefish with my brother John’s homemade synthetic pink homemade buck tail teaser on my fifth cast of the day. Then a bluefish bit off my rig. Three people arrived and started fishing to my left and one of the local regulars started fishing to my right. We had three big bluefish hookups simultaneously. I caught, tagged and released my biggest bluefish for this year at 31” 9.10 lb with a plain hook Ava A-17. Missed a fluke and lost a bluefish then quit early because of the intruders. Birds were working the mouth of the inlet.

just completed the annual spring fishing trip. We went to Winnipesauke and stayed at the lake house. The fishing was good but not great. Had success in catch and release Smallmouth bass. Total of nine over 14 inches. largest 18.5 inches. Caught and ate pickerel, white perch and yellow perch. Weather was cold, had a little rain, great fun with my two buddies from Iowa who drove out.

We could not find the crappie, just a few white perch and yellow perch. the pickerel were thick. We eat them when they hit 19 inches. Marlin, my Buddie from Iowa, can clean away the wye bones.

This is an annual trip began in 1987 when I moved out to New England from Iowa. The participants have changed, the location has changed but most times has been to Lake Champlain.

Great tradition.

Since most of my time is now taken up mowing,
My pome time is in the back seat.
But yesterday, pooped out, I just felt like going,
And this trip turned out pretty sweet.
The fishies were up top the first hour or so,
Then crankin was catchin a few.
I think I caught 20, and let em all go,
And one scary thing happened, too.
With darkness upon me, got caught on a stick,
Til then I'd been havin good luck,
I yanked like we all do, it happened so quick,
But dork that I am, didn't duck.
The Hoodler came flying, as fast as a race,
With 3 treble hooks all a swingin,
I froze like a dork, got smacked in the face,
And felt my cheek startin to stingin.
I looked at the Hoodler stuck tight on my vest,
Just knew there'd be blood every place.
But there wasn't any, I felt very blessed,
The heavy lure bounced off my face.

Moral of the story - duck. Just duck. Or don't jerk so danged hard on a heavy, 9 hook lure at dark. Duh.
Have an awesome week, Stage Family.

Grass was too wet to mow!!! 🤫🙄 So I went fishn',
Finally the wind died down to just 9-10 mph with some pretty good gusts thrown in . I started out fishing the banks today and that was a no go!! Took me an hour or so to figure out where they were and how to get them to hit.
Once I got that figured out and armed with the frog of the day, I used a Runcle popper black with yellow legs. This is the same style I used early last season and at the Eagle.
The only way to get a hit was to land directly in the middle portion of newly forming pads laying flat on the water. Then slowly with very little movement just twitch the frog and Bingo they would blow up and get it. If it hit short or long they wouldn't touch it.
So I spent most of the day fighting wind to position myself for a really accurate cast. Started off with a nice 2.5# er and ended the day with 14 LM Bass. This is the only method that worked they wouldn't even look at it in open water even between two close sets of pads forming small groups🤔. Got a new term for frog fishn' to use . I call it the 3 h's . Hit, Hook ,and Halfway to the yac. Just part of frogn',I lose a few Everytime out this way. 🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🇺🇲🇺🇲🙏