Jacko
08-06-2006, 08:37 PM
Saturday August 5, 2006
Three kids college tuition et.al. is cramping my fishing fund. Next weekend we have a serious 3 day trip. So this weekend gas consumption will be minimized. It’s a new fact of life, fishing once was a bunch of fun money buying all sorts of paraphernalia, but today the overriding investment governing decisions on a trip is the cost of gasoline.
My “lovely” wife gets me up before the sun comes up. She is pushing me to get her some coffee. After fetching a couple of cups for her I start wondering where can I go fish? She has a variety of chores planned for me today, as I decide to go for some catfish and crappie at a nearby reservoir. In time, I let her know I’ll be gone till after noon. With a loving smile she wishes me luck.
It’s a special day as I pull into the reservoir. Zero wind. It had been 30 years since I set out a trout line. I was going to try it solo today and then go try some stumps for crappie. My gosh, zero wind! Why am I not offshore? The reservoir is 2 feet higher than normal. I’m not sure what effects this will have.
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l122/jkeating3/100_1152.jpg
First I had to catch some shad for bait. It was 8 o’clock and already hot. The hat and shirt come off and the cast net comes out. I drift an area that has never failed for all sizes of shad. Ok, It’s only delivered 20+ trips in a row. Twenty casts later, where are they?
The wind is not creating any motion on the water. The only ripples are coming from minnows that must weigh over a gram. The water bugs are actually creating the dominating wakes on the lake.
Cast netting for bait is very poor. I don’t like using 4’ nets but the stumpy lake can eat nets so quick that I reframe from using my better nets. The wimpy little net usually produces all I need in 40 minutes on this lake, but after 30 casts and 2 shad I’m wondering if I have the correct tool. I’m continuously being serenaded by Mexican whistling ducks. They’re located in a few key trees.
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l122/jkeating3/100_1163.jpg
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l122/jkeating3/100_1169-1.jpg
I’m dripping sweat and getting tired of retrieving an empty cast net. I drop the trolling motor and start heading towards the south bank. I need 2 dozen more 3-5” shad for the trout line. Once I’m close to the bank I see bait working in the shallows. I work hard to catch the bait. There is no wind and I’m exhausted by the time I’ve got 40 shad. I only brought 2 bottles of water. So I’m rationing it, but the heat is incredible. Every time I heard that song that had a lyric, “ it’s too hot to fish”, I always intervened and said, ”its never too hot to fish!” But maybe it was too hot to fish?
Putting out a trout line is not an easy task for a rookie. It was entertaining but I recognized there were several opportunities to get hurt, mainly by fish hooks. With some patience I eventually get the trout line baited. But now I’m exhausted. There is still no breeze and I don’t feel like fishing. In fact, I think heat exhaustion may be setting in and this lake has an incredible gator population so going in the water alone is not much of an option. Three gators have been watching me all morning. Like they knew what it looked like to bait a trout line, and were just waiting or dinner. The big boy was thinking that solo dizzy fisherman looked like a decent meal.
I had a perch trap that I wanted to set so more bait was required. I went into the shallow area I had found bait in earlier and in about 15 casts I had enough shad to fill the trap. The trap was set near the bank along some submerged cypress trees.
I don’t know if I’m a wimp or intelligent, but I headed back to the ramp. Alone and feeling a little drowsy I got in my truck and cranked the AC. Ten minutes later I quit sweating. I’d finally cooled down so I headed back out. Live nickel to quarter sized shad off the bottom near stumps were used for crappie. Went from 1 stump to another with no luck. The shad seemed to die easily so I kept changing bait and moving in shallower but never got a bite.
An hour had passed since I baited the trout line and it was almost too hot to fish. I worked a 1/8 oz rattle trap until it was clear nothing was going to hit it. A storm showed up and cut off my fishing so I went check the trout line.
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l122/jkeating3/100_1176.jpg
There was no bait on any hook. After the 8th hook I came upon a small blue cat. Then another blue. And finally I biggen. Kinda exciting seeing a cat over 10 pounds on the line. The net comes out and the fish is scooped up into the live well. Alright I don’t care what anyone says. This trout lining is fun.
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l122/jkeating3/100_1155.jpg
Out comes the rain coat. There is a spooky whisper in the trees afar. And here it comes. What appears to be a huge storm. I ride the gust front to the dock. Maybe I should not have been offshore today. From dead calm to wind, dark, and booming thunder. The peaceful lake turned mean in minutes. So I fled quickly. I was surprised that the rain was over 10 minutes down the highway. Who would have known I could have waited it out.
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l122/jkeating3/100_1179.jpg
There was some bycatch.
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l122/jkeating3/100_1183.jpg
Three kids college tuition et.al. is cramping my fishing fund. Next weekend we have a serious 3 day trip. So this weekend gas consumption will be minimized. It’s a new fact of life, fishing once was a bunch of fun money buying all sorts of paraphernalia, but today the overriding investment governing decisions on a trip is the cost of gasoline.
My “lovely” wife gets me up before the sun comes up. She is pushing me to get her some coffee. After fetching a couple of cups for her I start wondering where can I go fish? She has a variety of chores planned for me today, as I decide to go for some catfish and crappie at a nearby reservoir. In time, I let her know I’ll be gone till after noon. With a loving smile she wishes me luck.
It’s a special day as I pull into the reservoir. Zero wind. It had been 30 years since I set out a trout line. I was going to try it solo today and then go try some stumps for crappie. My gosh, zero wind! Why am I not offshore? The reservoir is 2 feet higher than normal. I’m not sure what effects this will have.
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l122/jkeating3/100_1152.jpg
First I had to catch some shad for bait. It was 8 o’clock and already hot. The hat and shirt come off and the cast net comes out. I drift an area that has never failed for all sizes of shad. Ok, It’s only delivered 20+ trips in a row. Twenty casts later, where are they?
The wind is not creating any motion on the water. The only ripples are coming from minnows that must weigh over a gram. The water bugs are actually creating the dominating wakes on the lake.
Cast netting for bait is very poor. I don’t like using 4’ nets but the stumpy lake can eat nets so quick that I reframe from using my better nets. The wimpy little net usually produces all I need in 40 minutes on this lake, but after 30 casts and 2 shad I’m wondering if I have the correct tool. I’m continuously being serenaded by Mexican whistling ducks. They’re located in a few key trees.
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l122/jkeating3/100_1163.jpg
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l122/jkeating3/100_1169-1.jpg
I’m dripping sweat and getting tired of retrieving an empty cast net. I drop the trolling motor and start heading towards the south bank. I need 2 dozen more 3-5” shad for the trout line. Once I’m close to the bank I see bait working in the shallows. I work hard to catch the bait. There is no wind and I’m exhausted by the time I’ve got 40 shad. I only brought 2 bottles of water. So I’m rationing it, but the heat is incredible. Every time I heard that song that had a lyric, “ it’s too hot to fish”, I always intervened and said, ”its never too hot to fish!” But maybe it was too hot to fish?
Putting out a trout line is not an easy task for a rookie. It was entertaining but I recognized there were several opportunities to get hurt, mainly by fish hooks. With some patience I eventually get the trout line baited. But now I’m exhausted. There is still no breeze and I don’t feel like fishing. In fact, I think heat exhaustion may be setting in and this lake has an incredible gator population so going in the water alone is not much of an option. Three gators have been watching me all morning. Like they knew what it looked like to bait a trout line, and were just waiting or dinner. The big boy was thinking that solo dizzy fisherman looked like a decent meal.
I had a perch trap that I wanted to set so more bait was required. I went into the shallow area I had found bait in earlier and in about 15 casts I had enough shad to fill the trap. The trap was set near the bank along some submerged cypress trees.
I don’t know if I’m a wimp or intelligent, but I headed back to the ramp. Alone and feeling a little drowsy I got in my truck and cranked the AC. Ten minutes later I quit sweating. I’d finally cooled down so I headed back out. Live nickel to quarter sized shad off the bottom near stumps were used for crappie. Went from 1 stump to another with no luck. The shad seemed to die easily so I kept changing bait and moving in shallower but never got a bite.
An hour had passed since I baited the trout line and it was almost too hot to fish. I worked a 1/8 oz rattle trap until it was clear nothing was going to hit it. A storm showed up and cut off my fishing so I went check the trout line.
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l122/jkeating3/100_1176.jpg
There was no bait on any hook. After the 8th hook I came upon a small blue cat. Then another blue. And finally I biggen. Kinda exciting seeing a cat over 10 pounds on the line. The net comes out and the fish is scooped up into the live well. Alright I don’t care what anyone says. This trout lining is fun.
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l122/jkeating3/100_1155.jpg
Out comes the rain coat. There is a spooky whisper in the trees afar. And here it comes. What appears to be a huge storm. I ride the gust front to the dock. Maybe I should not have been offshore today. From dead calm to wind, dark, and booming thunder. The peaceful lake turned mean in minutes. So I fled quickly. I was surprised that the rain was over 10 minutes down the highway. Who would have known I could have waited it out.
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l122/jkeating3/100_1179.jpg
There was some bycatch.
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l122/jkeating3/100_1183.jpg