Had a good trip my last time across to fish for winter bass in the Housatonic River. Thought I was getting a feel for it. Then I went up this weekend when by all accounts the fish were more finicky, and got totally skunked. Now my kayak fishing partner only caught two fish, but the action happened to be heating up just when I needed to leave to catch the ferry back to Long Island. Frustrating, right? Nope.

Frustrating was sweating it that my buddy caught two bass and I didn't catch any - then talking with a sympathetic local who admitted that the fishing was way off from the previous weekend: he only caught about 50 bass that afternoon compared to the 135 that he had a week ago. Ouch.

Anyway it wasn't for lack of help. There were a lot of friendly local sharpies who were more than willing to share some local knowledge. For that I was grateful afterward, if not effective.

I wasn't able to secure any fish, but I was able to liberate a 20lb tire and rim from the banks and leave the place a little better than I found it; one way that I can repay the locals for sharing their spot and picking their brains a little. 2704