Advertise on podcast: Hooked in New England

In this episode we were lucky enough to sit down with the Commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources, and ASMFC Board Member Pat Keliher. Pat is a lifelong Mainer, who grew up on the banks of the Kennebec River in Gardiner Maine. He is a Registered Maine Guide, and licensed USCG Captain. Pat got his start guiding hunters for upland birds and sea ducks, he then transitioned to chasing trophy Striped Bass on the fly. He guided full time for nearly a decade before he moved into fisheries management, where he headed up the CCA, and then moved into the head of Maine's Atlantic Salmon division. He has been the face of DMR for ten years and says he has "some more years in him". Pat was the Executive chair for ASMFC for two years and still holds a position on the board. Pat is a humble man who is quick to give credit to staff and put the blame on himself if needed. He is truly a great ambassador for the State of Maine and for the fishing community on the east coast. If you want to see what Pat and his staff are up to check out: Maine.gov/dmr/ ASMFC.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we get to sit down with the one and only, NorCalKat, Orlando Campos. OC, is an avid Striped Bass anglers, and master plug builder. He is a family man, and a conservationist. Orlando's meticulous attention to detail has him field testing plugs for months if not years before he sends them out to the public. It is this attention to detail that has widely considered one of the best builders in the country and why he has such a demand and waiting list for his plugs. Orlando has a an infectious attitude when it comes to the love for the Striped Bass. We thoroughly enjoyed getting speak with OC. His story is one you will not want to miss. @nor.cal.kat https://fishnorcalkat.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Saturday, April 9, 2002 please join us at the Dunegrass Country Club in Old Orchard Beach, Maine for the annual saco Bay Tackle Seminar! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every once and a while we are lucky to meet people who truly get "It". Al is one of those people. He has been an industry leader for decades, working with Costa and bringing them mainstream, and then with Simms. And while that is all well and good, Al's passion is family. Al started Bajio Sunglasses as a response to Big Business coming in and taking over. With the start of Bajio Sunglasses he has now catapulted himself and his company to the forefront of the sunglasses industry. All while doing it the right way, keeping a family atmosphere, and maintaining sustainable practices that are responsible for the Earth. www.bajiosunglasses.com @bajiosunglasses Check out the Gallo Project https://bajiosunglasses.com/collections/gear/products/rooster-tee Captain Lou Tirado @Diamond_Pass_Outfitters 207-899-5985 Captain Mike Faulkingham 207-838-7980 @fishportlandmaine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Starting in the 90s, Maine striped bass guide Capt. Eric Wallace built and to this day maintains his rabidly loyal flats-fishing clientele the old fashioned way; by learning his waters through painstaking research, by watching fish behavior, through incredibly detailed record-keeping, and by just plain being on the water - a lot. One client fished with him to great success and told another one. That one told someone else, and that person told two more. Soon, he was guiding clients two, three, fifteen days a year. The man eats, breathes and sleeps fish. When he's not fishing, he's fighting for access to the waters he fishes. When hes not campaigning for water access, he's fly tying. When he's not fly tying, he's representing the brands that reflect his style - no frills, no flash, and all about hardcore commitment to excellence - currently those include Thomas & Thomas rods and Hatch Reels. Impressive company indeed. Wallace uses social media "because I guess I more or less have to these days." But don't look for posts from him to include pics that brag about the size or number of fish his clients have caught. Not because they don't exist. Oh they do. Any quiet evening spent with Eric, if you ask enough times, will produce pictures of monster bass caught in water so shallow it shouldn't hold anything with fins. Wallace's use of social media is used most often to show his acumen with a camera, to catch a special moment with what most would consider an "average" fish, but caught at just the perfect moment, when an appreciative angler is gently returning it to the water, or when the heartbreakingly gorgeous places he guides are just giving way to the first light of an autumn morning as a hungry bass breaks the surface in pursuit of one his secretive flies that no one - absolutely no one - will see unless they fish with him. The increasingly desperate bragging done by other guides on the 'books and the 'Grams the 'Toks seems lost on Wallace. Or maybe not lost. Maybe ignored. Probably ignored. Definitely ignored. An evening spent talking fishing with him is to understand what so many of us caught between two worlds struggle with; namely, the old world of hard-won knowledge that led to respect based on the humble pursuit of a craft for which you lived. That world was inhabited by Wallace's heroes, guys with names like "Lefty," who he guided numerous times and counted as a friend, and Steve Huff, and Flip Pallot. Compare that to the newer, flashier approach, where a few good pics of someone with an expensive boat and the right clothing "make" you a guide, and it adds up to an odd situation for Wallace. He doesn't dislike it for all the obvious reasons - like that it's fake and not based in reality, he dislikes it because Wallace comes from a time when a guide had a code, and that code dictated that a guide knew EVERYTHING he or she could know (and more) before charging a client to take him or her fishing. I'm sure I speak for Lou when I say I don't remember having spent as pleasant an evening for a long time as the one we spent with Capt. Eric, sitting in his home during this interview, surrounded by the mementos of his not-insignificant life of fishing, just discussing fishing striped bass on the flats. You couldn't do better than to try to get on his schedule this summer for a chance at a shot at a bass on the flats of Casco Bay. It's a very simple fact that no one does it better. -Mike Capt. Eric Wallace's Website www.coastalflyangler.com Phone: 207.671.4330 Instagram @coastalflyangler Facebook Coastal Fly Angler Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pickerel. Often looked down upon, commonly ignored. The fish that so many of us cut our teeth on when dad helped us hang our first worm under a bobber and wait patiently with our Zebco ready to reel in whatever was hungry. Pickerel is a fish for everyone. A fish that everyone has access to. A fish that doesn't require special knowledge, secret locations or access to waters 200 miles away. Will Pearce loves fly fishing for pickerel. And because it was the fish that gave him his start in fly fishing, he thought, "Why not honor this fun, accessible fish with everyone, and give it the attention it deserves?" And so the PickerelJar Fly Fishing Tournament was born! The PickerelJar Tournament is fly fishing only, virtual, and costs only $10 to enter! The prizes are outstanding, and best of all, the tourney takes place when fishing for everything else just hasn't gotten hot yet. So get in touch with Will, get signed up, and get ready to photograph some slime darts! Tight Lines, You Fishy Sons of Guns! Let's see those pickerel! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bunker, Pogies, Menhaden. Maybe the unsexiest fish in the sea until you consider that it is quite literally the source of food for everything that swims and flies on the Atlantic Coast of North America. It also does NOTHING but swim around filtering our oceans and keeping them sparkling clean. And despite the importance of this weird cousin of the herring, bunker have been steadily declining in numbers for a long time due to overfishing and poor management. And the consequences - dirtier bays and oceans and far fewer gamefish- is the obvious result.    And if you're sitting there asking yourself why we would allow the ocean's "liver" to be systematically removed for the financial benefit of a very small group of people, then you're going to love listening to Capt. Paul Eidman, founder of Menhaden Defenders, tell us who's responsible for wiping out pogies, how we can stop them, and what the amazing results will be when we do.  Menhaden Defenders www.menhadendefenders.org/ https://www.facebook.com/menhadendefenders IG: @menhadendefenders Capt. Paul Eidman www.reeltherapy.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode Mike and Lou go into detail about how they got their start, and what drives them on the water. Enjoy getting to know the guys and hopefully you find some common ground to connect with them on.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Captains for Clean Water is leading the fight to save one of the most important watersheds in the world - Florida's Everglades. And it's a fight that they're winning. Captain Mike Holliday, Outreach and Engagement Manager for Captains for Clean Water, joins us to give us a super fun, super informative, and easy-to-understand explanation of how the Everglades work, and why the area is so important to Florida's sportfishing industry. Perhaps equally as importantly, he tells us how the approach CFCW has used - using the power of the efforts of everyday people to win battles for the environment by focusing single-mindedly, with laser focus and bulldog tenacity, on the the goal.  https://captainsforcleanwater.org/join-us/ www.captainmikeholliday.com https://captainsforcleanwater.org/skiff-challenge/support-a-team/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Any town's tackle shop is the social center of talk, rumor, advice, information, innuendo, outright lies, a few more rumors, and some outright lies. And if a tackle shop owner plays his cards right, he gives his customers - new and old - enough information that with a little work they become better anglers. Such is the case with Peter Jenkins, owner of The Saltwater Edge. Peter has a passion for fishing and a passion for sharing info about fishing, and he puts it all to good use in an amazing retail and online shop that is as much about info as it is about money. He also knows more about marine worms than any human should know. Hint: That knowledge equals BIG fish. Enjoy! The Saltwater Edge https://saltwateredge.com/ https://www.facebook.com/The-Saltwater-Edge-47410672605/ https://www.instagram.com/saltwateredge/?hl=en https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-KGEdM5Sg4bSPlKFq7mNiw Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Capt Terry Nugent continues his discussion with us regarding the decline in the quality of striped bass fishing on Cape Cod, and gives his prescription for saving this world class fishery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every year I try to step up my game when it comes to Albie fishing, I am constantly looking for the lightest, strongest, most efficient rod and reel I can afford. In this Short Strike, I review my latest set up. Also, we were greeted by first mate Joe a few times with some background noise, (the perils of living with roaming toddler). Give the guys at Blackhole Hole rods a look, and check out Tomo's Tackle too! www.blackholeusa.com www.Tomostackle.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices