Although cabelas has graced our small state with its presence by opening an East Hartford location, there is no store like a bass pro shops to cater to the needs of New England’s anglers. They tend to focus more on hunting and I have found that I can’t find everything I need there.

The new bass pro shops is said to be in the preliminary stages of development near costco, kohls, and coco key water resort. Although it is not certain whether this bps location will materialize, there is one thing that is certain… If this store does come I will need to come up with a higher fishing budget!

The owner “Nicky Papers” claims a couple found the body of this new montauk monster while taking a stroll one night. This couple just so happened to have his contact info and email him while on the beach after this discovery (yeah I know it sounds far fetched to me too). Nicky then replied to them, talked to them on the phone and then drove “an hour” to see this new montauk monster, all without anyone other than the couple and Nicky seeing it.

Nicky claims the corpse of this new montauk monster smelled like a mix of low-tide and rotten garbage. In my opinion this is a pig or boar, it was planted by Nicky, and he is looking to cash in on this scam. The only thing that stinks like rotten garbage is this story!

Here’s the photo and video of the new montauk monster so you can decide for yourself whether this is yet another montauk monster hoax, or it is the real deal:

Another "new" montauk monster found

I was throwing a junebug spiderjig and had a couple light hits around submerged rocks in 6-8 ft of water, but nothing would stay on. Brian was throwing a candy corn colored senko type bait made by bass pro shops. With no success in the deeper water we decided to try something a little more shallow.

On our way to the north end of the lake brian saw some rocks in 4 ft of water we had never seen before (the lake is down 2 ft). We stopped and brian threw his candy corn stick bait at the rocks. He instantly hooked into something big. His rod doubled up and the fight was on. After 10 seconds it was over and we never saw the fish.

After a brief cursing session brian threw right back in the place he had hooked up, and instantly the fight was on again. This time he landed it. It was about 24 inches and 6.5 lbs. Sometimes things just work out I guess.

We kept fishing for another hour, but the wind had picked up and the temp dropped. In all we landed one smallmouth and 4 largemouth. Not a bad first trip if I say so myself!

Just for you Brian, here is the profile.

After thinking a lot about all the hold over schoolie striped bass in Norwich Harbor in March in previous years, I decided to try my luck for a bit tonight. I figured with the warm weather this weekend the stripers would be active, so armed with an Arkansas shiner colored super fluke on a 3/8 ounce jighead, I made the trek behind the police station onto the harbor edge.

As I was getting there another fisherman was leaving. He told me he had fished with plugs for the last two days and had nothing to show for it, so tonight he tried some chunk bait, also resulting in a big old skunk. Unfortunately this was a sign of things to come for me.

I fished the pilings and docks in the harbor that are castable for the shore behind Norwich police station. After 45 minutes of nothing the rain started picking up, so I decided to call it quits for the night. On my way out I spoke with another fisherman that was throwing chunks and a deep diving bomber who also had no luck tonight.

He did however have some info regarding the recent striper bite in re harbor. He told me that the boats had been doing well on umbrella rigs all day, and other people had been fishing around the private docks using 6 inch live shiners, which resulted in fish in the 30+ lb range.

Later I spoke with a few buddies in the area that said there were so many fish on their depth finder the last few days they had to just turn it off since it was worthless. They told me that the fish have only been accessible via a boat. So I guess the moral of the story is if you aren’t on a boat don’t waste your time in Norwich Harbor just yet.

So here is my question to you guys… Has anybody been fishing Norwich harbor for hold-over stripers, and while you’re at it, what is your favorite way to catch the cold water schoolies? My favorite technique for when the stripers are holding the bottom is to throw Arkansas Shiner colored super flukes on white 1/4 ounce jigheads. I will throw the jigs around the pilings of the docks, count to 8 and reel as slow as possible, when the jig stops set the hook, you’ve got a striper!

When the fish are actively feeding on the surface, my bait of choice is a black and purple mambo minnow or bomber long A. Just give it a good zing out there and keep your rod tip up while reeling slowly. Hold on tight, the big boy stripers will really give you a good rip on topwater.

On board the boat were 3 NFL players, Nick Schuyler, 24, of Tampa, Florida. Corey Smith, a defensive end who played last season with the Detroit Lions, linebacker Marquis Cooper, who was with the Oakland Raiders, and William Bleakley, a former Florida college football player.

Nick Schuyler is so far the only man that has been found. He was conscious when Coast Guard found him, and he was able to report that all men aboard had life vests on when the boat tipped. He claimed that high seas and 45 mile an hour winds have been identified as the cause of this 21 ft fishing boat’s capsize.

The search continues for the remaining men. Hopefully they will be found shortly and in good health.

Here is the photo of the Borneo Monster. This snake like creature is taking the internet by storm, you be the judge whether it is real or a hoax!

Borneo Monster in the River Belah

Like the montauk monster, I have a feeling that this is just another viral marketing campaign, even though the montauk monster was never officially determined to be a fake. I guess only time will tell, who knows, maybe we will see a movie with the title, “Borneo Monster”, or “Montauk Monster”, or even a show down between the two Monsters called “Montauk Monster v. Borneo Monster”.  Hopefully it will be better than Alien v. Predator!

The 911 tapes released a couple days ago are pretty chilling.  You can listen to them below in the youtube video released by CNN. Caution the call is graphic.

A terrible story for a famous CT chimp and the families of the victims.