Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT
Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 4:24 pm Post subject: Bantam Lake 09/06
When asianfisher (aka Billy) called me this morning, I told him that it's raining and that I didn't plan to go fishing. Billy essentially told me that I was a wussie and, after he drove down from Massachusetts, yeah, I went fishing with him in the south cove of Bantam Lake. We stopped by the formerly public boat launch ramp in the southeast corner of the cove, but the Town of Morris has decided to restrict its use to Residents Only:
However, we drove down to the ramp to check out the water level. It came all the way up to the asphalt at the end of the driveway; still high, but not too bad. We ended up parking near and launching from the boarded up white building on the shore in the southwest corner, which I think is on state land. We launched into a stiff north breeze just before 10:00 am:
Billy paddled La Calabaza and I paddled El Habañero. The air was cool and humid, and the sky was totally overcast. It sprinkled or rained off and on while we were on the water. Billy headed over to the west shore and I paddled across the cove to the marina in the northwest corner. On his way up the shore, Billy boated a 1-1/2 pound largemouth bass with a blue and white two willow blade spinnerbait. I think that he ended up boating all of his fish with that lure. I trolled a silver Rapala Shallow Shad Rap SSR7 across the cove, but didn't get any hits. I threw a black Booyah Buzz buzzbait for a while, but got only one small hit without a hookset. I couldn't resist tying on a wacky rigged green pumpkin/red flake five inch Senko and throwing it at the big laydown that's just south of the marina, and I boated my first fish of the day when this 15 inch, one pound, nine ounce largemouth picked it up:
I threw the wacky Senko and a soft plastic frog around the marina, and didn't get any hits. I did, however, see an ENCON POLICE boat for the first time ever, tied up at a dock:
I went past the marina to the north shore of the cove, where the wacky Senko got me a 14 inch largemouth and a rock bass:
At this point, Billy paddled up from the middle of the west shore to show me the two largemouth that he had boated:
That's a three pound, 15 ounce largemouth with the 1-1/2 pounder that he had caught first. He released both fish after I took the photo. While we were talking, a small northern pike followed Billy's spinnerbait all the way up to his kayak, so I tied on a black spinnerbait with a big Colorado blade. We drifted south past a buoy that marks some shallow rocks, but didn't get any hits. Billy paddled back to the middle of the west shore and I went back to the laydown that's just south of the marina. I got a couple of good hits with the wacky Senko, including a fish that pulled hard enough to straighten out my Gamakatsu Number 4 Octopus Circle hook a little, but both fish ended up spitting the hook. Sonofab*!@# I continued to throw the wacky Senko tight to the shore as the wind pushed me south. I boated another freakin' rock bass before a big largemouth picked up the wacky Senko:
It weighed 3-3/4 pounds and was 19 inches long with the tail pinched. Whoo hoo! Just then, Billy paddled up to me with the largest of the three northern pike that he had boated with the spinnerbait in the southwest corner:
It was 24 inches long. The only spinnerbait with willow blades that I had with me was a heavy Bluegill patterned one ounce Strike King Bottom Dweller, so I tied it on. I figured that I could swim it shallow if I just reeled fast. On my first cast toward the west shore, a small chain pickerel followed it up to my kayak. Just then, I noticed that Billy had pulled up on the shore from where we had launched. As I worked my way toward him, I got a hit on the spinnerbait and boated a 22 inch chain pickerel:
I had promised myself that I would keep the next decent pickerel I caught, so it came home with me. It's already filleted and I'll fry it up tonight. We were both off of the water shortly after 1:00 pm. Thanks for dragging my a$$ out into the rain today, Billy! _________________ Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!
Last edited by PECo on Wed Oct 19, 2011 8:08 am; edited 4 times in total
No problem Phil... Always have a great time fishing with you... And rememner" you gotta want it to get it".... Shit was windy i got tangled with my 2 rods with the one tangled being braid so i took time to take it off untill i blew to shore and a waave crashed into my side making me sit in 2" of water on the seat WTF!!!!! lol All in all good day!!!! Thanks D
Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT
Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 5:00 pm Post subject:
I forgot to mention the reason why you had pulled up onto the shore! That's right, everyone, Billy wet himself. _________________ Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!
Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 7:17 am Post subject:
I pan fried the chain pickerel fillets for breakfast. The meat is firm, but tender, and very mildly flavored. The only bad thing about pickerel is the Y-bones. I don't have the skill or experience to trim them out of a fillet without losing a large amount of the meat, so I resolved to just eat around them. It was a picky experience, but I didn't choke on any. I was amazed at how many I pulled out. They're very long and very fine, and they really are shaped like the letter Y. Pickerel is delicious, but I still prefer smallmouth or largemouth bass, which are tastier and boneless when properly filleted. _________________ Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!
Joined: 20 Oct 2010 Posts: 245 Location: Thompson, CT
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 7:46 am Post subject:
Very cool, one of these days I’ll have to actually take something home to eat. Many of my favorite places to fish are along the French River though… which used to have textile mills which dumped toxic dyes into the river day in and day out for years. I can’t find anything listing it as being unsafe to eat from… but the rumor around town since I was a child has always been that it is dirty/unsafe/etc. Any thoughts on this? _________________ PB's:
LMB - 4 pounds - Stump Pond, Thompson
Carp - 11 pounds - W. Thompson Lake, Thompson
Still searching for some toothy critters big enough to be worth weighing...
When I ate that pike I had the same problem. I only ended up making fillets from the belly meat and wasted a lot of meat. Good thing it was a 38"er and I still got enough for 6 people! _________________ Go big or go home!
Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 8:05 am Post subject: French River
Jon
You should contact the folks at the French River Connection (www.frenchriverconnection.org) for information about the river. They published a water quality monitoring report last year:
Joined: 20 Oct 2010 Posts: 245 Location: Thompson, CT
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 9:03 am Post subject:
Peco,
Thank you for the link! I didn’t think for some reason to see if MA had any more info on the river… makes sense since a lot of its length is in that state. The document you linked didn’t seem to have any specific data about fish consumption, but a quick google search turned up a 2009 fish consumption advisory from mass.gov… which doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling haha. Especially since there were even more mills here in Thompson, dumping even more stuff in the river…
French River - Oxford, Webster
P1 (all species), P2 (LMB), P4
Contaminant: Mercury
Advice Codes:
P1 (all species) Children younger than 12 years or age, pregnant women, women of childbearing age who may become pregnant,
and nursing mothers should not eat any fish from this water body.
P2 (species) The general public should not consume any of the affected fish species (in parenthesis) from this water body.
P4 The general public should limit consumption of non-affected fish from this water body to two meals per month.
I think i'll find somewhere else to fish if i'm going to keep fish to eat. Sorry for hijacking your thread!
Jon _________________ PB's:
LMB - 4 pounds - Stump Pond, Thompson
Carp - 11 pounds - W. Thompson Lake, Thompson
Still searching for some toothy critters big enough to be worth weighing...
Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 10:02 am Post subject: Kayak and Canoe Launching
No problem, Jon. I learned something.
I double-checked my belief that the land from which Billy and I launched is owned by the state, and to my relief it is. It's part of Camp Columbia State Park:
I have just sent this letter to Attorney General George Jepson. We'll see what happens.
Dear Attorney General,
I am a state resident and avid outdoors man. There is an issue transpiring in the town of Morris that I would like to bring to your attention. This issue involves the public boat launch on Bantam Lake where the town is trying to restrict access to the public and keep it for municipal residents only. This property was given to the town by the Whittlesey and Harrison families in 1963, with the restriction that it be used for recreational use. This violates my (and the general public's) constitutional rights and I will cite Leydon v Greenwich as an example. The former Attorney General had already sent a letter to the Morris First Selectman dated August 11, 2009 advising her to take down the sign at the launch that read "Residents Only. Sticker Required". It had subsequently been removed, but is now posted again.
I have been fishing on this lake for over 20 years and find it to be the best lake for trophy Northern Pike in the state. The DEP had done an outstanding job of introducing and managing this top predator for years before the lease to the launch had expired. The Pike population has now been established and is breeding, thus creating what I believe to be a world class Pike fishery. There are very few lakes in all of North America where an angler has a legitimate chance at hooking into a 20 lb. Northern Pike and I can personally attest that Bantam Lake is one of them.
Mr. Jepson, I know you are a busy man but I implore of you to fight to keep access to this lake available to the general public and not just to the town of Morris. This is important not just for me, but for my children and grandchildren who would be using this boat launch long after I am gone. What the town of Morris is trying to do is unconstitutional and just plain selfish. It is also quite brazen in my opinion because the town officials have already been made aware that what they are trying to do is illegal and they have done it anyway. There are other solutions to account for the upkeep of this facility and many of these have already been discussed according to The Register Citizen, which is a local newspaper for Litchfield County.
I appreciate your time for reading this letter, and hope that you will address this issue at your earliest convenience. Please contact me and let me know what your stance is on this topic. I will look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Damian Tracy _________________ Go big or go home!
Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 10:33 am Post subject:
Hey, Damian, maybe we could get the DEEP to build a boat launch ramp on the Camp Columbia State Park lake frontage. It wouldn't take much, although I'm sure that the NIMBYs (aka Not In My Back Yard people) would come out in droves. _________________ Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!
Nicely put Damian, I hope you actually hear something back. The wife and I are dying to catch our first northerns and Bantam sounds like the place. Phil, love the video, glad you stayed dry LOL. Does anyone here know what the ramp at Point Folly costs? I've got the 3/4 ounce spinnerbaits ready to go.
Thanks
John
Joined: 07 Jun 2011 Posts: 655 Location: Central, CT
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 5:16 pm Post subject:
I was actually considering sending a letter as well. I wonder if it will make a bigger impact if he receives multiple letters? I have wanted to go to Bantam all summer and it really sucks that its such a problem.
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I continued to throw the wacky Senko tight to the shore as the wind pushed me south. I boated another freakin' rock bass before a big largemouth picked up the wacky Senko:
Just then, Billy paddled up to me with the largest of the three northern pike that he had boated with the spinnerbait in the southwest corner:
