<h1>2016 Year in Review</h1>

I thought I would take some time here at the beginning of 2017 to reflect on my fishing experiences of 2016. I'm going to show some statistics, talk about some of the new fish I caught as well as "brag" a little about what I was able to do. So bear with me as I reminisce.

2016 Statistics

As I have said multiple times I am a Fishnerd. I am also a science teacher so I like numbers. The screen shot below is just a portion of the spreadsheet I have to record my fishing adventures. 2016 was a very good year for me. I know that other anglers caught more or even bigger fish than me, but I was very happy with the fact that I caught just over 1,400. Of those 1,400 fish, just under 28% of them were bluegill, but I was able to get 24 different species over 2016. I will say that I really enjoyed catching as many chain pickerel that I did. On the light tackle that I use they are a blast to reel in, especially when I'm on my two person kayak and a fish is able to turn me or even tow me for a little bit. You might also be able to see that Lake Lariat, in the southern portion of Calvert County, was my top producing location with over 28% of the fish I caught coming from there. It actually averaged out that I caught about 10 fish per outing on Lake Lariat. It also might mean that I need to try a few different spots. But when I can get there in about 15 minutes, and fish for a couple of hours and then get back before dark after school - I think it's a nice place to continue to try. That and I've probably only explored a third of the lake itself. Now being a Fishnerd I also like to catch different species and the location where I caught the most was Hunting Creek in the middle of Calvert County. At that one small tributary I have caught eight different ones, including a couple of new ones.

7 New Species caught in 2016:

This past year saw me catching a few new species. In fact I was able to catch seven new ones in total, at least since I've been seriously thinking about them. Fishing for me has always been about a mystery.
Where am I going to try today?
What technique might get a fish to bite?
If a fish does bite what kind of fish is it?
They are the questions that race through my mind. And what a neat experience for that last question to be something new! I also had the chance to fish some new water this past year. I was told about a couple of small ponds here in Calvert County. I also found out about a couple of spots like Adkins Mill (in Powellville, MD) and Williams Mill (in Delmar, MD) became a couple of favorites to hit when I was on the lower Eastern Shore.

Trying something sort of new - the "Mr. Ugly Fly"

As 2016 progressed, I began trying something a little new, for me at least. But to really tell the story correctly I have to go back two school years. A couple of years ago I had a student who I knew was an outdoorsmen. He spoke more about hunting than fishing, but he was a really nice young man. One day after we had completed what we were working on in lab, I mentioned to him if he got a deer that season that I'd like to have the tail to try to use for making "buck tail" jigs. Time went by, and then last school year, the same young man walked by me in the hallway one day and handed me a plastic bag with paper towels wrapped around something. Come to find out it was a tail. I took it home and left it with my fishing stuff for about 6 months. Fast forward to the beginning of the current school year and I brought home a ring stand and a utility clamp to use as a "vise." Now every once in a while I spend about a half hour, usually when I can't get to sleep very quickly, and I put a small jig, most often a 1/32 - 1/8 oz, in the clamp. I then, using regular sewing thread, I tie on some of the hair. I don't have a bobbin tool, nor do I have a "whip finisher." But to be completely honest I think that the resulting "flies" have been producing. I have used them in small creeks, on the shore of my favorite ponds and even the kayak. I have included a plastic grub, or baby shad style trailer, and on a Beetle Spin lure. And they have been catching fish; bluegill, crappie, white perch, and largemouth. I even got an 22 inch pickerel on one back in November. I'll probably picking up a true vise and try tying some more, but for now the "Mr. Ugly's" as I like to call them are working.

Citation fish caught:

Back in the middle of August, just before I had to head back to school for the new year, I had a little time on Lake Lariat. I was paddling along one shoreline and made a cast into about 4 feet of water. My line went tight and I hooked up with my first "citation" fish. While it wasn't a true "monster" I have to say that it was neat getting a fish big enough to qualify. Here's a link to the original post from that day if you're interested in reliving it with me. Catching a citation fish has to do with being in the right place at the right time and getting the right fish to bite. Thank goodness that one did.

Update on "Fish Across Maryland (FaMD)

My original intent of this blog was to keep track of my quest to "Fish Across Maryland." In 2015, I set out in hopes to catch a fish in each county in the state. While the first year went well, circumstances back home made it next to impossible to travel around the state in my quest. I still have this as a pretty high priority but I have to put more thought into bringing it into being. I did pick up one county, Harford County, back in September of 2016, which brought the count to 10 counties as of now. The official list is:

Anne Arundel .... Calvert .... Charles .... Harford .... Howard ....
Prince George's .... Queen Anne's .... St. Mary's .... Wicomico .... Worcester
And here's a "cheesy map" of how it looks at this time.

In 2017

As 2017 has begun, many people are making New Year's Resolutions. I have even seen a few resolutions, related to fishing, in my feed on "Twitter". But in all honesty I haven't settled upon what I really want my focus to be this year. I know that I'd like to put more effort into my "Fish Across Maryland" quest. While I am happy with 10 counties, I'd like to increase that by at least 3 or 4 this year. I'd also like to put better effort into hunting down new species. A year ago or so I picked up an extendable fixed line pole and have yet to catch anything with it, so I'd like to give that a try as well. And while I can always say: "I'd like to catch more fish than last year" I don't want that to be a focus. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I used to be heavily involved with geocaching. It was the idea of a streak, finding a different cache each day for a particular number of days, that ruined it for me. Also "the want" to just go out and find more - really didn't help at all. I never want fishing to become like that, so numbers really aren't the driving force.

Have you heard?

I'd like to close this post with a "plug" if you will for my favorite podcast: the Fishnerds. It's billed as show about "fish, fishing and eating fish that is always interesting, usually funny and mostly true." I really think if you enjoy fishing and haven't at least given it a try - then you don't know what you are missing. Give it a listen!

Here's to 2017 - I hope that it will be just as fun as 2016! Tight lines!!