Hey Hall of Fame family,
I hope this blog post finds you happy and healthy! I am writing this from a hotel in Tampa, Florida, as I am here on a work trip doing some groundwater sampling and land use control inspections for my 9-5 job. Super exciting stuff. However, I have been lucky enough to wet some lines in some very unique places around the country through traveling for work. Let me tell you about some!
My favorite location that I've gotten to fish from my work travels is Breton Point State Park in Newport, RI. I've wrote about this place before: it has a lot of huge, slippery rocks and gravel beaches. It was pouring rain while I was there, and the waves were massive. I caught my first ever striped bass from Breton Point, and I am stoked to be going back there later this year. Aside from Breton Point, I fished Fort Adams State Park, also in Newport, RI. This location was very cool, as there is an old fort and tons of old cannons and ships on site. I didn't catch anything here, however. Both State Parks I visited in RI are on the ocean, and I would recommend checking them out!
I've gotten to fish Longview Lake, just south of Kansas City, MO while assisting on another well monitoring project. I only caught small panfish there, and I could tell that lake got a ton of fishing pressure due to the trash and foot paths around the park I was fishing. I've fished Oso Bay in Corpus Christi, TX, while there assisting in a wildlife habitat survey. This location was interesting as it was in a homeless camp, and it was probably the most foul smelling place I've ever been, let alone fished. The fumes from this place gave the whole field team headaches, and I only fished for about 30 minutes while the field team leads were gathering sediment samples (I had some downtime). I did not catch anything there. However, I did see a lot baitfish in the bay, and a largemouth bass and several tilapia in a small freshwater drainage canal that emptied from the base we worked on into the bay.
For a previous employer, I spent time fishing several locations in Kansas, including a small spillway on the Marias Des Cygnes River in Ottawa and a larger spillway at Clinton Lake, both yielding no luck. I also fished Hillsdale Lake from the bank with no luck, either. It was the winter when I fished these places in Kansas, so I'll chalk it up to cold weather. In Atchison, Kansas, I fished Warnock Lake. I really need to get back there for a redemption tour, as I lost two 4+ pound bass on back to back casts. I was throwing a shakyhead worm, and lost both fish at my feet. It was devastating, especially since they were both nice fish and on two straight casts. I did not catch anything else.
I fished a bunch of spots in northern Missouri, near Kirksville, while up there for land surveying work. I caught bass at Thousand Hills State Park, as well as at Hazel Creek Lake. Thousand Hills was crowded with boat traffic while I was there, and I found a few fish along a steep rocky bank. Hazel Creek was not busy, and it was thick with lily pads that I was able to pluck a few bass from. There was a small neighborhood lake in Kirksville that I found a couple fish at as well. Also up in northern Missouri for work, I fished Macon Lake, Lancaster Lake, a small pond at the Atlanta Conservation Area, and the Chariton River; all with unremarkable success.
In Dayton, OH, I fished a couple spots on the Mad River. Little did I know, however, that this river is/was stocked with brown and rainbow trout, and is mainly a cold water system. I did not know this at the time, and I showed up with a 7'6'' heavy casting rod and a 7'2'' medium heavy spinning rod. You can guess how good I did there, lol.
While I'm down here in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area, I'm planning to get a line wet also. I'll be off work this weekend, and I brought a fly rod. I've found a park that is a decent walk from my hotel, and it has a fairly large sized lake on site (Gadsden Lake). I don't know what fish are present, but I do know gators call the lake home. I'm by no means an excellent fly fisherman, but it's really easy to get fly fishing stuff through airport security (I've had a few hiccups with bass gear getting through security (bullet weights especially...)). My goal is to at least catch a largemouth bass while down here, but it would be so epic to hook a snook or tarpon on a fly. We'll see how it goes! Stay posted on our socials to see if I catch anything!
Tight lines!
Erik Hoffman, Hall of Fame Outdoor Co