Bugs and Bass 2015.... is over

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Coalman
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Bugs and Bass 2015.... is over

Post by Coalman »

I've been running this thread yearly since 2008. I live within fifteen minutes of my summer slip on the Squamscott River that feeds my summer play land NH's inland ocean, the Great Bay.

This is my seventieth year trapping lobsters. I have been fishing striped bass regularly since 1990. I've received good feedback because a lot of sportsman don't live close to the salt and they get a chance to experience these adventures.

So please come along and join me in Bugs and Bass 2015

06-08-15
Who's idea was it anyway to end the Maine spring gobbler season on 06-06-15? Don't they know there are striped bass to catch and lobsters to trap? Gonna have to talk to that guy.

Well it wouldn't do any good though because I am not ready. Yesterday was the first morning I have slept in on a weekend since the NH Youth Turkey Hunt in April. Not complaining, just been too tired to start a boat project when I was having so much fun in the woods.

It has been five season since I had the bottom painted on the USS Coalman. When inspecting the hull before putting it up last winter there were some spots showing barnacle accumulation.

So last week she went up on stands.

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Saturday I left Maine turkey camp and was home by 0900. My first stop was to see if there were any herring in the river. I need lobster bait.

The river was full of blue backs. As the picture goes from light to dark is because where it was dark the herring were sideways.

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I shot home, grabbed my gear and it didn't take long to get a few buckets.

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I salted these down.

Next it was off to the boat yard to pressure wash the hull.

I think I was asleep before my head touched the pillow.
Last edited by Coalman on September 14th, 2015, 12:03 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by Coalman »

06-07-15
Got to the boatyard after lunch. Sanded the hull lightly by hand then got down to the business of bottom painting on two coats.
Bottom painting a boat sucks either you are on your knees or laying on your back. But after the fresh two coats were applied there was that sense of accomplishment.

It would be easier to just pay somebody for the feeling.

Dan is going to service the Yamaha this week and I should be OTW this weekend.

06-08-15
We are allowed to net herring only on Saturday's and Monday's and they limit us to one tote or approx. 20 gallons. Was back at the bridge this morning at 0430 and by 0540 I had filled a few buckets before the tide came up and the herring dropped back into the river.

I have enough lobster bait now to last through September.

Next job......tune lobster traps.

It's never ending. LOL! :)
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Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by RapscallionVermilion »

You are a fortunate man. The Maine/New Hampshire coast in the summer is one of my favorite places on earth. Lobster, steamed clams. Good fishing. Good gun shops. I haven't been back up there in a few years and am missing it.
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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by guesswho »

I always enjoy this adventure. Helps me forget about the heat and humidity for a while.
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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by Coalman »

06-10-15
Got the boat back on the trailer last night. Then I went and picked up ten lobster traps in the barn that are now in the driveway for tuning and new tags.

The boat gets its service tonight. I’m going down and watch because this four stroke fuel injected engine ain’t no two stroke carburetor, block and starter. Need a college education to work on the thing.

Put two new rollers on the trailer. We are going to do a little adjusting when the boat gets off.

The turkey hunting drive is fast fading with this warm weather and I have a different outlook now every time I see the Squamscott River. It was boiling with something on my drive by this morning.

I’ll be painting the cuddy and floor this summer after she splashes. Already got the paint. Too much stuff falling from the trees now.

She may be a little scratched up for a 1972 but it’s what is under the hood that really counts. She’s “Like a Rock” !



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06-11-15
My lobster trap tuning bench. I'm a four foot double parlor guy. They out fish three foot traps in my home water. I run single traps so the weight is no issue with my pot hauler.

Each year I replace the biodegradable hog rings on the escape vent. This is required by law so if the trap is lost the rings rot away and the lobsters eventually can escape.

You want to make sure the shrimp mesh is tight where the lobsters enter the kitchen. Also that the bungee straps holding the cover down are not rotted and in need of replacement.

Just as in fur trapping a finely tuned trap catches more critters.

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Took this picture in the backyard at sunset. Reminded me of a lobster claw. Good timing.

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06-13-15
Here are this years bug catchers. Repainted the red on all the buoys.

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My son met me at the boat yard at noon and at high tide we launched the boat. We took a shakedown cruise six miles out to Fox Point. The only casualty was a sunburn on my unprotect head.

06-14-15
Drowned ten traps on an outgoing tide. The bug part is now complete. Now it is time to tune the striper fishing equipment to finish the bass part.

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I love playing in NH's inland sea, the Great Bay. That is a barge on anchor. Probably for putting in peoples docks.

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Last edited by Coalman on June 24th, 2015, 5:49 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by Coalman »

Thanks for your kind words. I feel blessed having a wife who encourages my outdoor adventures and as Raps says the coast of ME and NH is a sight to behold.

P.S. we have no wild turkeys. :)

06-20-15
A Day in the Life of a Great Bay Lobster

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Shawn kept the skunk away with our only boated linesider of the morning.

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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by Waddle Whacker »

Man, that's cool. I do love me some lobster. The miniature ones we have down here are pretty tasty, though! I'd love to see that part of the country some day.
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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by Bigspurs68 »

That all looks like a great time!
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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by Gobbler »

We love your posts. This is so cool.
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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by K9Doc »

Looks like fun!!!
Never been fishing for stripes or lobstering!!!
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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by KPcalls »

Nice.... :thumbup:
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Post by BrowningGuy88 »

Nice
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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by Johndoe »

Ok. I see some lobsters, a boat and a striped bass but not one bug used to catch him. WTH?
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There are no numbers on any of my clocks below 8. Then all of a sudden, 2 days before turkey season they appear. Then right after the season they disappear.
What's up with that
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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by Coalman »

06-26-15
Just like Cracker Jacks the traps were full of surprises today.

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Caught a couple blonde, very fine looking, nautical female girlfriends on my check today. I have a trap set in a hole near a moored boat. I've never seen the owners until this evening. After I pulled the trap one of the ladies asked me if I could set my trap a little further from their boat as a couple times last summer the buoy was up against their boat. I could have been an a-hole as some lobstermen are but instead I killed them with kindness.

I could see the parlor had a couple nice size lobsters. So I apologized for my buoys errant ways and asked them to set it straight by giving them a couple fresh out of the trap lobsters. I was first met with resistance but those bugs have a way of charming people.

Glad to say the trap is now back fishing in its original position and I have two new girlfriends with happy tummies with instructions if they see the buoy close to the boat just grab it and drag the trap away.

They gave me two thumbs up as I left to pull another Christmas present.
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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by RapscallionVermilion »

Coalman wrote: Caught a couple blonde, very fine looking, nautical female girlfriends on my check today.
What!? No pictures? :wink:
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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by Coalman »

06-30-15
Left the dock in skinny water on an outgoing. Hoped to catch the bottom of tide where Shawn caught his fish. Didn't make it. The tide turned incoming just as engine was shut down.

Drifted the eel in some deep water without any love. Did see some bass breaking at the head of the rip.

Ended up on the shore line where I took the pictures of the dying pines. Drifted with the tide along the edge in eight to ten feet of water casting the slime towards shore and jigging it back along the surface.

I guesstimate in about four feet of water next to some floating rock weed the bass below grabbed the eel.

I'm using circle hooks so all I can hear is Wicked Tuna say..."reel' reel, reel".

A big bass in shallow water caught in the corner of the mouth sure makes the drag sing. When the big swirls started accompanied by the splashing it was game on.

The seven foot medium heavy Ugly Stick looked good in such a bent condition. The twenty pound mono easily matched the fishes weight.

It took two tries with the net before it surrendered. One quick photo, hook displaced, a measurement on the ruler on the gunnel , 35 inches, and she swam free.

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I call this the Roccus Moon after my good friend Joe who swears by the light of the full crescent when it comes to catching big bass.

This is NH F&G's Sandy Point and the Stratham-Newfields railroad trestle. Forever wild.

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Life is good. :)
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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by RapscallionVermilion »

That bass is a real beauty.
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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by Coalman »

07-03-15
Took my neighbor on the Bug Boat this afternoon. Couldn't have asked for better company on a beautiful day to be in the Bay.

We hauled more than thirty pounds of keeper lobster. Towards the end of hauling gear with available cooler space becoming a premium I notched three female keepers, that were not egg bearing and had clean fins and let them swim free.

Looking to the future there may be a few more boils to enjoy when their eggs hatch and seven years later are bigger than my keeper scale.

07-04-15
It has been six or so years since I've fished with my Great Bay mentor and my original bayman, Dick Pinney. He hasn't slung slime in a few years and gladly accepted my invitation. We were OTW at 0430.

We put four fish in the net. While no bass were keepers, this goes down as a "keeper" day in memory.

Thanks Dick for all the schooling for all these years. I am proud to be your pupil.

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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by Coalman »

Good Day on Great Bay
07-03-15
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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by Coalman »

I took these pictures Monday night 07-06-15 on the solo ride across open bay. I learned later that the smoke from Canadian wildfires was the cause of such a beautiful setting sun.

Vole Island on the left and Adam's Point WMA on the right. This is where Cromett Creek feeds in.

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Stopped the boat to take this one. You had to be there so I thought I'd bring it to you.

Moody Point on the left and the shore along Bay Road on the right

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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by Coalman »

07-11-15
Had to wait to check bug traps until the afternoon due to needing low tide to find a trap I set too deep last week.

Man did I pay for that in the way of a wicked sunburn.

Personal best for 2015 today. Easily over forty pounds of lobsters found their way into the cooler. I even took a bigger cooler this time but still needed the beverage cooler to accommodate the overflow. It was also a good day to be two big female lobsters I notched and set free.

Just how many lobsters can a man eat? I'm trying my best. :)

07-12-15
It may not be the biggest striped bass in Great Bay but it kept the skunk off our backs.

It wasn't like there weren't any fish. At one time they were busting so close to the boat we thought they might jump in. They just weren't interested in our slime. It was a bad day to be a silverside.

Thanks for coming Joe.

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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by Coalman »

07-14-15
Went striper hunting again at the bottom of the tide to the turn at approx. 1900 to 2030. I'm trying new spots. The kind that remind me of the Merrimack. Mostly skinny water next to the channels.

Dick showed me a few places to try during our outing a couple weeks ago. Didn't find any love. My inner senses tell me the fish are there but being hot and sunny they were not slurping slime.

Right at dusk found me back along the rockweed where I got the 35"er this year. Nothing in that spot but I continued the drift along the weed and was rewarded with two bites but wasn't able to get the circle hook to grab. Saw the second fish and it was just a cub but I felt the evening was a success because I found another spot to striper fish I have never tried before.

Oh how I wish I could have stayed later, which I am planning on doing in two weeks when I have the aid of the full moon. You can't see your hand in front of your face at night in Great Bay. Must be why I was the only boat as far as the eye could see.

Did I ever tell you I like it that way? :)
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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by Coalman »

07-17-15
Having a look at tomorrow's forecast, rain and thunderstorms, I took off a little early from work to go out and check traps.

The peak is over for now. Last week averaged four pound per trap, this check two pounds per trap. A commercial lobster trapper will tell you a half a pound a trap was a good day so no complaining here.

One thing I noticed was the cow hide bait I use to supplement the salted alewives, http://www.worcesterslobsterbait.com/ , was gone in most of the traps. It was there last week. Time to refresh next week.

I used this bait because the fish only lasts so long with the crabs and general deterioration. I like the hide bait because my traps fish 24/7. While it is expensive for the quantity received the last time I bought a steel of salted herring (30 gallons) it was almost $80 and that has to have been over five years ago. The states have restricted the commercial herring boats to only so many day at sea and the price of bait reflects that.
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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by Bigspurs68 »

Beef hides are fairly easy to come by in my area each fall. Do you buy it precut just for bait or do you just get a whole hide and go from there?
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Re: Bugs and Bass 2015

Post by Coalman »

I tried it with deer hides one year. They turned rancid in the trap. The bait is precut. A couple good pieces goes in each bait bag. It lasts about three weeks. It it soaked in something. Really opens up your nostrils. But the lobster like it.

07-19-15
Belle is two years old today. Hard to believe time goes by so fast.

Teach them young....

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They will remember.

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OTW at 0500. Lots of land fog but the Bay was clear. The fog moved in over the water and visibility went way down. Felt like I was in a cloud. The fish liked it and three went headfirst into the net. Biggest one 35". I swear it is the one I caught on June 30th. Same rock, same size. I let it go so I can catch it again.

High heat and one hundred percent humidity is the forecast for today. So when the fog started to burn off I headed in.

Another good day on Great Bay.

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