Fishing Forum

[cool][#0000ff]The morning forecast was for SE winds. We went to Willard anyway. Launched at the south marina about 6ish...to building WEST winds, blowing right in off the open lake. Score another triumph for the weather dudes.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water temp 63 and murky inside the marina. Still, TubeBabe lost two large fish in a row on firetiger crankbaits. I had a couple of good whacks on chartreuse plastic. Inexperienced fish didn't know how to grab the hooks right.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]While TB stayed in the channel to renew acquaintances with her first two inquiries, I kicked out against the building chop to see if there might be anything outside. Yep! Scored an 18" wiper just past the buoy. Figured this was gonna be a bananner day. Wrong again fish for brains.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Dragged minnows and threw all kinds of plastic and crankbaits. Had some whacks but no hookups. TubeBabe moved out in a hurry when I told her about the wiper, over the walkie talkie. She wanted some wiper.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Finally, after we had strained and kicked our way out to deeper water, against the west "breeze", it got calm for awhile. We both started getting bites on minnows. We both missed several good "runners"...pop and drop. I brought in a couple of bitty kitties on plastics and a couple more on minnows. I threw back five before we decided they weren't going to run much bigger than the 14" "cookie cutters" we were both catching. We both missed a few, caught a few and kept a few. I ended up with five kitties and the wiper. TB kept 3 of the cats she caught. A couple of mine went over 16"[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Now, about Windzilla. That dude was playing with us. We would kick against a building breeze, everytime it changed direction, thinking we could always ride it back in if the wind got too heavy. But, Mr. W would let us get a few hundred yards in one direction and then turn around and blow from the other direction. During the morning fishing the W blew from every point of the compass at least once. it was never enough to make us want to go in, but it made nice squiggly lines on the sonar bottom reading as we bounced up and down on the little waves.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Now about the "weight loss". Sure, kicking around in the tube is good exercise and helps burn calories. But, if you ever want to lose weight fast, I recommend "Cat-cupuncture". One of those little rascals twisted just right (wrong) as I lifted it aboard and tried to grab it. A pectoral spine went over a half inch into the side of my left hand. The barbs on the spine made it tough to pull out. It brought some flesh and blood with it when I got it loose. Lots of blood. Weight loss. My whole hand hurt like %#@@ and you would not believe the amount of blood. The attached picture was only a fraction of it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As the wind started blowing seriously from the east...blowing us back out into the lake, we decided we had all the fun we could stand. The changing winds had shut off the bite...what there was. As we came in I was throwing a blue/prism diving crankbait and it was assaulted by a smallmouth that was hardly bigger than the lure. Served him right. He got the hooks in both his mouth and side. Bet he thinks twice about pouncing on that next shad. I also got a small largemouth when I switched to tossing a chartreuse plastic close to shore. Felt like a walleye but when the little bugger jumped a couple of times I quit hoping for a wallie.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When the offshore breeze started up, the carp came into the calm water next to both points on either side of the channel and thrashed the water to a froth. Woulda been easy shooting with a bow. There were some real honkers in there.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water temp outside at launch was 66 degrees. It had warmed to 70 by the time we quit at noon. It was murky from the runoff coming in the channel but clean once you got out into 8-10 feet of water. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]They have the fish cleaning station open at the south marina now. We made our deposit and took home the remnants. We also stopped at the Smith and Edwards chapel and paid our tithing before heading down the road.[/#0000ff]
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IS SOMEBODY HERE A DOCTOR!!!!!! jk Nice report TD just the way you like reading I like reading too. Nice job on the kitties
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Ouch! []

Had that happen a few years ago, but the cat managed to lodge that spike right in the pinky knuckle... Looked like I had inserted a golf ball under my skin.

Good to see that you found a fish or two. That Willard wind can be awfully tricky. Multiple times that year we had the same changing winds.

Oh well... at least you were in a tube while I was in an office. []
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Yes, kitties can be dangerous little critters! Years ago when I was a young pup a kindly old gentleman let me in on a little secret. If you will rub the injured area (puncture zone) on the belly flesh of the cat it will neutralize some of the pain. Something to do with enzymes or something. I tried it and it works. But the bleeding will continue until you get it stopped or bleed out. I also carry sidecutter pliers to cut off the spines to avoid possible injury to me or the tube.
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Ouch!

That 'catupuncture' happened to me when I was a kid, fishing with my grandpa for channels on the Jordan River. Those danged spines aren't fun, but after my grandma cooked up those kitties for us, I found that my war-wound was well worth it.

I hate fishing in the wind, so props to you two for staying with it!

I think that the majority of us on here are jealous 'cause we're stuck in an office while you're out there showing us how it's done during the week.

Great job as always.

Derek
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Almost!

Pat, don't you know that chumming is not legal??? Hope you heal up fast Tubemeister.
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[cool][#0000ff]I carry both longnose and sidecutters in my tool rack and cutting off the spines on the cats I keep is the first thing I do, even before removing the hook. That particular sneaky little devil just timed a flop to catch me as I was sliding my hand up along the belly to get the "kitty grip". It hurt worse knowing that I got stuck...while knowing better...than the pain of the stab wound. Well...almost.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have never heard of the belly slime remedy. Hope I never have the opportunity (again) to try it. Can't remember the last time I got stuck.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As you know, those smaller cats are the most dangerous. Their spines are still very sharp. As the cats get older their spines get thick and the points get rounded off from all the rolling in the rocks they do while feeding and spawning.[/#0000ff]
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[#ff0000]PS. Your avatar pic is too wide. You need to reduce it to 150 pixels. Nice fish though.[/#ff0000]
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