Piketoberfest 2011

This year Jon and I were able to take our grandfather out and join in CTFisherman.com’s Piketoberfest.  We fisher all mourning on the lower CT river in search of gators.  Here is the one I came up with.

Caught it on this

J.T.’s Bachelor Party

This summer we got a chance to get out on the Sound with our friends for J.T.’s bachelor party.  We hit the race for some drifting, trolled some jigs, trolled with the umbrella rigs and finished vertical jigging in 80 ft of water.  We killed them all day and had a great time.  I loved it when the captain let us jig and I was able to pull out my light spinning tackle for some great action.

Canada 2011

On our 2011 trip to the Big Rideau we added even more new faces.  This years fisherman included Stephen Peters, Jon Bartholomew, Jon Davis, Jim Ritter, P.J. Sweet and Victor Kirby.  Fishing was better than 2010 but not as good as 2009.  We caught a lot more pike this year and our patience on the water helped us find fish.

 

Canada 2010

It has been a VERY long time since I posted and I wanted catch the world up to speed on our fishing adventures.  Back in 2010 we made our annual pilgrimage to the Big Rideau with 4 guys.  Stephen Peters, Jon Bartholomew, Jim Ritter and Mike Frederick.  This year we went when the water was much hotter and the fish were harder to find.  We still had a great time and caught a few good fish.

Gardner Lake Produces!

Saturday morning we took my Grandfather’s boat down to his slip at Gardner Lake for the season.  He keeps the boat here because he can easily get in and out using the dock.  I forgot my camera so I had to resort to the cell phone.  In about 3 hours each of us had about 8 fish.  My Grandfather was trolling with his Rapala SR5 while Jon and I casted the white jigs.  Jon was using a larger 1/4 ounce jig with a 3″ grub twisted tail and I was using a 1/8 ounce jig with a 2″ tail.  The pickerel were going crazy in about 7.5″ of water.  Grandpa picked up a really nice 19″ walleye as well.  We caught pickerel, yellow perch, sunfish, walleye and  largemouth.

This pickerel created a crazy picture by trying to jump out of Jon’s hands just as I took this shot.

Sunday Morning at Mansfield Hollow Reservoir

With my partner in crime attending a wedding in Pennsylvania, I called my wife’s grandfather and asked if he wanted to try his luck with the old rod and reel.  We decided on a lazy Sunday morning, didn’t get on the water until 9 am, at Mansfield Hollow Reservoir.  I had never fished Mansfield before, but read it was the best lake in eastern Connecticut for pike.  We launched the boat and started trolling South along the shoreline.  I was surprised to see the depth was averaging about 13′, but we were picking up  plenty of fish on the Lowrance.  Unfortunately what we saw on the small screen wasn’t translating to fish in the boat.  We continued to slowly troll the shoreline and eventually picked up some big crappie and yellow perch, but none of the pike we were targeting.  We continued to work several coves, but only boated more yellow perch.  We finally packed it in around noon.  Overall, it was a good first trip to Mansfield Hollow and the fact there is a 8 mph speed limit and no residential development on the shore makes it a beautiful lake.  I’m planning on talking Stephen into hitting in up in the near future with the canoe.

Failure: When your best just isn’t good enough

Last night Jon and I decided to take the 13′ canoe out onto Keeney Cove and we failed.  Keeney Cove is a small sheltered cove off of the Connecticut River in Glastonbury.  With the deepest spots hitting on 12′ and lots of weeds we figured it would produce something.  Immediately after pushing away from the shore we began to see surface hits.  We proceeded to throw everything we had in order to entice a bite but nothing worked.  X-rap, crank bait, spinner bait, buzz bait, swim bait and surface plugs all failed.  As we moved deeper into the cove the surface hits started to get out of control.  It was then that we realized the splashes had to be the herring that move into the coves this time of year to spawn.  Frustrated with our lack of success we grabbed our paddles and made our way down to the mouth of the cove where we also could not get a bite.  Jon did manage to boat a small white perch so we did not totally get skunked.

Learning To Fish The Connecticut River

We have been trying to learn how to fish the Connecticut River this spring.  I have been driving up and down the river looking for good areas.  A few weekends ago Jon and I decide to just get on the water and start casting.  We launched in Windsor, CT just under the 291 bridge.  The launch was nice with plenty of parking.  A bunch of guys were there shore casting for the shad that are running up the river right now.  We headed north to the point were the Farmington River dumps into the Connecticut River.  Immediately we were onto a school of small Striped Bass and we landed 5 before we moved on to a different area.  Drifting down the opposite shore we hooked another 2 Stripers which were a little bit bigger.  At about 9 am they completely stopped biting and we spent the next 3-4 hours trying other stops before calling it a day.  Here is the only picture we got from that day.

Our First Trip To Canada Together

About a year ago J.T., Jon and I took a week off from work and headed north for our first big fishing trip together.  After about a 6 hour drive we arrived in Portland Ontario.  We stayed at a place called Len’s Cove that offers cabins with heat and kitchens, docks and boats for rent.  Jon has been going to Len’s Cove with his family and friends for over 20 years and he knows exactly how to find the fish. For the next week we went on a fishing assault!

Here is a map of the lake

And a link to Len’s Cove

http://www.lenscove.com/Home.aspx

And Most Importantly….FISH

It was a great week and we already have our next trip to Len’s Cove booked for August 2010

Welcome to Spooled Reel!

Welcome to Spooled Reel!  3 guys 1 shared passion for fishing.

From left to right: J.T. , Jon, Stephen

We started this blog to share our love for fishing with all of you.  For all of our lives we have been pursuing fish anywhere we can and any way we can.  We are searching for the next spooled reel.

The Fishermen

Stephen Peters:  Stephen grew up in Columbia, Connecticut learning to fish from his grandfather.  He lived across the street from J.T. and they grew up fishing together.  At an early age he fished Mono Pond and Columbia Lake in Columbia and Watchaug Pond in Charleston, Rhode Island.  His saltwater experience includes years aboard his grandfather’s boat off the shore of Rhode Island and years of pier fishing in the Gulf of Mexico in Naples, Florida.  Stephen and his sister Elizabeth both attended college at Bucknell University where Stephen met his wife Kelli and where Elizabeth met her husband Jon Bartholomew.  Stephen now lives in Manchester, Connecticut just around the corner from both J.T. and Jon.

J.T. Lauer:  J.T. grew up in Columbia, Connecticut learning to fish from his father.  He lived across the street from Stephen and they grew up fishing together.  J.T. honed his skills fishing in a canoe on Mono Pond and on his family boat  in Columbia Lake.  After attending college at Sacred Heart University J.T. moved to Manchester, Connecticut and he became addicted to fly fishing.  J.T. can be found roaming the Farmington River with his fly rod in hand almost every weekend.

Jon Bartholomew: Jon grew up in Hellertown, Pennsylvania fishing with his family and high school buddies.  Fortunate to have a family pond stocked with pickeral, catfish, and bass Jon spent countless hours casting Rapalas day and night.  During trips to Canada he would primarily use a 3″ white grub on a jig head and his tackle box is stocked with these still today.  He is also an experienced trout fishermen spending most of his time growing up on the Saucon and Little Lehigh.  He prefers a black and gold Panther Martin but will switch to live bait if the conditions warrant it.  Jon brings extensive international experience to the group as he has been to Canada over 20 times.  After attending college at Bucknell University Jon married Stephen’s sister Elizabeth and moved to Manchester, Connecticut.

We hope you enjoy our blog as we share with you our stories, hints, tricks, reviews and most of all our love of fishing.