Ruff Waters

[mudd_catt]

Only one thing can describe what I was crazy enough to try late Sat. Afternoon-

ROUGH!

Man I won't EVER make the mistake of being on Pickwick Lake during a holiday weekend.!.! EVER! There was so many wave by the boats, with the wind just adding on to it.

But we did manage to catch enough for a small fish fry with the neighbors and a couple of friends. But it was a SLOW day, what with the channels up in real shallow water, and the blues still spawning, but we had fun in the end. The best part was when my son caught the 6 1/2 # blue. (the picture doesn't do it justice) I am going to have to get used to my new camera, but I reckon it works.

[Hawkeye]

You have to teach your son to hold that fish out at arm's length, and then to face the camera, so that 6# looks like 50# in the picture :-)

We went yesterday... it was a zoo on the river.... one poor guy forgot to put the drain plug in his 18' Sea Pro and it SUNK in salt water... then, to add insult to injury, they gave him a TICKET for sinking his boat... It had a 115 Johnson on the back, and it's probably shot... the boat sunk and then capsized... talk about a bad day on the water. That put the fact that we didn't catch diddly into perspective for me right away....

Thanks for sharing the pictures. It is always good to see board members and their family enjoying the outdoors. It is 'specially good to see pictures of kids holding fish, knowing DAD took the pictures. Good job!

Tom

[mudd_catt]

I know I said never again, but I let my brother talk me into going back to the lake for an evening/night trip. It was not so bad Monday afternoon late as it was Friday. We had plenty of good bait, but the fish are still in a semi-spawning state, with about half the channels that we caught still carrying eggs.

We ended up with one 23# blue, two 12# blue, a couple small blue, and 14 channels. Even had one flathead on rod and reel that my brother couldn't budge. (I told him one of these days that those Zebco 33's would get trashed!) He eventually got him to the top of the water, but when the light hit him, it was over. The fish went about 25-35 #. He took the reel off the rod, took the top off, shook the pieces of gears and drag washers out, and dropped it in the lake!
Major case of I TOLD YOU SO!

Channels (and flathead) were all caught from the face of the dam, but the blues came from slightly deeper water on the edge of a large flat. I suspect moving up after dark to feed. Big shad are still roaming the shallow water, so until they move back into deep water, fishing won't be TOO hot.

[NightTrain]

Yeah,the boats were"scary"thick on the lakes here,too.Even at night,on holiday weekends,I decline to participate...been out there too many times with yahoos runnin' no lights,hootin'and hollerin'...can here 'em comin' and can't see'em.No thanks.
Mudd Catt,a 35 lb.flatty on zebco33...whoooo,I'd have paid $$ to watch that play out!!

[mudd_catt]

You know, i thought it was funny enough when he netted the big blue, because that was his first encounter with a fish that big, but it was HILARIOUS to see the look on his face when the "log" that he thought he hooked swam away! I would have paid good money to have that on tape.
(maybe I shouldn't tell him that I was laughin too hard to remember that flats have a severe aversion to light?) He actually went today and bought a HEAVY duty spinning reel on a 7ft rod!

There was a fool out there last night fishing with no lights on. We would run out into the lake about 1/4 mile to catch a jug, and one time when we ran back to the dam, I looked to one side, and he wasn't 100 yards away down the bank. I probably wouldn't have went so close to him if I had seen em, but no lights, so I figured , his tough luck.