COLUMN: Recent <b>fishing</b> trip almost too easy

It was like throwing a chunk of meat into a school of hungry piranhas. Never in my life had I witnessed such a feeding frenzy among freshwater fish ? not bass, not bream nor crappie, and certainly not catfish.

Once, as I reeled in my bait, a bass struck the lure with only about eight feet of line out. That sorta shocked me, so I set the hook a little too hard (well, actually a LOT too hard), which in turn caused the bait to fly out of the fish?s mouth and back into the water on the opposite side of the boat. In short, it was only a nip of the lip.

But before I could reel the in the lure, a 2-pound bass had swallowed it. And this one didn?t get away. It was like that almost the entire time my son, Daniel, our friend, Dalton Hudson, and I fished. We only fished a couple of hours and caught over 80 bass, averaging two pounds. The largest tipped the scales at over seven.

What?s crazy about the whole trip is how it came about. Daniel has a 22-foot saltwater rig that he needed to check out ? bilge pump, outboard motor, trolling motor, etc. ? before he took it to the salty waters off the coast of Mississippi or Louisiana. Dalton has access to a large lake, so the two of them took the boat to check it out.

While there, Dalton couldn?t help but notice Daniel had his spinning reels rigged with saltwater baits, namely plastic cocahoe (hope that?s the correct spelling) minnows. Didn?t matter to him, though, so while Daniel tinkered with his boat, Dalton commenced to cast out the cocahoe minnow. If I recall from what they told me, he caught a bass on his first cast. And it was like that for the rest of the trip.

Daniel began fishing, too, and in less than a couple of hours, the pair had caught over 80 bass, averaging around two pounds. The outing was so successful that they decided to try again the next day, and they bowed to pressure and even invited me. Using the traditionally saltwater baits again, the three of us caught 83 bass.

That seemed too good to be true, so Dalton and Daniel decided to go a third day in a row. This time they invited brothers B.J. and Justin Bailey, and that quartet again boated over 80 bass. Again, we?re not talking about yearling bass, but fish averaging about two pounds.

Therefore, if you?re not having much success with your saltwater fishing trips, you might want to hit the fresh water and use saltwater baits. Of course I?m sure there are freshwater plastic baits similar to cocahoe minnows but, as some folks say, ?If it ain?t broke, don?t fix it.?

The family and I took a whirlwind vacation to Colorado and got caught up in some of the devastating wildfires. In fact, it seemed that every time we left an area, or tried to leave, another wildfire erupted, and I?m truly surprised that Federal Fire Marshalls have not come around to question me!

May relate that story in a future column, but I have bored you enough for now. Until then, be safe outdoors, obey the laws, have fun ? and take a kid with you every time you can.

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<b>Fishing</b> Column: <b>Fishermen</b> of tomorrow graduate with honors

Last Saturday was Graduation Day for both the Stamford and the Shelton Connecticut Aquatic Resources Education (CARE) programs.

To celebrate, the two classes joined up and celebrated with a fishing trip to Great Hollow Lake in Monroe.

And what a day they had! One observer said that in total the students must have caught and released more than 100 fish.

Dick Emmons of the Stamford CARE team and James Mastronni of the Shelton Recreation Service teamed up with the assistance of the Monroe Recreation and Parks Department to sponsor a great day of fishing.

And, best of all, the weatherman accommodated the group with a relatively nice day.

The Royster Family was out in full force. Juliet, 11, Justin, 8, Ginger, also 8, and Alec 6, were there with Linda and Richard Valente. The kids all attended the CARE class in Stamford and loved it.

Juliet said that the best part was learning fish identification. Justin rated learning how to tie knots at the best part of the class. They showed what they learned by catching lots bluegills and sunfish.

K.T. Murphy student Genesis Caman, 10, found the class interesting and `loved learning about the fish'. Genesis caught four sunfish and a brown trout.

John Armstrong, his son John, Jr., and their kids were there. Rogers School student Megan Armstrong, 8, caught some sunfish and a trout and McKenzie Lewis, 7, a student at Roxbury School, landed a sunfish.

One of the busiest anglers was Jordan Edmonds of Beacon Falls. The 10-year-old fishing expert caught a 14.5-inch tiger trout and a largemouth bass.

"This is fun. I am having a great time," said Edmonds.

Fishing nearby was Ainnay, 4, and Naveah, 7, Bogilo of Bridgeport. Ainnay caught a perch and a largemouth bass and Naveah caught a bass and a brown trout.

With them was Ski and Kim Alvarado. Ski caught a 16-inch brown trout and a Kim caught a rainbow trout.

Nathan Links, 10, and his brother, Oren, 8, of Stamford had a good day fishing. Nathan caught three sunfish and Oren caught one.

Also from Stamford was the Bilenker family. While their dad, Josh, watched, Evan, 4, Justin, 8, and Dean, 10, displayed the skills they learned at the CARE class. They all caught lots of sunfish.

The Marcus family was also there. Led by their dad, Ben, was Ava, 5, Lila, 3, and Mateo 1, Ava, attends the Sara Walker Preschool in Stamford.

St. Cecilia School in Stamford was represented by Jacob Lefort. The 10-year-old student caught a rainbow trout and a sunfish.

"It was fun," said Jacob as he showed off his catch.

Toquam School student Craig Ottaviano, 8, landed a largemouth bass and a pair of sunfish.

Sean Lee, 8, caught some nice sunfish. Sean is a student at Hart School.

Marielena Gustavo brought Antonio Arteta to the lake for some action. The 4-year-old from Stamford caught a nice sunfish.

Julia Vargas, 5, a student at Putnam School, was fishing with her parents, Olga and Luis Vargas. When asked if this was her first time fishing Juliana made it clear that she is an experienced angler and has been fishing before.

David Delibro, 5, and his brother, Daniel, 3, of Trumbull were there with their dad Ron and his friend Josie Prubhon. The brothers teamed up to catch a 16-inch brown trout.

Gonzalo Gupte, age 10, and his sister, Nima, 7, were fishing with Kate Corman, 7, as mom, Maria watched. Gonzalo attends North Mianus School and Nima and Kate go to North Street School. The highlight of their day was when they poked at a turtle swimming by.

Representing Booth Hill School in Shelton was the Rivera family. Cristina, 10, and Daniel, 8, each did real well as their mom, Monica Rivera, watched. Christina caught five sunfish and Daniel landed a 13-inch pickerel.

Also from Shelton were Eric and Abby Gurski. Abby, 5, caught a sunfish and Eric, 9, caught a nice 16-inch brown trout.

Stephanie Croffy, 18 and her brother, Austin, 11, from Oxford, each caught some sunnies.

Michelle Spinel and her mom, Mary, had an exciting day. Mary caught a 9-inch bluegill and a 6-inch turtle while Michelle caught a pretty pumpkinseed and a bluegill.

Instructor Joe Scordato demonstrated his fishing skill for the kids. He caught a pair of rainbow trout, as some of the students watched. Nearby was Min Wang of Glenbrook who caught a catfish.

Assisting Emmons and Mastronni were CARE instructors and anglers from all over. They included Kevin Maher, Bob Gosi, Mike McNamara, Kate Kotlic, Scott Criscuolo and Tom Parlapiano from the Kellogg Environmental Center in Derby, Lynn Emmons, Jan Darula, Nancy Bono, Joe Scordado and Ross Ogden.

Bait for the event was provided by Pete's Place Bait and Tackle in Stamford, the Stamford CARE Team and the Shelton Recreation Service.

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Did you know that every trout released into Great Hollow Lake was given a name before it was released?

According to DEEP employee Mary Anne Kozikowski, who works at the Burlington Trout Hatchery and is a CARE instructor, she personally named each fish while they were still at the upstate hatchery.

Whenever one of the young anglers would reel in a fish, Kozikowski would run over to assist the child. Once the fish was safe and ready to be released, she would say goodbye to each one by name. There was Harry, Bobby, Hilda, Zaszu, Pearl and more.

I am still amazed that not only could Kozikowski remember all of her finned friends names she could actually recognize each one. Surprisingly, she did not kiss any of the fish good bye though she did wish them good luck in the future.

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The biggest fish of the week was a 44-pound striped bass caught by Jason Vlicky. Jason boated the cow while fishing off Hempstead Harbor. He used a chunk of bunker for bait. Later in the week he caught a 20-pounder using a diamond jig at 11B.

Capt Rick Dayhuff caught a 34-inch striper while fishing at Can 13. He was using a Sluggo lure.

George DiScala III caught several striped bass last week including a 36-incher off Greenwich last week. He was drifting bunker chunks.

Scott Denice and Billy Wilder took some time off from behind the counter at Fish Tails Bait and Tackle to troll for striped bass off Eaton's Neck. Using an umbrella rig, they caught and leased 30 stripers weighing up to 25 pounds. The next day Billy fished with John Bunton at Eaton's Neck. They trolled up 22 linesiders weighing up to 20 pounds.

Michael Manchiano fished off of Stamford last week and pulled in three stripers including one that measured 35 inches. Michael was using bunker chunks for bait.

Guidoni Vasquez reeled in a nice 40-inch cow while fishing off Southfield Point. The big fish was taken using a chunk of mackerel.

Fred Bonilla and his buddy, Hector, fished off Greenwich and Stamford for striper last week. Freddy reeled in a 29-incher and Hector caught a 30-incher. Both anglers were using mackerel chunks for bait.

The infamous "Angler X" has reappeared and has been working the water off Greenwich. Last week he went out twice and tallied a total of four keeper bass. His largest fish measured 35 inches and was taken on a mackerel chunk.

You would think that with a name like Rodney Bass you would be out bass fishing but instead freshwater angling was the choice last week. While fishing at the East Branch Reservoir in Westchester, Rodney caught a nice 3-pound walleye. He was using a crank bait lure.

Martin Armstrong is a member of the Fisheries Advisory Council, a lifetime member of Trout Unlimited and part of the Outdoors Writers Association

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