2 days on the coves.

[Blaine]

I have Mondays and Tuesdays off from CT Outfitters, you can bet your a$$ I'm fishing those two days until show season cranks up.

On Monday Andrew, Georgie and I hit White Oaks. I had all of my tip ups out with BIG bait s on them hoping for an upgrade of Sunday's pike. Andrew had a mix of baits and Georgie did nothing but jig. Didn't need the augers, I was able to kick the previous days holes open again so set up was a breeze.

What a difference a day makes.... The flags didn't do squat, we jigged all over the place. I even punched another 50 or so holes but it just wasn't happening. We had a few perch here and there to pass the time. After 12, things picked up a bit. We started catching crappie. georgie found an area that was producing consistently so we drilled a few more holes and all jigged the same area. It was a steady pick of fish for the last few hours of the day. Georgie got a GORGEOUS crappie. There is a new leader in the crappie category in the CT Outfitters tournament 
This fish measured exactly 16" 




I took 4 fish home for dinner and the rest went back. Not the day I had been hoping for but still better than working...

Yesterday Andrew, Frank and I met up and decided to shift gears. This time, we hit Wrights Cove in Portland. Andrew and Georgie had scouted the ice on their way home the night before and found it to be good to go. We had our holes drilled by 6:30. Again, I went with all big baits. Different cove but same story..... Sloooooooow. Frank had one big run off on a 10" dace but got nothing but a mangled bait back. Andrew missed one as well. We jigged up a few crappie and perch. The spot tailed shiners where everywhere, you couldn't get through them. Frank's electronics were lit up with them, we decide to start keeping them and had a bucket full in no time.
Frank had to leave late in the morning for work so it was just Andrew and I till TJ showed up with 2 coffees in his sled.  YOU DA MAN , TJ!!!! They went down good... Things changed after TJ showed up. The jigging still sucked but the flags started to pop. I had a screamer but somehow missed it even with a quick strike rig and ended up losing a 9" pond shiner in the process  A few flags later, we finally iced a couple of pike, nothing big but at least we got on the board...

TJ


And mine


Our phones were ringing on the ice as guys were driving by seeing us parked on the side of the road and word got out fast that the ice was fishable. People started showing up throughout the afternoon and at one point I counted 8 guys on the cove. We were the only ones with baits out, everyone else was jigging and all had the same complaint. Too many spots and not enough crappie. If you plan on fishing there this weekend, my advice would be to get there early and claim your spot before the crowds show up... 

[fisherman58]

blaine what are spots do you have a pic

[hrdwtr24]

O.K. I feel a little better now!!.. hope this slop thats falling from the sky dosen't screw the ice up too much. left my house in Essex at 5:00 to TRY and make it to work but I turned around and came home... roads in my area where really bad!!..Congrats Blaine and the rest of the gang.. and thanks for the pic's!!...Bob..

[Blaine]

blaine what are spots do you have a pic

It's a harmless parasite... We see it a lot in our fish, especially on the river. Read the following, I got this from one of the guys in the DEP:

BLACK SPOT
Whenever you’ve caught a fish that looks as if it had already been sprinkled with freshly ground pepper, you’ve encountered a fish disease commonly called “Black Spot.” The cause is Uvulifer amploplites, a type of worm known as a trematode. While the symptomatic spots look mundane, they represent just one life stage in a very complicated parasitic creature.

Adult trematodes inhabit the digestive tracts of fish-eating birds like herons and kingfishers. They produce eggs that pass into the water as the bird defecates. The eggs hatch, liberating larvae called miracidiae that swim about until they find a snail to act as their next host.

The larvae burrow into the snail and form “mother sporocytes,” which then produce many sporocysts. This life stage then burrows into the snail’s liver, where they remain for about 6 weeks. At that point, a further metamorphosis occurs, as tiny cercariae emerge from the liver and return to the water. Here they swim about until they encounter a fish, which they dig into and form the familiar black cysts in the fish’s skin and flesh.

The life cycle is completed when a bird eats an infected fish, the cysts rupture, and the parasite is freed to mature in the bird’s gut and produce more eggs. Though some consider the spots unappetizing, black spot cannot affect humans.

BLACK SPOT LIFE CYCLE

1-Adult flukes live in the digestive tract of fish-eating birds. Eggs hatch, liberating larvae that eventually find a snail.

2-After burying into a snail, larvae form mother sporocysts that then produce other sporocytes. They enter the snail’s liver and turn into cercariae.

3-Cercariae leave the snail and return to the water, this time to seek a fish host. Cercariae burrow into the skin and flesh, forming black cysts.

4-When a bird eats the infected fish, the parasites leave the cysts and mature in the bird’s gut.

[miket.]

thank you blaine , good article there. looks like you had a descent outing, congrats.

[BaitWrangler]

Seems like a fun day out Blaine!

Glad to see those Killifish being put to work!

[Trooper Bri]

Oh man, that's a FAT crappie. Nice work guys!

[metalfish]

Congrats guys. Nice lookin fish boys. Keep up the good work.

[Romey]

nice job blaine!  i might be joining you on the cove in the morning if I am able to find a way on!