Tag Archives: Personal Best

Fun in a kettle lake

July 5, 2013

I returned to the place of last week’s monster encounter that ended with a broken line. This time I had minnows. And a bag full of wire leaders =). Some hammer handle pike seemed to be the culprit. The hook looks deep in the last fish, but I unhooked him just fine. Read more

Kickin’ bass

July 5, 2013

On the long weekend, FishFight once again invited me to join him and Zack on his boat to fish for bass on the Niagara river. Last time we were out, I saw over 7 muskies so I brought muskie gear as well. Read more

Things that bump in the night

June 25, 2013

Heading home from the cottage this weekend, I decided to try for some blondes. I had no craft, but I brought my inflatable beach toy… As my friend put it, I was one headshake away from disaster. Anyways… I began by paddling myself out to likely structures and chucking live minnows in them. Read more

GARrreat Saturday!

May 20, 2013

I headed out on Saturday with a single target in mind: longnose gar. To aid me in my journey to another lifelist entry, Ken had been generous enough to share both his technique and location with me. I arrived with plans to do some wading, but then had a better idea. Read more

Spring 2013 steelheading

May 10, 2013

Ice-out lured me to the river for my first steelies of 2013 Then a lull… awaiting opener… I spent opener day getting out-fished by Ken =). My landing ratio needed some work, as I was losing 4x the number of fish I was hooking. Read more

Hunting Virginia’s invaders

April 2, 2013

Snakehead are fish that elicit polarizing feelings from anglers and environmentalists. While widely considered invasive and destructive to ecosystems, there is no doubt in their suitability as a game fish. While I did not connect with any on this trip, Pat graciously offered Ken and I guidance for other new species to target in Virginia. Read more

Burbot disaster

March 26, 2013

Following our success last week, I decided to meet Eli once more this weekend. Here’s the bad news: after it all, our hunt for lake whitefish continues. Here’s the good news…. Saturday Eli’s rod baited with a dead smelt produced two fine burbot: And he iced a small laker later in the day. Read more

Florida Road Trip 2012/2013

January 20, 2013

It was many months ago when Ken cordially invited me to join him on a road trip to Florida for some hard-core fishing. Our focus on this trip would be to add as many new fish species as possible to our ever-expanding lifelists. Read more

Salmonid insanity!

August 28, 2012

I had originally set out to catch a particular minnow which I have not yet identified. I had caught a minnow with bright red fins earlier in the year at this spot, and I wanted to revisit it to add it to my lifelist with a picture. Read more

All-You-Can-Catch new species buffet

August 27, 2012

Early Saturday morning Ken, his friend Andrea, and I headed out to get some fishing done! Ken had mentioned to me the possibility of Freshwater Drum and Mooneye at this spot, neither of which I had caught before. I was prepared to add to my lifelist! Read more

Catching Them All

Michael Verdirame's journey of fishing.