One Week Off
This past week I used up some of my vacation time. Here is a photographic account of my activities.
On Monday, I went to the Leominster State Forest to do some hiking.
I'll bet these cliffs provide a fun and exciting challenge for those who are into rock climbing.
However, I am not into rock climbing, so I took the trail that goes alongside the cliffs. At the top, there is a nice view (click to enlarge). Probably looks quite vibrant in the autumn during foliage season.
Further along the trail, you can look off in the distance to see, placed strategically in the middle of this State Forest (because that's the most natural place for it, after all, right?) the Leominster Landfill. Honestly, whose idea was it to put a dump in the middle of a conservation area?
They did it over at Walden Pond also--they put a landfill right next to it.
Here is an example of the wildlife I encountered. I can't tell if this amphibious creature is a frog or a toad. I'm guess frog, since it has webbed feet:
Tuesday morning started out with rain, so I got a late start to my fishing trip to the Concord River. I don't mind fishing in a light drizzle, but I've had trouble with my reel when the rain is steady and soaking. I got the river mid-morning, just as the rain was letting up. Didn't have much luck though. I caught one bass, about 4 lbs:
And I caught my first pike of the year. Hurray! Maybe about 26 inches or so.
Wednesday was a beautiful day, so I went to the beach. I went to Plum Island, which is part of the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. This is great place, because the parking lots have very few spots, so only a limited number of people will be on the beach at any given time. And much of the beach is closed to the public, to provide undisturbed nesting areas for endangered birds. A rickety old boardwalk leads over the dunes...
to the beach:
There are also some interpretive trails that go through the marsh and over the dunes, with accompanying literature explaining the various forces affecting these areas of island.
After exploring the trails and eating lunch on the beach, I went swimming for a little while, the first time I've gone swimming in about 5 years. The water was cold, but not as icy cold as it usually is. It was fun feeling the waves crash into me, but I think it would have been more fun if I had someone with whom I could splash around or throw a frisbee. One of the drawbacks of being a loner.
On Thursday, I decided to explore a river I had never seen before, the Ipswich River. It turns out that this isn't really much of a river--little more than a trickle, if you ask me. However, there is one part where the water accumulates into a small reservoir, much smaller than I thought it would be.
I threw a few casts, and was quite surprised to catch a small pike, maybe about 18 inches. Sorry, no pic--no place to put the camera down and set the timer, and a toothy critter like a pike is not the kind of fish I'd want to hold by the jaw with one hand. I felt bad for this fish because he had a large growth on his mouth, no doubt caused by polutants in his environment. The dark red stain of the water is a pretty clear indicator that it is not very healthy river.
After spending only a few hours at the Ipswich, I stopped by Horn Pond since it was on the way home.
I wanted to remind myself why I never fish at Horn Pond any more. Oh yeah, that's right, I never catch a damn thing there! And today was no different.
On Friday, I went back to the Concord River, and caught a pair of bass.
I also caught a pike, but as I was reaching down to grab him, he did the head shake, and got off the hook. I guess that means I didn't really catch him!
As is common with fish stories, the best ones are the ones that got away, and sadly, that was the case on this day. It was early afternoon, and I wasn't having much luck, starting to wonder if the trip out was really worth it. When all of a sudden, I got a major hit. He slammed it hard, and started fighting. I gave a good, solid hook-set to make sure I had him. He was peeling off drag like there was no tomorrow, clearly a very powerful fish. Based on his strength, he could have easily been 6 or 7 pounds at least. Then in the midst of the struggle, my line came flying back at me. Damn! What the hell happened? My first impression was that this was a big old pike, and my line got cut by his razor sharp teeth--this has happened to me many times. But that wasn't the case this time, because the line was not cut clean. In fact, it was still tied to my swivel-snap, but the clip part that clips onto the lure was bent backwards! The damn swivel-snap failed, and it cost me a big one, maybe the biggest fish I would've ever caught! So I lost a big fish, and I left a spinnerbait in a fish's mouth. I hate when that happens. I remembered last year, something similar happened, when I had another huge fish, but my line broke, and I left a weedless spoon in a fish's mouth. I theorized that the problem that time was my line had some nicks and abrasions from wear and tear, and the tension was too much for my weakened line. You gotta watch out for these kinds of failures. I gotta be careful to retie often to cut away damaged line, and use heavier gauge swivel-snaps!
On Monday, I went to the Leominster State Forest to do some hiking.
I'll bet these cliffs provide a fun and exciting challenge for those who are into rock climbing.
However, I am not into rock climbing, so I took the trail that goes alongside the cliffs. At the top, there is a nice view (click to enlarge). Probably looks quite vibrant in the autumn during foliage season.
Further along the trail, you can look off in the distance to see, placed strategically in the middle of this State Forest (because that's the most natural place for it, after all, right?) the Leominster Landfill. Honestly, whose idea was it to put a dump in the middle of a conservation area?
They did it over at Walden Pond also--they put a landfill right next to it.
Here is an example of the wildlife I encountered. I can't tell if this amphibious creature is a frog or a toad. I'm guess frog, since it has webbed feet:
Tuesday morning started out with rain, so I got a late start to my fishing trip to the Concord River. I don't mind fishing in a light drizzle, but I've had trouble with my reel when the rain is steady and soaking. I got the river mid-morning, just as the rain was letting up. Didn't have much luck though. I caught one bass, about 4 lbs:
And I caught my first pike of the year. Hurray! Maybe about 26 inches or so.
Wednesday was a beautiful day, so I went to the beach. I went to Plum Island, which is part of the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. This is great place, because the parking lots have very few spots, so only a limited number of people will be on the beach at any given time. And much of the beach is closed to the public, to provide undisturbed nesting areas for endangered birds. A rickety old boardwalk leads over the dunes...
to the beach:
There are also some interpretive trails that go through the marsh and over the dunes, with accompanying literature explaining the various forces affecting these areas of island.
After exploring the trails and eating lunch on the beach, I went swimming for a little while, the first time I've gone swimming in about 5 years. The water was cold, but not as icy cold as it usually is. It was fun feeling the waves crash into me, but I think it would have been more fun if I had someone with whom I could splash around or throw a frisbee. One of the drawbacks of being a loner.
On Thursday, I decided to explore a river I had never seen before, the Ipswich River. It turns out that this isn't really much of a river--little more than a trickle, if you ask me. However, there is one part where the water accumulates into a small reservoir, much smaller than I thought it would be.
I threw a few casts, and was quite surprised to catch a small pike, maybe about 18 inches. Sorry, no pic--no place to put the camera down and set the timer, and a toothy critter like a pike is not the kind of fish I'd want to hold by the jaw with one hand. I felt bad for this fish because he had a large growth on his mouth, no doubt caused by polutants in his environment. The dark red stain of the water is a pretty clear indicator that it is not very healthy river.
After spending only a few hours at the Ipswich, I stopped by Horn Pond since it was on the way home.
I wanted to remind myself why I never fish at Horn Pond any more. Oh yeah, that's right, I never catch a damn thing there! And today was no different.
On Friday, I went back to the Concord River, and caught a pair of bass.
I also caught a pike, but as I was reaching down to grab him, he did the head shake, and got off the hook. I guess that means I didn't really catch him!
As is common with fish stories, the best ones are the ones that got away, and sadly, that was the case on this day. It was early afternoon, and I wasn't having much luck, starting to wonder if the trip out was really worth it. When all of a sudden, I got a major hit. He slammed it hard, and started fighting. I gave a good, solid hook-set to make sure I had him. He was peeling off drag like there was no tomorrow, clearly a very powerful fish. Based on his strength, he could have easily been 6 or 7 pounds at least. Then in the midst of the struggle, my line came flying back at me. Damn! What the hell happened? My first impression was that this was a big old pike, and my line got cut by his razor sharp teeth--this has happened to me many times. But that wasn't the case this time, because the line was not cut clean. In fact, it was still tied to my swivel-snap, but the clip part that clips onto the lure was bent backwards! The damn swivel-snap failed, and it cost me a big one, maybe the biggest fish I would've ever caught! So I lost a big fish, and I left a spinnerbait in a fish's mouth. I hate when that happens. I remembered last year, something similar happened, when I had another huge fish, but my line broke, and I left a weedless spoon in a fish's mouth. I theorized that the problem that time was my line had some nicks and abrasions from wear and tear, and the tension was too much for my weakened line. You gotta watch out for these kinds of failures. I gotta be careful to retie often to cut away damaged line, and use heavier gauge swivel-snaps!
posted by Johnny Introvert at 11:42 AM
3 Comments:
Wow, what a lovely vacation. I've always wondered what it would be like to do something like that just by myself. Seems like it'd be very peaceful. On the other hand... a bit lonely, too.
I love all of the pictures. I had to show Maya the frog. We don't see frogs around here ever.
Thanks for sharing all of the pictures with us. I love to see where you go fishing... but it sure is sad that everything is sick out there. :( I wish it was different.
Oh, and the pic with your hair down... Umm.. yeah. I like that one. A lot. :D Johnny Introvert is sooo cute!
Hi Sista, thanks for the comment! I was having a lousy day yesterday, but your comment brightened it up a little, so I appreciate it!
I'm not sure all the ponds and rivers around here are contaminated. There must be some that are healthy, probably farther away from the city. But I know that they have issued warnings about eating fish in some of the nearby ponds. The scary thing is, I see some people taking home fish anyway--must not've heard the warnings.
You know, I usually don't pull my hair back until late in the day, so most of the time, I look like the hair-down pic. But when I fish, I like to get it out of my face to apply sunblock and insect repellent. I don't like getting that stuff in my hair!
Beautiful pictures. Did you take all of them? Those are professional quality pics. You're a lovely looking man.
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