A "Festivus Micacle!", Christmas Herring in CT . . .

[BassyiusMaximus]

. . . well, Christmas came and went and what a "Festivus-Miracle", I got to go fishing.

I traveled down to my Girl's place in Greenwich CT and spend the Christmas weekend down there. I got my favorite gift of all time by getting a DigiCam! I have been waiting for years to get one and I finally waited on what might be the perfect camera, waterproof and SHOCKPROOF! I know that waterproof was a given, what with having slimy fish hands/fingers and the possibility of dropping the camera at anytime and the camera getting wet, being shockproof and waterproof only makes sense to me since anything less would mean a junked camera and wasted money. Hopefully the camera will do well and last a while and this post will be my first test with uploading and posting directly from my very own camera. So that was the first Festivus Micacle.

I'm shopping around now for a 26 foot C/C. My future brother in law, who has an armada of boats, from a 53 foot Hatteras, to a 42 foot Egg Harbor all the way down to the skiff thought it would be nice to get out on Christmas Day and just window shop for some boats. There was a Regulator dealer down the street where the marina's are so we went there and looked at the Regulators, which I wouldn't want, nice boats and all, but it is like going shopping for cars and you go to the Bentley or Aston Martin dealer instead of Toyota. Then we walked to the Albin yard and check out the waterside when someone on a boat recognizes Steve and he is working on a Rinker W/A with an inboard V8. Says he's trying to get it running because there are herring in the bay. So he gets a charged battery, ends up replacing the wires and the cap and rotor and 1/2 hour later we are heading down under the railroad bridge, the one I've ridden on to get to NYC. Here is is as we are underway.



The day is overcast but it isn't bitingly cold. We ended up going to another little cove/bay where the water splits two ways and we jig for some herring and only catch a few. Still, it is Christmas day and I got to wet a line, jig up some herring and liveline one for a little while even though I think that there can't be any stripers that would eat my herring in 45 degree water. I got to see the house of the man who designed the Brooklyn Bridge and got to see the replica of it that was built in his backyard on the water, what a cool sight, I didn't get a picture though, was too busy tying my livelining herring rig at the time.

Here is a pic of us hamming it up on the dock afterwards. The herring look so much like little Tarpon to me when their mouths are open, Tarpon are just big herring, no?


Our run back to the dock as we do have to be back by 5pm for X-Mas dinner after all.



Finally, here the herring on the dock. What kind of herring are these?, are these the kind that are prohibited from taking in MA? I wonder if the same law applies in CT as the shore guys were taking them. I was surprised that there were even any herring in CT although the other guy we were out with said that bunker/menhaden are plentiful down his way. I kept these two and froze them in the vacuum sealer and hopefully they will be a useful bait this spring.


Well, this is my story for the day. It was the first time I ever caught a fish on Christmas so even though it was only herring, it was such a surpise to be able to go fishing because it was so unexpected. Good day.

[Krispy]

I ride over that bridge twice a day, everyday

[fishpoopoo]

there are some nice fish in the vicinity of the mianus.

[Krispy]

Originally Posted by Bassturbed

there are some nice fish in the vicinity of the mianus.

yup, they stack up right under the you know what

[Krispy]

Also, CT has a "no take" on Atlantic Herring like MA, but those are sea herring, you are allowed to keep those

[fishpoopoo]

mmm hmmm. and the trout fishing is pretty good further up.

[fishpoopoo]

not too long ago, i saw a bunch of birds diving on gaggle of sea herring ... in late February.

on the south shore of long island (NY) no less.

[PaulS]

Originally Posted by Krispy

I ride over that bridge twice a day, everyday

Up until about 1 month ago, I did too. - The 6:40 out of Fairfield.

[Finaddict]

Those are my home waters, grew up fishing that region for close to 30 years, everything from flounder and shad to stripers and blues, etc., as well as the trout further up the river from where you were ... way up ... but yes there is nice fishing water there ... it has been hampered some in recent years -- I moved out in the early 90s, but I'm sure you can find good fishing there ... real estate is out of sight though ... nice to get out on the water on Christmas.

[BassyiusMaximus]

It was my first time out on that water. It was such a pleasure to be able to go out in a different place. The other nice thing is that there were no boats in any slips or on any docks, nothing, we only saw one boat out the whole time were were out which was only from 12pm-about 4pm. I can imagine that with all the structure and the rivers that are around, the fishing must be good out that way, but I can also see that the amount of stuff in the bays and all the boats and all the fishing pressure that just like up in my neck of the woods, there just have to be fewer fish around. Still, the shorelines were surprisingly uncluttered with nothing but huge seaside homes, not like what I'm used to on the Cape/North Shore of MA, some incredible Mansions and summertime getaways.

I saved the Christmas herring hoping they will catch me large this spring. For all I know, I might never get out on that water ever again but it sure was nice to see it in winter and visit.

[fishpoopoo]

It was such a pleasure to be able to go out in a different place.

sorry, i just find the other side of the grass a little greener. try fishing in 80 degree brackish soup in August.

There's nothing like the open water of Rhody or Mass.

[Krispy]

Originally Posted by PaulS

Up until about 1 month ago, I did too. - The 6:40 out of Fairfield.

Only about 3 weeks to go for me, adios NYC!
6:58 out of Stratford

[fishpoopoo]

Originally Posted by Krispy

Only about 3 weeks to go for me, adios NYC!
6:58 out of Stratford

good for you Krispy. i thought my commute was loopy - yours is (will no longer be) ridiculous.

well, it could be worse, like the poor schlubs who take the bus to manhattan...from the poconos.

[bobber]

Bassy- what kinda camera did you get???

[BassyiusMaximus]

I got an Olympus 720 SW. I held off on buying something until a camera came out that was SHOCKPROOF AND WATERPROOF since in all my travels and travails, that is, fishing, boating, snowmobiliing, dirtbiking and all of it, I couldn't have a camera that I have to worry about getting fish guts and slime all over, or if it got wet from rain or getting splashed or if it got accidentally dropped or knocked over or down, how many know someone who's $200-300 camera was ruined from a drop or from moisture/wetness?, so I had to wait and shoot from disposable cameras until now.

The camera can take a 5 foot drop and go under 10' of water and work just fine. The specs on the camera only put it in the middle of the class in about every category but I'm not shooting for a magazine, just for me and to pollute the internet with my silly pictures, I might just put the free into freelance so if I get pictures better than the disposable cameras I had been using for years other than the late 80's/early 90's Nikon 35mm/point and shoot I had through college then I'm really ahead.

I really like the option to go Hi-Res/Super High Quality for the shots when I would like to blow it up to 8X10 then go to a lower res. for shots I just want to post online or send via email.