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It was chilly!
It was misty!
But John and I were going fishing with Travis Edens ( King Fisher Guide Services) regardless of the weather. BTW, he is WELL worth going out with...he doesn't know when to quit! Plus he knows his water like very few do.
When I left my house at 6:45a, it was still pretty dark out. Breakfast was at The Filling Co., my usual Taylor ham, cheese w/egg sammie.
When I left the ramp parking lot to go home at 6:45p, it was already getting dark. But in between, once we drove there and got the shuttle done...
...we caught some fishies!
When we splashed the raft, there was a fine mist coming down and it would stay like that for most of the day. We did get a few breaks (2-3 hours in total) of "dry" weather.
It didn't take long to take our skunks off!
I will apologize up front for some of the blurry pics. Did I mention that we had a cold mist most of the day??
Species #2 came in (channel cat) with fresh battle scars.
The scenery, while kinds grey looking, was still spectacular!
We went on to catch a bunch more fish!
BTW, most of the 2 dozen long ear BG's that I caught were had on a 3/0 or 4/0 hook. In the mouth! I only foul hooked a couple of them. Thew were hungry and were biting my bait tail off! I mainly used a 4.5" white flat worm on a weightless hook (using it like a weightless fluke) and a 3.6" flat worm on a 1/16th weighted hook. I did catch a couple on a jerk bait later.
John stuck with the fly all day and the smallies and BG's didn't mind one bit!
A little later, I got the bottom...but it moved. It was running like a carp so we knew we had a nice fish on the line. After a nice battle, Travis perfectly netted it!
He went 19" and weighed in at 3.5lbs!
We were stoked!
Time to catch some more!
By now, I had a slam (smallie, BG, channel cat) but when I landed this one, I was elated. The elusive Rock Bass (red eye bass)!
The Grand Slam!
More catching!
This one at a 5" Zoom fluke! Nuts!!
More...
Oh, we ate lunch around 2pm...great subs from the Italian Deli, some fried chicken, some nice home made (by Travis) pickles and a great cookie. I wanted to take a nap after lunch but we still had lots of fish to catch!
What a day!
It was kinda miserable with the weather but the company was great and fishing was even better!
When we landed back at the ramp, I asked Travis if he could give me a number as to how many fish he thought were caught. His answer: "a poop load!"
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What an awesome report! So good to see all the healthy fish (excepts poor Mr. Whiskers). I love the misty scenes on the river. I figured it would be a good day to be out. Great job.
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Did that out board motor come into play on this trip?
Capt Mike
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captmikestarrett wrote:
Did that out board motor come into play on this trip?
Yes, for the last mile or so. If not, it would have been pitch black when we took out. And that's assuming we could have seen the ramp!
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A couple more observations:
- I went through 2 packs of Berkley baits. Never done that before on a smallie trip. Fish were chewin'!
- As mentioned, I used 2 different hooks. I never lost either one of them. But I had to sharpen one of them.
- Both of my hands cramped up at one time. Then my forearm when throwing the jerk bait. I'm either out of fishing shape or I reeled too much (so many fish were caught and landed).
- Speaking of landed fish, I bet I had at least 10 fish come unbuttoned. Some seemed beefy.
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Great report. Imagine what that scenery is going to look like when the leaves change color in a few weeks. You gotta make another trip just for that.
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Great report and pics Ernie!
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Luv the pig and dinkiest. Looks like y'all had non-stop action
Good day to get out. The rain keeps the tourists off the water
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Now that is an awesome day in the water. Congrats on catching a 19-in pig. Got to love the days where it's steady action and a bonus quality Fisher to it there.
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