Hi families!
What an awesome few days it's been! We've done a lot -- catch up with our adventures below...
Day 3: "The Fourth" — Today the crew woke up with an immense amount of American spirit and energy to celebrate the birth of our nation! We got the day started with a very delicious breakfast consisting of sausage and eggs before making our way into the van. Our goal was to find some colder water to target trout at the start of the day, and after making it to Macedonia State Park, we found a great pavilion where we enjoyed lunch and some American tunes. After fueling up, we played once again a competitive group game of ultimate frisbee. We had a ton of fun, and for sure broke a sweat running around the field. We then headed back to the van to head to some new water on the Housatonic to get the boys on some smallmouth bass and panfish. There was a very cool bridge we came across that was packed out with people celebrating the Fourth. Although the area was busy for the holiday, we managed to find some really cool fishing holes to get some casts in and cool off from our intense game of ultimate. Many of the boys were able to land some dark colored smallies and also go for a refreshing swim. There was a beautiful waterfall that made for some great views with different pools of water trickling down below this bridge as well! We switched up the scenery, kept the rods rigged, carefully placed and organized them into the van and drove 30 minutes up the road — blasting Toby Keith — to a spot near the Cornwall Bridge on the Housatonic. At this location, everyone was tearing up the smallmouth. We hung around there, eating snacks, enjoying each other's company and catching fish! Nearly 70 fish were caught within the group, with multiple fish over 2lbs! Back at camp, we quickly cooked up some chicken alfredo pasta and cleaned up camp and talked about our favorite part of the day. We hopped into the van to avoid a rainstorm and turned it into a sing along van party. After eating, we finished off our evening with our daily circle where we reflected on the day. We were lucky enough to lay our eyes on fireworks nearby to top off the awesome day we had! We prepared as much as we could before heading to bed, because of the travel day to the Cape we had in front of us. We had a blast in our first part of the trip, and we can't wait to finish strong and have an amazing experience targeting some saltwater giants! We plan on some sweet ice cream, sunny beach days, sunsets overlooking the ocean, huge fish, and many more memories that have made this trip so special thus far!
Day 4: Travel, Fish, Sunset — We woke up bright and early this morning for our travel day to the Cape! The boys did a great job cleaning up camp and after a quick breakfast, we loaded into the van and hit the road. This drive was a solid 4 hours from our first campsite to the Cape, so we decided to hit the road early. An hour into our drive, we hit a gas station that brought the spirits very high as the boys got to treat themselves to snacks and drinks of their choosing. After a long trek to the Cape, we made it to Nickerson State Park, our second campsite of the trip located in the heart of the Cape. We experienced some rain the night before, so we quickly set up our tents and organized our gear so it could dry out before we made our way to the beach! Our basecamp was perfect — situated right underneath towering pine trees giving our camp some much-needed shade from the hot summer sun. Finally, around 4, we went over to the beach. We packed some food in the trailer and decided to make the rest of the day about exploring and enjoying the scenery. We fished in the evening for several hours around some technical terrain on the flats and estuaries, and ended off our evening hammering some tasty smash burgers that we cooked in the beach parking lot! The sunsets out here are absolutely beautiful, and it was awesome to soak it all in. We finished off our day with some famous Cape Cod ice cream before we headed back to camp and debriefed on the day around the campfire.
Day 5: After an exciting first day of fishing on the flats, we were excited to present more opportunities for the boys today. When we woke up, due to weather and tidal patterns, we took things slow. We had a chill morning consisting of breakfast and errands where Jack and William went food shopping for last minute items before we wrap things up. Gavin stayed back with the crew playing hacky sack and enjoying each other's company. When Jack and William returned, we cleaned up around camp, and then cooked up some delicious Chick-fil-A style sandwiches for lunch. Once we were all fueled up and ready to go, we made sure to secure our tent stakes tight into the ground in the chance we get some rain later in the afternoon. Around noon, we hopped into the van listening to some music via Jack Kenney to hype us up for the flats. We spent the rest of the afternoon working as hard as we can for striper. Once again, this fishing is very, very difficult, and unfortunately we were not able to land some stripers despite having many opportunities. On the other hand, we tore up the mackerel which was a ton of fun when seeing them blitz! After a great day of fishing, we headed back to camp to cook up some tasty burgers before loading back into the van to finish off our day with some famous Cape Cod ice cream. We then returned back to camp for the night and debriefed on the day we had around the campfire.
Looking forward, tomorrow morning we find ourselves with another travel day, this time to the North Shore. Once we arrive, we plan on knocking out some quality community service on the beach where we will pick up trash, and simultaneously get laundry done and fish afterwards. On the 8th, the boys will wake up bright and early to head to their charter boats where they will absolutely tear up some huge striper off shore! We are having a blast, and upset this trip eventually has to come to an end. Over the final leg of the trip we will continue to explore the Cape in summertime, we'll fish flats, inlets, estuaries, and marshes for Massachusetts' ultimate gamefish: the striped bass. The boys will enjoy more sunsets, more s'mores and laughs around the nighttime campfire, and time to play and relax on the Cape's famous beaches. We will have some soccer and ultimate frisbee games and end our final day with our banquet dinner at the world famous Woodman's seafood restaurant. The guides are grateful for the boys that we have gotten to know on this trip. They have meshed well as a group since the start and we can't wait to finish strong.
Until next time,
Jack, Gavin, and William
