11-20-2008, 12:26 AM
[font "Times New Roman"]It was 4:30am the morning of the 15th and here I was throwing ice into a cooler at the Shell station. My buddy Chuck and I decided it was a good idea to make one more run up to Sunnyside before the real cold set in. After the eyes half shut drive up we arrived to a crisp morning and a mostly empty campground. Did I say crisp? It was cold; in the distance an old coyote moaned…he felt my pain. Undeterred by the cold, thanks in part to the knowledge that we had enough fire wood for huge a burn that night, we set camp. Tents up, chairs set by a fire that was begging for a spark, beer on ice, all waited our return from Haymeadow, off we went. [/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"]Having developed a short in the Jon boats jerry rigged wiring last time out we were with out the trolling motor and were paddling the boat, which was fun and helped keep us warm. Made even more enjoyable by the fact that there was almost no wind. We started on the west side of Haymeadow about 100 yards off the dam and did pretty well catching a good number of trout. They were not hitting on top and did not care for spinners or the trusty Kastmasters, but were eager to bite a more deeply and slowly presented Atomic jig (crappie jig). After six hours we had about 35 fish between the two of us. The largest was only about 15-16 inches. We did not manage any of the 18 plus inchers we had caught the last few trips. But they were fun none the less, many of them getting airborne and tail dancing as soon as they were hooked. One jumped right into the boat; pretty funny at first, until he spilled my beer, then he quickly went from pretty funny fish to jerk fish. [/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"]After a cold night (my water bottle froze in my tent) we hit the water Sunday morning. Once the ice melted off everything in the boat (oars, life jackets, seats, rags) Sunday blossomed into a more perfect day than Saturday. Very sunny and almost warm with zero wind at all. Pure glass all day. The fishing started off great and stayed that way. In four hours we took about 50 fish. Including to my joy, a nice 2.5 pound bass that pounced on my jig. She fought well, turning the boat in a complete circle twice before I got look at her. Up until then I was sure I had locked into a 7 pound trout. We were all high fives when I finally lipped her. The men on the dam, they were even more excited, “Holy sh** he’s got a bass!” “No fuc***ing way!? He must have snagged it! This is bull sh** we are getting a boat!” Etc. etc. [/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"]Regrettable we had to leave at noon, I wanted to stay, the fishing and weather being perfect. But my buddy had to work that night. All in all the fishing was very good. The weeds??? Still a pain in the a*%!!! Do they ever die? Also I noted that the men fishing the dam with power bait were not doing so well, maybe 1-2 fish an hour for the group of 4-5 of them. Also noted; duck hunters, lots of them, shooting very close to us, made for interesting days, kept telling myself shot gun pellets don’t fly that far! [/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"]We made a quick stop on the dirt road on the way out to double check the load before hitting the highway, and I be dammed if I did not hear that old coyote moan again, last trip till spring, and again he felt my pain. [/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"] [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]Having developed a short in the Jon boats jerry rigged wiring last time out we were with out the trolling motor and were paddling the boat, which was fun and helped keep us warm. Made even more enjoyable by the fact that there was almost no wind. We started on the west side of Haymeadow about 100 yards off the dam and did pretty well catching a good number of trout. They were not hitting on top and did not care for spinners or the trusty Kastmasters, but were eager to bite a more deeply and slowly presented Atomic jig (crappie jig). After six hours we had about 35 fish between the two of us. The largest was only about 15-16 inches. We did not manage any of the 18 plus inchers we had caught the last few trips. But they were fun none the less, many of them getting airborne and tail dancing as soon as they were hooked. One jumped right into the boat; pretty funny at first, until he spilled my beer, then he quickly went from pretty funny fish to jerk fish. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"] [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]After a cold night (my water bottle froze in my tent) we hit the water Sunday morning. Once the ice melted off everything in the boat (oars, life jackets, seats, rags) Sunday blossomed into a more perfect day than Saturday. Very sunny and almost warm with zero wind at all. Pure glass all day. The fishing started off great and stayed that way. In four hours we took about 50 fish. Including to my joy, a nice 2.5 pound bass that pounced on my jig. She fought well, turning the boat in a complete circle twice before I got look at her. Up until then I was sure I had locked into a 7 pound trout. We were all high fives when I finally lipped her. The men on the dam, they were even more excited, “Holy sh** he’s got a bass!” “No fuc***ing way!? He must have snagged it! This is bull sh** we are getting a boat!” Etc. etc. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"] [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]Regrettable we had to leave at noon, I wanted to stay, the fishing and weather being perfect. But my buddy had to work that night. All in all the fishing was very good. The weeds??? Still a pain in the a*%!!! Do they ever die? Also I noted that the men fishing the dam with power bait were not doing so well, maybe 1-2 fish an hour for the group of 4-5 of them. Also noted; duck hunters, lots of them, shooting very close to us, made for interesting days, kept telling myself shot gun pellets don’t fly that far! [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"] [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]We made a quick stop on the dirt road on the way out to double check the load before hitting the highway, and I be dammed if I did not hear that old coyote moan again, last trip till spring, and again he felt my pain. [/font]
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