On Labor Day, our dad, Dink, and I went fishing since we were off of school & work. It was a really good day, since we caught 9 fish in total, and one of them we could keep. It was a 9 inch yellow perch which we brought home and ate. It was quite good, though it would not have been enough for a meal had we needed to survive off fish.
In any case, we finally caught a fish we could bring home to eat 🙂
The large mouth bass was about 8 inches long. Unfortunately, in the state of Maryland, a large mouth bass has to be at least 12 inches in order to keep it so back into the water it went.
After the thrill of actually catching something, we did what we always do when we go fishing. We sat in a canoe catching almost nothing. It’s still fun, though, for some reason.
One thing we noticed were a lot of kayaking people – kayakers? Kayaking is quite the fad now especially among elderly women, at least on the lake we were on. But everywhere we’ve been fishing this summer, we’ve seen a lot of kayakers. It does look pretty fun and relaxing, but just because it’s so trendy now, we probably won’t experience it until later.
Yesterday, our dad took Dink and me fishing at a park a ways from us called Piney Run Park, in Carroll County, Maryland. We borrowed a canoe from a friend and paddled out to various places, using lures of varying descriptions, baited hooks, and a special kind of artificial trout bait that my dad had.
We caught a few things… some seaweed, a few leaves, and a 3 inch bluegill.
We also saw a beaver. We got close to it to try to get a picture, but it slapped its tail against the water and went under.
So we didn’t catch anything, but it was still nice being in a boat. We hope to go fishing at other locations and hopefully have better luck. We’re also looking to get a trolling motor so that we won’t have to row so much.
Anyway, it was fun, and the area looked pretty nice so we took some pictures.
As we were leaving, we saw a few guys fishing on a pier, not even on a boat. They caught about 5 fish in just a few minutes while we were watching. A lady told us they were using chicken livers.
To see them catching those fish was slightly discouraging, but we did learn that using chicken livers might be a good idea for our next trip!
We got today off from school so our dad took us camping again! We camp a lot, don’t we? Since we had to leave late yesterday, we picked a camping area that is close to our home. We got there pretty late and picked out a campsite. When we stepped out of the van, the first thing we noticed was that it was really cold, a lot colder than our last camping trip near the Susquehanna River. Actually, the reason it felt so cold was because it was quite windy in our campsite. We were on a hill, and our side was getting a lot of wind, which made it feel colder that it actually was.
We set up our tent, and then went fishing in a lake nearby. I decided to use a lure and a fish bit on the very first cast! It was big enough to eat, but we didn’t bring the things necessary for cleaning a fish, so we just tossed him back into the lake. We really didn’t expect to catch anything worth eating, and we weren’t prepared when the I caught that fish. I guess next time we go camping we’ll bring what we need to clean a fish. Our dad caught a fish a few minutes later, and then it got dark so we had to quit fishing.
We then went to eat at an Italian restaurant called Rocky’s Pizza that was in a town nearby called Thurmont. We usually bring our own food, but this time we decided to eat out. After we ate we went back to the campsite to make a fire, because it was really cold. Usually when we make fires, we just do it for fun, but this time we really wanted one.
We tried to make a fire with my flint striker again, but this time we couldn’t get it started like that. I think it was too windy and the wood was a little damp. Plus, we were mostly out of our dried morning glory vines and those are the best kindling I know of. In case you’ve never read our fire making articles, we use dandelion fluff and dried morning glory vines for our tinder and kindling. We finally gave up the flint striker and used matches instead. Even with matches, we barely got the fire going, but we finally did after several fails.
Today we decided to hike up to a place called Isabella’s Rock. We looked at a sign and found out that it was only a quarter of a mile away. But we went anyway and it was pretty fun. The hike up there was rather rough. It was a pretty steep climb and there were about three dense caves of briers and plants that were hard to get through without being poked with a thorn. When we arrived, we never really figured out which rock was Isabella’s Rock. There were about 5 large rocks and we couldn’t tell which one was Isabella’s. We stayed at Isabella’s Rock for a while and looked around, but eventually we started home (through the forest of briers). Then we went fishing again! Unfortunately, nothing bit this time, but we tried to use some different lures and things. We basically all started out with rooster tails, but I switched to a jitterbug after a while.
A jitterbug is a lure that might look like a frog to fish in the water. Unlike rooster tails, jitterbugs float. You can either let them sit, or you can reel them in as soon as you cast. Jitterbugs have a little metal plate on them that stirs up the water when you reel them in and some hooks. I guess that catches the fish’s attention and they bite it! Unfortunately, nothing bit my jitterbug. Dink eventually switched to an artificial minnow. It actually went through the water like a real fish, but nothing bit that either.
The second day of fishing wasn’t quite as good, but we went on a hike which makes up for not catching anything. After we went fishing, we had to pack up and leave. Although very short, this camping trip was very fun.
by Dink and John
Yesterday, our dad drove John, Niles and me to Susquehanna Park to go camping. The van was packed really full of camping supplies, and it looked like we were going to stay at Susquehanna for a week, but we really only stayed for one night. It was still really fun, though.
We got there at about 6:00. We set up the tent and got the campsite ready and then we went to fish in the river. The tide was high and the water was moving pretty fast so we used lures instead of worms. I was using a kind of lure called a Rooster Tail. Unfortunately, we didn’t catch anything, and I lost a couple rooster tails when they got snagged on rocks or logs under the water. Luckily, my dad had a LOT of Rooster Tails in his tackle box, so I could keep fishing with them.
Rooster Tails are my favorite kind of lure. It has a small treble hook and a piece of metal on them that whirls around fast when you reel it in. The metal is supposed to attract fish and make them bite the lure. I have caught a few fish with Rooster Tails, but this time I didn’t catch anything.
After we had fished for a while, we went back to our campsite and made a fire using my flint striker. We brought some dandelion seed fluff, drier lint, and dried morning glory stems for tinder, and they worked out really well. Even though we didn’t have any luck fishing, the fire went really well. We will put up the video of us making the fire tomorrow and also write more about it. We can’t put the video and pictures into this entry because if we do, it really messes things up.
After we made the fire, we ate supper and then sat around the fire for a while. Then we went to the bathhouse to get ready for bed. The bathhouse at Susquehanna is really nice. There are almost no bugs in there and everything is clean. There were some pretty big spiders outside the bathhouse, but we didn’t care about those.
The next day we woke up and ate. We briefly went to the playground, but it wasn’t very exciting. Then we broke camp and went fishing. The water was very calm and the tide was really low. As a result, the shoreline was like extremely muddy. This time we baited our lines with worms and cast. The water was quiet as we threw our lines in, but unfortunately, we didn’t get anything. I think something was nibbling at my line for a while but it never bit. There were definitely fish in the river! We saw somebody pull one in next to us and later Niles saw a huge splash out in the water within casting distance.
After a while, John’s and my lines got all tangled somehow. It took a really long time to untangle them and when we were done, we decided to go home because weren’t having any luck with the fishing anyway.
After not catching anything at the river, we went back to camp and started to drive home. The camping trip was fun, but it would have been better if we had caught a fish. Still, I’m really glad we could go!
by Dink
The Weekly Day 