05-22-2007, 06:11 PM
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Just a warning…this is a lengthy one. [cool][/size][/font]
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[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]Last Thursday evening my wife Becky and I took off for a relaxing weekend up at Newton Reservoir. We got there just in time to set up camp in the dark, eat dinner, and hit the sack to get ready for an early morning launch. [/font][/size]
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[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]We were shocked at how high the water was! The road and the spot we had camped last summer were completely under water, but luckily there was a small alternate route to get into the spot we wanted.[/size][/font]
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[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]We got up and going about 5:30ish on Friday, got set up, and took off. There weren’t very many people around which was very nice—just a couple of smaller boats trolling around. The water was really calm and we started heading north along the west bank in our tubes. [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]It wasn’t long before we got into a bunch of small largies that were by far the most frequent catch of the trip—ranging from about 4-12 inches. Most of the stuff we caught was on 2” maniac minnows with a slow retrieve to keep it lower in the water. [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]On a couple of casts I saw some big ol’ muskies follow me in and stop just feet in front of me in the water. It was kinda creepy how they just seemed to materialize out of nowhere and stare me down for a few seconds as if to decide whether or not it would be a good idea to eat my foot. Then they just seemed to get bored and they slowly turned around and swam back to their ambush spots in the brush. None of them attacked my little minnow; I figured they must have thought something that small was beneath their dignity. [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]At any rate, after catching a bunch of the largies over the next couple hours we decided to head back for lunch. We kept casting into the submerged brush along the shore on our way and just as we were coming into the last little cove by our camp I had a huge hit that bent my little 5’ med-light rod in half and set my reel a’ zingin! Game on! I fought the guy closer and was pleased to find my first ever muskie on the other end! I was amazed that he didn’t cut right through my 6 lb. mono—I was lucky to have set the hook soon enough to get it right in his lip! He weighed in at just over 3 lbs and was 27 inches long. I guess this one wasn’t as particular about his diet as his bigger buddies who just followed it in earlier. Man, those muskies are a good time! I could definitely get used to more of that kind of fishing—especially on such light tackle! [/font][/size]
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[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]So then we headed back in and got a bite to eat, after which Becky decided to take a little nap in the tent. I took off down the shore a bit to do some wading into some of the shallows where it would be harder to navigate a tube. I found a little group of trees submerged in 1-3 feet of water and started catching a ton of the small-medium sized bucketmouths. It was good casting practice to try not to get stuck in the branches that were sticking out everywhere. “Try” is the key word here—luckily every time I got snagged it was low enough to walk up to and untangle rather effortlessly. The only problem was having to walk through the areas that I was trying to fish, thus scaring away my finny friends. [/font][/size]
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[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]After a little while I spotted the biggest bass I’d ever seen in the water (besides those at Cabelas and on TV)—it wasn’t huge, but it had to be at least 5-6 lbs and around 18” long or so. It wasn’t long before it dawned on me that this guy must have been guarding a nest because he kept reappearing after being spooked by my repeated casts toward him. Sure enough, I found the nest in a small circle of trees a few feet away. I figured if I caught him while I was right there by his nest, it wouldn’t be too much trouble for him to swim right back to continue on with his post. [/font][/size]
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[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]Several of my casts went right by him but he must not have considered my little minnow much of a threat, because he just looked on all apathetic-like. He kept disappearing and reappearing so many times I would have to just guess and cast blindly to where I thought he might be. [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]On one cast, I ran into some slimy weeds that decided to hitch a ride. As I was pulling it back in, the bass suddenly materialized on a collision course with the slimy mess, so I slowed down to keep it next to him. He eyed it warily then slowly turned around behind it and slurped it in. I reared back and had the best fight of my life! Even better than the muskie! My reel started screaming again as he ran around trees and made me chase him down to untangle him. He jumped all over the place, dancing on his tail and I’m sure I saw him flip me off with the middle of his fin a time or two. After about a minute or two of the excitement, he slowed down enough that I could get him in close. I reached down to his mouth and as soon as my thumb touched the inside of his lower lip he gave one last mighty shake and broke the line! Off he swam with a new lip ring and I know I saw that middle fin again as he shimmied away, leaving me with nothing but a
yet adventurous tale of “the one that got away!” [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]After I regained my composure I started casting around again and then I got a distressed call from my wife on the radio that there was a mob of ruffians who had pulled in right next to us with their boats, campers, tents, kids, and dogs who were fast taking over our small little area that had been so peaceful up to that point. I hoofed it on back and helped get our stuff put away so the dogs wouldn’t get tangled up in our lines anymore and possibly pop our tubes sitting on the shore. The owner’s didn’t seem to care much which was pretty frustrating. My wife commented that perhaps our idea of a vacation was just different. For them, it must have been going someplace where they could just let everyone and everything run around care-free—definitely understandable, but unfortunate for us who preferred peace. [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]We decided to stick around as it would be too much of a hassle to find a new spot and set up camp all over again. We secured our belongings and took off back to the trees where I had been wading. It was nice to escape the hot sun and the increasing number of skiers out on the main lake. That night the wind kicked up something fierce and the water suddenly grew white caps. Glad we weren’t out in the tubes when it hit! We made some dinner, sat around for a bit, and then hit the hay just after dark. [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]The situation with our neighbors ended up being fine except for the fact that they all got drunk, yelled, and blasted their music and till at least 1 in the morning as we were trying to sleep. Oh well, ya win some, ya lose some I guess. It was peaceful again at 5:30 the next morning as the adults were probably all hung-over and the kids were worn out from all their running around till the wee hours of the night. [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]We pulled our tubes back out and set sail. The wind had died down substantially, but after an hour or two it started sneaking back in. We fished till about noon, catching more cookie-cutter bass and a good-looking crappie, and my wife got to see one of the big tigers follow her lure in. She let me know over the radio and it was apparent that it had creeped her out too having it right there in front of her as she sat in the water. We fished a little longer then we broke down camp and headed for home. We only brought home one bass for eating and a few small perch for bait. We decided not to eat the crappie because we’d seen a bunch of small dead ones on the shore and a couple of them swimming around all crazy-like as if they had whirling disease or something—too bad! [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]Overall it was a great, relaxing trip with good fishing to boot. Unfortunately, we didn’t catch a whole lot that had any size or get any pictures of the ones that did, but the pictures will always be in our heads and without the photographic proof, they can just keep getting bigger and better over time! [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3](Sorry I didn’t put the pics inline. I just thought they’d be much better big!)[/size][/font]
[signature]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]Last Thursday evening my wife Becky and I took off for a relaxing weekend up at Newton Reservoir. We got there just in time to set up camp in the dark, eat dinner, and hit the sack to get ready for an early morning launch. [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]We were shocked at how high the water was! The road and the spot we had camped last summer were completely under water, but luckily there was a small alternate route to get into the spot we wanted.[/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]We got up and going about 5:30ish on Friday, got set up, and took off. There weren’t very many people around which was very nice—just a couple of smaller boats trolling around. The water was really calm and we started heading north along the west bank in our tubes. [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]It wasn’t long before we got into a bunch of small largies that were by far the most frequent catch of the trip—ranging from about 4-12 inches. Most of the stuff we caught was on 2” maniac minnows with a slow retrieve to keep it lower in the water. [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]On a couple of casts I saw some big ol’ muskies follow me in and stop just feet in front of me in the water. It was kinda creepy how they just seemed to materialize out of nowhere and stare me down for a few seconds as if to decide whether or not it would be a good idea to eat my foot. Then they just seemed to get bored and they slowly turned around and swam back to their ambush spots in the brush. None of them attacked my little minnow; I figured they must have thought something that small was beneath their dignity. [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]At any rate, after catching a bunch of the largies over the next couple hours we decided to head back for lunch. We kept casting into the submerged brush along the shore on our way and just as we were coming into the last little cove by our camp I had a huge hit that bent my little 5’ med-light rod in half and set my reel a’ zingin! Game on! I fought the guy closer and was pleased to find my first ever muskie on the other end! I was amazed that he didn’t cut right through my 6 lb. mono—I was lucky to have set the hook soon enough to get it right in his lip! He weighed in at just over 3 lbs and was 27 inches long. I guess this one wasn’t as particular about his diet as his bigger buddies who just followed it in earlier. Man, those muskies are a good time! I could definitely get used to more of that kind of fishing—especially on such light tackle! [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]So then we headed back in and got a bite to eat, after which Becky decided to take a little nap in the tent. I took off down the shore a bit to do some wading into some of the shallows where it would be harder to navigate a tube. I found a little group of trees submerged in 1-3 feet of water and started catching a ton of the small-medium sized bucketmouths. It was good casting practice to try not to get stuck in the branches that were sticking out everywhere. “Try” is the key word here—luckily every time I got snagged it was low enough to walk up to and untangle rather effortlessly. The only problem was having to walk through the areas that I was trying to fish, thus scaring away my finny friends. [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]After a little while I spotted the biggest bass I’d ever seen in the water (besides those at Cabelas and on TV)—it wasn’t huge, but it had to be at least 5-6 lbs and around 18” long or so. It wasn’t long before it dawned on me that this guy must have been guarding a nest because he kept reappearing after being spooked by my repeated casts toward him. Sure enough, I found the nest in a small circle of trees a few feet away. I figured if I caught him while I was right there by his nest, it wouldn’t be too much trouble for him to swim right back to continue on with his post. [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]Several of my casts went right by him but he must not have considered my little minnow much of a threat, because he just looked on all apathetic-like. He kept disappearing and reappearing so many times I would have to just guess and cast blindly to where I thought he might be. [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]On one cast, I ran into some slimy weeds that decided to hitch a ride. As I was pulling it back in, the bass suddenly materialized on a collision course with the slimy mess, so I slowed down to keep it next to him. He eyed it warily then slowly turned around behind it and slurped it in. I reared back and had the best fight of my life! Even better than the muskie! My reel started screaming again as he ran around trees and made me chase him down to untangle him. He jumped all over the place, dancing on his tail and I’m sure I saw him flip me off with the middle of his fin a time or two. After about a minute or two of the excitement, he slowed down enough that I could get him in close. I reached down to his mouth and as soon as my thumb touched the inside of his lower lip he gave one last mighty shake and broke the line! Off he swam with a new lip ring and I know I saw that middle fin again as he shimmied away, leaving me with nothing but a
yet adventurous tale of “the one that got away!” [/font][/size] [font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]After I regained my composure I started casting around again and then I got a distressed call from my wife on the radio that there was a mob of ruffians who had pulled in right next to us with their boats, campers, tents, kids, and dogs who were fast taking over our small little area that had been so peaceful up to that point. I hoofed it on back and helped get our stuff put away so the dogs wouldn’t get tangled up in our lines anymore and possibly pop our tubes sitting on the shore. The owner’s didn’t seem to care much which was pretty frustrating. My wife commented that perhaps our idea of a vacation was just different. For them, it must have been going someplace where they could just let everyone and everything run around care-free—definitely understandable, but unfortunate for us who preferred peace. [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]We decided to stick around as it would be too much of a hassle to find a new spot and set up camp all over again. We secured our belongings and took off back to the trees where I had been wading. It was nice to escape the hot sun and the increasing number of skiers out on the main lake. That night the wind kicked up something fierce and the water suddenly grew white caps. Glad we weren’t out in the tubes when it hit! We made some dinner, sat around for a bit, and then hit the hay just after dark. [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]The situation with our neighbors ended up being fine except for the fact that they all got drunk, yelled, and blasted their music and till at least 1 in the morning as we were trying to sleep. Oh well, ya win some, ya lose some I guess. It was peaceful again at 5:30 the next morning as the adults were probably all hung-over and the kids were worn out from all their running around till the wee hours of the night. [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]We pulled our tubes back out and set sail. The wind had died down substantially, but after an hour or two it started sneaking back in. We fished till about noon, catching more cookie-cutter bass and a good-looking crappie, and my wife got to see one of the big tigers follow her lure in. She let me know over the radio and it was apparent that it had creeped her out too having it right there in front of her as she sat in the water. We fished a little longer then we broke down camp and headed for home. We only brought home one bass for eating and a few small perch for bait. We decided not to eat the crappie because we’d seen a bunch of small dead ones on the shore and a couple of them swimming around all crazy-like as if they had whirling disease or something—too bad! [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[size 3][font "Times New Roman"]Overall it was a great, relaxing trip with good fishing to boot. Unfortunately, we didn’t catch a whole lot that had any size or get any pictures of the ones that did, but the pictures will always be in our heads and without the photographic proof, they can just keep getting bigger and better over time! [/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3] [/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3](Sorry I didn’t put the pics inline. I just thought they’d be much better big!)[/size][/font]
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] 
] Instead of stuffing that extra wire in the pocket, I wrapped it around the tube and secured it with zip ties. Then I put a hard plastic open-topped thing in the pocket to keep the battery more secure and the tube material separate from the battery. I cut a hole in the top of the divider between the back and middle pockets to make it easier to load and unload the battery since the zipper on the back pocket is a bit of a tight squeeze for it. 
]