Fat Boy's Outdoors Blog Revival

Well my guilt has been overpowering, and with no excuse for lack of time right now due to a long bout with food poisoning, it's time to revive Fat Boy's Outdoors Blog.  I apologize to followers and readers of this blog for my absence.  Call it writers block, call it lack of motivation, or just call it lazy, whatever funk I've been in ends with this post.  I'll resume weekly posts, articles, and anything else that comes to mind in the outdoors world that I share with my friends and family.  This week, however, I'll try and post daily, if not every other day.

I'll start with some highlights since my last post, today, it's about fishing.  How about some noteworthy catches since then!  I would say my most memorable catch was that I all but tied my personal best striped bass catch at 45 1/2" long, a half inch shorter than my longest, but this fish was much fatter.  I caught this beast casting a Bomber Magnum Long A minnow bait, cranking it was fast as I could with stops and jerks along the way.

This may be the biggest rockfish (a.k.a. striped bass or striper) that I've ever caught.  My hands were cramped after the catch, and I shook for about a half hour from shock!

I knew this was a different class of fish when I hooked it.  The rod in the background of the picture was my buddy's rod and reel combo.  I was actually using an XH musky rod and reel combo, and this fish still took me around the boat three times during the fight.  My buddy Steve Kelley and I will never forget that experience.

Despite the net being seemingly a bit undersized, my buddy Steve expertly lead this fish into the bag!

My buddies and I made the trek to fish the Niagara River and had a great time.  For the first time, being the stubborn sort, I fly fished the majority of the time.  I managed to land several lake trout on the fly, including this one caught stripping a chartreuse wooley bugger.  It's not the biggest lake trout that I've ever landed on the fly, but it sure was a brute, leaving my forearm cramped and my knees knocking.

I love catching these fish on the fly, what a thrill!

Not all fish that are memorable are mine.  My friend Mark McWilliams caught the biggest laker that I've ever seen in person.  This picture still blows my mind.

This lake trout is massive.  The picture does not do it justice.  Incredible fish Mark!

Now, that was an amazing trip, and I have to acknowledge the incredible angling ability of my friend Bob Barber.  His ability to establish a pattern on the Niagara and many other bodies of water that he fishes is incredible.  He had the fish dialed in, landing big lakers and steelhead often, including this beauty.

Here's Bob with one of his many fish caught on that trip.  He had the fish dialed in. 

And kudos to Bob's Son Carson, nicknamed by our circle of friends as "Carson Van Dam" or "CVD"  due to his knack of putting fish in the boat at his young age, for not only catching his share of fish on that trip, but for netting many of them.  He was always first to the net and became quite the net man.  Perfect?  Not yet, but he's as good as many that I've fished with.  He'll be perfect soon, you can count on that.

CVD in action!

I have more fishing to catch up on, some with the "how to" format, and some more as updates to specific trips in future blog posts.  I've had plenty of good action of the past two years, too much for one post, although not enough fishing trips for my liking in total.  I hope to change that over the next few years, to get out more, and post here.

Thanks for your patience in waiting for my posts, and I hope that the past two years fared well for you!