Shark Smart

Posted on September 15, 2023 by Ed Mitchell

Shark Smart

In the previous post, I noted the number of hooked fish being cut off by sharks. Yeah its surprising, a totally new thing here in Southern New England. But the flip side of this coin is the serious side. Anglers need to be shark smart, especially wading anglers. No the risk isn’t enormous and I don’t want to make it sound that way,  but the risk is nevertheless present.

Head of the Meadow Beach

Recently I was on Cape Cod and the need for angler awareness was clearly evident. When you walk to outer beaches, spots like Head of the Meadow,  the reality sinks in quickly. There is just no avoiding it. Yes, we all must be shark smart.

Shark Smart

Here on the Cape’s Atlantic side, the sign points out that the number of shark are at their greatest in August, September and October. Yet it also tells you sharks may be present at almost any time of year. If you want to learn more about great white sharks you can visit  www.atlanticwhiteshark.org/ There is an app available as well, that reports shark activity.

Severe Bleeding Kit

 

 

 

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Sharks Eating Stripers in Long Island Sound

Posted on August 17, 2023 by Ed Mitchell

Sharks Eating Stripers in Long Island Sound?

By now you may have read some reports of stripers being bit in half by sharks, right here in Long Island Sound. May sound a little odd, but its true. Two tears ago I reported on a brown shark chasing a hooked bluefish at Millstone. So the notion of sharks hounding hooked fish was  clearly in the realm of possibilities.

Well now I can add another story to the tale of hungry sharks eating stripers in Long Island Sound.  Anglers fishing near Old Saybrook using live menhaden were catching some very large bass. These are fish well over the size limit, true hogs. One of the big bass, a fish estimated in excess of 3 feet,  didn’t make it to the damn boat! Clearly it was whacked by a shark. Here in these waters it was likely either a sand tiger shark or a sandbar (brown) shark. Both considered somewhat docile. But with our over heated waters, it may have been a different  shark entirely. After all a hammerhead showed up on Nantucket last year.

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Rescuing a 1987 17′ Aquasport Part 7

Posted on August 16, 2023 by Ed Mitchell

Rescuing a 1987 17′ Aquasport Part 7

Part 6 of this journey appeared over a year ago, back in March of 2022. So it’s been awhile since I reported on my son’s project to rescue a 1987 17′ Aquasport. Well life gets in the way at times. We originally found this boat in the woods back in 2021 where it had sat for over a decade. As you can imagine it was in sad shape.  Thankfully the majority of the hull was intact, but an ugly repair on the transom required serious attention. The motor was history, although the trailer was decent and the price for the whole shooting match was only $500. Good deal.

Back in Part 5 you’ll see my son successfully rebuilding the transom with modern materials. Quite a job. We removed the hull liner too, so work could start on the stringers. In this photo, you see the rebuilt stringers capped with high density foam. And you can see plumbing being laid out in the bottom of the hull for the wiring.

The deck will sit on the stringers, as you expect. And many of the voids are to be filled with foam for further support. In addition, a 3/4″ cleat is being epoxied to the gunnel where the deck will eventually land. This required some careful measuring to ensure things end up reasonably level. Now its onward to the deck itself, if the rain ever stops.

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Sticker Shock

Posted on June 10, 2023 by Ed Mitchell

Sticker Shock

Sticker Shock

More Sticker Shock

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More Clouser Deep Minnows

Posted on June 10, 2023 by Ed Mitchell

More Clouser Deep Minnows

Back three years ago, in a post entitled “Fly Tying during a Plague”, I show a bunch of streamers I had done for the salt season. Well as luck would have it, I still have most of  them. Unlike fishing in sweetwater, in the brine we lose few flies, as long as you use decent mono, and tie decent knots. Granted bluefish steal some and fishing around obstacles such as bridge pilings contribute too, but overall we do okay.

Fly Tying during a Plague

A look in my fly box, however, did reveal the I could use more Clouser Deep Minnows. And a post or two back, I started to take care of that. Well I’m still working on those puppies. Mostly of these are size 1#, and a few are size 4#

More Clouser Deep Minnows

 

 

 

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