Fishing Forum

[cool][font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][#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]
[/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1]Attachments:[/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=25222;"][#333366] DAYBREAK WATER BUMPS.jpg [/#333366][/url](265 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1]Attachments:[/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=25223;"][#333366] FIRST VOLUNTEER.jpg [/#333366][/url](267 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1]Attachments:[/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=25224;"][#333366] CHARTREUSE CHOMPER.jpg [/#333366][/url](326 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1]Attachments:[/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=25225;"][#333366] PINK PUSSYCAT.jpg [/#333366][/url](342 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1]Attachments:[/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=25226;"][#000000] TUBEBABE SCORES.jpg [/#000000][/url](276 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][size 1]Attachments:[/size][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=25227;"][#333366] CAT-CUPUNCTURE.jpg [/#333366][/url](396 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1]Attachments:[/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=25228;"][#333366] WEIGHT LOSS.jpg [/#333366][/url](392 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1]Attachments:[/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=25229;"][#333366] SMALL SMALLIE.jpg [/#333366][/url](267 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1]Attachments:[/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=25230;"][#333366] SMALL LARGIE.jpg [/#333366][/url](370 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1]Attachments:[/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=25231;"][#333366] TUBEBABES TRIPLE.jpg [/#333366][/url](384 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1]Attachments:[/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=25232;"][#333366] DA DUDE'S DINNER.jpg [/#333366][/url](261 KB) [/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1]Attachments:[/size][/black][/font] [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=25233;"][#333366] TAKEHOME FOR TWO.jpg [/#333366][/url](274 KB) [/size][/black][/font]
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Dude, made my hand hurt just looking at you CAT-astrophy. Ouch!
Leave it to you to make the best of a not so good condition.
You two are still my Hero's![cool]
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Nice going Numb Nuts. I hope you stuck that sucker back!! ha ha.[cool]

Was that from one of those Juggling Kitty tricks that you do??[]
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Owwie! That hurts!

Great fishin' pics and prose.

z~
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Was he destined for the pot all along?

You get a kinda rueful feeling when a fish performs surgery on you, and you were planning to return it, eh?

Great report TD.
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[cool][#0000ff]Catfish are on a LONG list of things I DO NOT juggle. Actually, I ain't very good at juggling anything, so that list includes just about everything.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I did not mark that catfish in any particular way, and he looked just like all the others (I know...racial profiling). But, I took extra pleasure in filleting those fish afterward. Turnabouts fairplay and all that.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It hurt even more to realize I got stuck in a moment of carelessness and inattention. I violated what I always teach others...to wait until you can grab them safely before gripping them. I paid for it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Can't remember the last time I got stuck, and I handle lots of kitties in an average year.[/#0000ff]
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Did you have any band-aids on your tube? I had always carried a little first aid kit in the tube or in my fishing vest until I lost it overboard on a boat trip a couple of months ago when I was releasing a walleye and it came out of my top pocket. After seeing those pics -- I am thinking I better replace it.

Either way -- it looks like you both got a nice dinner out of the deal.
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Those lil punctures sure put the smarts on the hand for a few days after. Just from the looks of the pics, I think a 1st aid kit wouldn't have been enough. Perhaps a 1st, 2nd and 3rd aid kit would suffice.[cool]
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[cool][#0000ff]A first aid kit is one of the items I recommend as a carry on item for tubers and tooners. But, since I seldom follow my own advice, I did not have one.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I am probably an exception to how most people deal with "medical emergencies". I ain't no wimp. I perform my own minor surgeries...splinters, warts, cysts, etc. I also do my own hook removals...using several different methods, depending upon the size of the hook, the location and the depth of penetration.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]While the catfish "piercing" was painful...and bloody...I was in no danger of fainting. Nor would I have ever shortened a fishing trip for a silly visit to the emergency room. The hole left in my hand by ripping out the jagged pectoral spine was nasty, but I assessed it as something that would "only hurt for a little while" and was not debilitating or life threatening. In other words, I could keep fishing, even if the hand hurt like a summagun. And, I was glad that it was bleeding profusely. That helps clean out the mild toxin on those fins that make the punctures hurt so much.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I heal fast. The bleeding stopped within a few minutes and the swelling had mostly subsided by last night. This morning it is only mildly painful to touch it and there is only a small scab to remind me of the encounter. I think I will live.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Still, with the potential for hook punctures, knife cuts, damage from fish spines and sharp gill covers, etc., it is really a good idea to have emergency medical first aid stuff with you...either in your tube or at least in your vehicle. Do as I say, not as I do.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We did indeed end up with a couple of fish dinners. Those small cats from Willard Bay are some of the best eating catfish of all I have caught and eaten around the country. And, the wipers are absolutely great no matter how you fix them. The pain was worth the gain.[/#0000ff]
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[cool][#0000ff]Ah yes, that culprit would have been invited to the fillet board even if he had not exacted his preemptory strike. But, after he wounded me, revenge was sweet...as will be the savoring of his most excellent fillets after deep frying.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Glad you liked the report. Hope you do not contribute anything similar after an encounter with the teeth of one of those big pike. I have seen firsthand how efficient those nasty teeth can be at damaging human flesh.[/#0000ff]
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This brings up another point.
A few years back, we were in a 14' Aluminum boat at Strawberry. Fishing was good, but you still have to try different flies and attached to those flies is a hook.
Being in a fairly small boat, when others passed, we felt it.
Anyway, that evening after dinner, I noticed a blister on the point finger of my right hand. About the size of the tip of my finger. Wondering how the heck that happened, I sterilized a pin and relieved it of the fluid. Went fishing for an hour more from my tube, when I got back to camp, there it was again. So, I did it again and went to bed.
I awoke around 3 or 4 with my hand throbbing. We both got up early and by then it was killing me. The blister was now the full finger and to top it off, a red line starting to run down my hand.
We packed up and headed home in RECORD warp speed.
Went to the emergency room to find out I had (if left untreated - life threatening) a STAFF infection. No idea how that happened but was told, even the fish could have transmittied this through a poke of the fin.
For the rest of the week, I went to the emergency room three times a day for 45 minutes to get an I.V. and some gross stuff like peeling the skin off.
Anyway, MORAL TO THE STORY......watch wounds close and keep them as clean as you can!
$hit Happens!
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[cool][#0000ff]That is an excellent point. What I failed to mention was that I never break any skin on my poor old body without first sterilizing the pin, razor blade or Exacto blade I am using for the surgery. Fish spines and the sharp points on the gill covers of many warm water species are not presterilized. If you get zapped, you have the risk of all kinds of nasty infections.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There was a scary program on TV a few nights ago about "staph" infections...from the staphlococcus bacteria. There are several strains and they are feared by hospital personnel because they can attack even minor openings in the skin and kill a patient that was in no danger otherwise. The really bad news is that there is a new strain that is resistant to even the most advanced and heavy duty antibiotics. People are getting it even from a skinned knee or a minor cut. And, when it gets going it can make for a very sick and unpleasant demise.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Moral of the story...make sure you have rubbing alcohol, mercurocrome, merthiolate or hydrogen peroxide to sterilize and to wash out cuts or scrapes quickly. those things should be always in your first aid kits or vehicles...especially if you or your family are "accident prone". It is also good to keep some kind of antiseptic cream (Neosporin) to apply to dressed wounds.[/#0000ff]
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[reply] ..especially if you or your family are "accident prone".... [/reply]
Hilarious thought that ..... an "accident prone" family in float tubes ... (grin)
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[cool][#0000ff]We have a saying here in the colonies..."I would rather be a live coward than a dead hero"...referring to the tendency of some thrillseekers to charge blindly into something rather than to consider the potential for danger.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I suppose that could be applied to float tubing as well. Something like: "I would rather be fishless, dry and whole than to risk life, limb and health in a float tube."[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Over the years I have known several tubers who have survived "in spite of themselves". Every trip afloat was an epic adventure. Milder trips involved simply forgetting the basic necessities...like tube, waders, fins, rods, tackle, etc. Worse trips might include lost fins or rods, broken rods or reels, lost fish baskets or stringers, punctured waders or body parts...and even slashed anatomy or air bladders from the careless operation of a sharp knife. Getting perforated by fish spines is almost a given for some dimbulb anglers. The really creative stuff can make for many memorable trips.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Hope you are having good fun at our expense. [/#0000ff]
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