Boating safety is an issue everyone should take seriously. Based on 2011 statistics, there are several states where it should be taken even more seriously. While this list likely isn’t going to take anyone by surprise as it consists entirely of coastal states, the sheer number of accidents is certainly something that needs to be looked at closely. According the the United States Coast Guard’s statistics, in 2011 there were more than 4,588 accidents and 758 boating related deaths.

While experienced boaters understand and respect the dangers of the high seas, those numbers should still be enough to startle anyone. That being said, there are a number of excellent resources to help make sure you and your loved ones have all the necessary knowledge to keep it safe on the water. You can do a Google search on your own, but here are some popular ones to get started with:

• BoatSafe.com
• Boating Safety Courses By State
• The Boating Safety Resource Center

Jen Atkins is a freelance designer and occasional contributor to the Manitou blog.

Once the two hard registered the fish it was placed back in the Potomac with tracking devices provided by the state. Curiously, they allowed the monster fish back in the water even though blue catfish are not supposed to be released after catch. The state is trying to rid the mighty river of these large fish that were originally stockpiled in the 1970’s.

This story raises all sorts of questions for fisherman today. First we look at the decision for the pair of fisherman to release the fish. Generally speaking an 84 lb catfish of this girth and magnitude would not necessarily be the prettiest fish on a wall. Nevertheless I have seen taxidermists do far greater wonders. This could have been an incredible showing piece with few to even match its story.

Whether or not to mount a fish has long been an argument outside of the fishing and hunting community and stayed a matter of politics. However in recent years I have seen a renewed interest in alienating the art of taxidermy and much of it is going out of style from the stand point of casual fisherman. You might not expect the same from professionals but we may see a trend emerging.

After it was agreed the two would not keep the fish to mount one has to wonder why the animal was allowed back into the Potomac especially since the DNR director from Maryland is quoted as saying that the fish are a major threat to the native species. If these monster fish (no offense to the catfish) are not wanted, why on earth are they putting the biggest one back in the river? I understand there are some worthy tests to consider, but at what costs?

Finally, it leaves me to question or decisions to place fish in bodies of water that don’t belong there to begin with. We see this all the time with fisheries stocking their local ponds and lakes in parks or private communities with carp. However, this aside some nasty creatures have been stocked and many not intentionally. This is especially true of the razor sharp toothed Chinese fish that can walk on land. Many DNR departments are offering lucrative bounties on these specimens. Is there a better way to solve problems of algae or micro-organisms in our water ways?

My guess these are questions that have been going through the minds of the fisherman who landed this beautiful catfish. It is obvious that they enjoy the story, the hunt and the fight far more than the show of a monster catch fish on their walls. Knowing you are, as a fisherman taking part in a project to promote the betterment of waterways and fisheries is at the heart of good sportsmanship and being a general good citizen. I imagine these two will have some great catches to come and would be awesome to tag along with for a fishing trip.

Scott is a guest contributor from Fishing Line, a blog that likes to focus on reviews for all kinds of tackle available to fisherman.

One summer activity that many Vineyard vacationers particularly favor is fishing, and not only because
the hit movie JAWS was filmed in the fishing village of Menemsha. Fishing is not only a sport, but a way of life for Islanders and visitors alike. Whether you’re an experienced fisherman or want to spend time with your family making a big catch, Martha’s Vineyard offers various fishing charters for off-shore catches, during which you will be accompanied by an experienced captain and his crewmen to help you get the fish on-board.

If you don’t want your fishing experience on Martha’s Vineyard to end there, every fall, fishermen from around the world come to the island for the annual month-long Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby. Running for 67 years now, the Derby is a fishing tournament in which up to 3,200 contestants compete in catching the largest of four species of fish: striped bass, bluefish, false albacore and Atlantic bonito. The Derby lasts from early September to early October and winners are awarded assorted tackle and gear, a plaque, and money according to their winning placement.

But fishing doesn’t have to stop at Martha’s Vineyard. During your stay at a Martha’s Vineyard vacation rental, you can boat your way over to Martha Vineyard’s neighbor, Cape Cod, by ferry. The Cape is one of the most sought-out saltwater fishing destinations, and fishing off the Cape makes for a great day trip. In addition to catching striped bass, bluefish, albacore and bonito, you may reel in great-tasting cod, flounder, fluke, tautog, mackerel, sea bass, or even a Bluefin tuna. You can make a deep-sea saltwater catch on one of the many fishing charters available, which offers you and your family a fun and memorable experience. If you would rather cast the line instead of the lure, fly fishing is a popular and exciting sport, in which you can fish for Trout and Largemouth Bass.

Although Cape Cod is surrounded with endless saltwater fishing waters, the Cape is home to 365 ponds and lakes for vacationers to make a freshwater catch. The ponds and lakes are stocked annually with freshwater fish that include trout, yellow perch, white perch, pickerel, bullheads, catfish and salmon.

With the various places to make a catch and the opportunity to catch an array of species, Martha’s Vineyard and the Cape are your fishing headquarters.

Jillian Johnson is a professional content writer who enjoys writing blogs concentrating on many topics, particulalry travel and vacation. Follow her @JillianLJ87.

These omnivores are from South America and commonly eat nuts that have fallen from trees. They have also been known to bite off fingers and other extruding body parts of unsuspecting swimmers.

Our water level is currently at 50% (the reservoir has been drawn down to this level to allow for the Dam expansion project). The last day for boat rentals and marina operations is Sunday October 9. Shoreline will continue to remain open for fishing. Stripers continue to provide the best fishing action. We will have some bait and tackle available at the entrance to the watershed.

Dam Expansion Updates & Closures

The North entrance to the reservoir continues to be closed and will remain closed into the spring of 2012 as expansion work on the dam continues.  At the south entrance to the watershed the Rockwall parking lot is now closed as well as fishing access west of Oak Point.  All access to the trails past the Rock Wall is also closed. These areas will remain closed indefinitely. This work is the preparation needed to relocate the marina facilities.

Boat are no longer being rented due to construction. Boat rentals will start back up in the spring of 2012.  The Marina building will also be closing on October 9.  Parking is limited to South Cove parking lot and the shoreline is only accessible via South Cove shoreline.

Shoreline fishing will continue to be available from Oak Point east to the South Cove. The South side of the reservoir will remain open for shore fishing and other recreational activities through most of the expansion period. Some bait and tackle will be available at the entrance to the reservoir. Please call (925) 371-2628 for specific up-to-date information.

Trout

Trout fishing continues slow. Most anglers are concentrating on striped bass. A few trout have been caught on nightcrawlers. Trout fishing should improve with cooling weather and water.

Largemouth Bass

There are not many anglers fishing for largemouth bass. The anglers that do target them continue to catch fish. Senkos are your best bet. Watermelon or purple are good colors.

Stripers

We continue to see stripers every day although fishing continues to be an up and down affair. We see anywhere from 5 to 15 keeper stripers every day. Many shakers continue to be caught.  Anchovies continue to be your best choice for bait, shad will also take stripers. The average striper is between 6 and 12 lbs.

Remember striped bass must be 18 inches to keep. Please release them quickly and carefully.

Salmon

No Salmon were reported last week.

Catfish

Liver, anchovies and nightcrawlers will all take catfish. We appreciate catch and release of catfish over 20 lbs. There were several nice sized catfish caught from the shore last week.

Lake Camanche’s current elevation is 218.85 feet above sea level. The inflow from Lake Pardee is currently at 716 c.f.s. The spill is at 0 c.f.s. The outflow from Lake Camanche is currently 1612 c.f.s. The lake is 72% full & the water temperature is 71 degrees.

News Flash!

Sometime this week, there will be 20,000 lbs. of trout that will be planted between both shores prior to releasing the 10 tagged fish for the Trout Derby this Saturday. Starting November, between both shores and the trout pond, there will be 10,000 lbs. planted each month until May.

Weekly Weather

North & South Shore
Sunny to partly cloudy all week with lows in the mid to high 50’s and highs in the high 70’s to low 80’s.

Trout

One of our locals, Bruce Jennings, has been catching limits while trolling on the lake from the North Shore marina towards the dam off and on all week. The Day Use point at North Shore is starting to populate with anglers and we are getting reports of limits being caught using chartreuse or rainbow colored power baits. The “rockwall” just before the narrows produced a limit of trout last week. Anglers there reported using worms and flashers.

Bass

No reports of bass this week. If they are being caught, no one is talking.

Several good size catfish are still getting pulled out with late into the fall season.  Nice cool weather is expected to upcoming week.  The lake remains a little muddy from the rain this past week but is expected to clear up later on this week.  Trout fishing is slowly getting better and better with a few reports of trout getting pulled out from both shore and on boat.  Reports of catfish are getting caught over by Halfmoon bay and the Island using mackerel.  Last week Mt. Lassen planted 500 lbs. of trout by the marina and we are expecting another plant later on this week from Mt. Lassen.  So far we have received over 2,500 lbs of trout.  Water level is about 6 feet from spillway and it’s been staying constant.  When you bring in your big fish we’ll get your picture and give a “Lake Chabot Whopper Club” hat.  Water temperature is consistently dropping and is currently in the low 60’s. If you have any questions please call or visit the marina.

Trout

This week the weather is cooling down a little so fishing for trout should pick up.  For all the trollers out there make sure you put on a lure that dives deeper than 10 to 20 feet deep.  Drift fishing is also another good way to pull out trout, especially back by the dam to half moon bay.  We did plant last week of 500 lbs. of trout from Mt. Lassen but only a few fish were reported caught.  We will continue to plant trout for fall, winter and spring.  If you going to bait fish for trout make sure to go down by the dam using Powerbait and Powereggs is your best chance to catch a trout. Fishing has picked up on the west shore trail from the first dock to The Burner.  We will be getting weekly stocks until spring of next year.

Bass

Bass fishing is picking up with several bass getting caught daily, bass are hitting mostly in the early mornings and evenings mostly on plastics.  Most of the anglers are throwing Senko’s and drop shots to get the fish to come out from their close to shoreline structure. Several reports of bass were getting caught over by raccoon point and bass cove by using top water lures in the morning and plastic lures off the bottom in the afternoon.  Livewells can be provided upon request thanks to Walton’s pond.  Please practice catch and release for bass, as they are not stocked into the lake and their population depends on you.

Catfish

The weather is starting to cool down so is the catfish bite will began to slow down. We’ve received over 5,500 lbs of catfish this summer. Five weeks ago Mt. Lassen put in 500 lbs. of catfish into Lake Chabot, that is the last catfish plant for the summer. Catfishing is still doing pretty good up until mid to late October.  Ken Kruse has caught two fish over 9 lbs in the past week using mackerel.  In the past couple years some of the bigger sized catfish usually get pulled out around this time frame, so make sure you have good heavy line. Current hot spot for catfish is back in Halfmoon Bay, Bass cove and around the Island. The first dock at night will be great spot to fish for catfish, so make sure to come out early and claim your spot.  Using mackerel and chicken liver have been a great bait to help anglers catch their limits and the less weight you can get away with the better.

Whoppers

Ken Kruse of San Lorenzo caught a 9.25 and a 10 lb catfish last week using mackerel near the Island.

Stripers continue to provide the best action at the reservoir although fishing has slowed down when compared to the action a month ago. Water conditions for fishing are still good. The surface temperature is 72° and the temperature at 45 feet is 68°. Our water level is currently at 50% (the reservoir has been drawn down to this level to allow for the Dam expansion project). We are now doing a variety of naturalist-led activities at the Marina every weekend. Give us a call for program details.

Trout

Trout fishing is rated slow. Most anglers are concentrating on striped bass. Try nightcrawlers or Power Bait on the edges of drop offs. Often times the trout hold on the shallow side of these drop offs. One angler had success fishing a crawler/powerbait combo under a bobber.

Largemouth Bass

There are not many anglers fishing for largemouth bass. The anglers that do target them continue to catch fish. Senkos are your best bet. Watermelon is the favorite color plastic bait of many of our regular anglers. Try casting Senkos to the base of trees in 5 to 10 feet of water. Nightcrawlers are also a good choice. Try fishing any other structure you are able to locate. We appreciate catch and release of the largemouth bass.

Stripers

Fishing for stripers is best early or late in the day. We continue to check in stripers every day although fishing has slowed down when compared to a month ago. We see anywhere from 5 to 20 keeper stripers every day. Anchovies continue to be your best choice for bait, shad will also take stripers. Anglers fishing from shore are working a wide variety of spots and we are seeing fish being caught from the all open shoreline. Boaters are doing very well by anchoring off of points and casting into deeper water. Boating anglers are taking stripers from all over the reservoir. We are clearly seeing a wide variety of results. Some boats come in with no striper keepers then the next boat has 3 anglers with 6 nice stripers. Anglers trolling rattle traps are taking a few fish. There are still many shakers being caught, remember bass must be 18 inches to keep. Please release them quickly and carefully.

Salmon

We rarely see anglers targeting salmon this time of year. Trolling as deep as possible (30 to 60 feet) might be worth a try. There is no doubt the salmon are holding in the deeper/cooler water. We should start to see more salmon by the end of September.

Catfish

Liver, anchovies and nightcrawlers will all catch catfish. Most catfish are caught by anglers fishing with anchovies for stripers. We appreciate catch and release of catfish over 20lbs. Some of the 1lb range catfish we planted last month continue to show up on anglers stringers.

Lake Camanche’s current elevation is 222.51 feet above sea level. The inflow from Lake Pardee is currently at 11 c.f.s. The spill is at 0 c.f.s. The outflow from Lake Camanche is currently 501 c.f.s. The lake is 78% full & the water temperature is 72 degrees.

Trout

You must go deep… 35′ trolling. Powerbait Works great and is available in our market. Good bank fishing on the far side of the Peninsula at North Shore.

Bass

15 minute “Hot Window” at sunrise and sunset. They’re tenacious with Reapers, Crawfish, Tubes & Frogs.

Catfish

Good bank fishing on North Shore, between Marina and the day use area. The stinkier the better! Chicken liver wrapped in cheese cloth works well.