11-07-2011, 07:03 PM
Holy lord, yesterday was painful on the river.
Erawk showed up at my pad at about 5, and we headed for Willow Beach. Weather forecast said wind, cold and rain, so we were ready for the worst. When we got there, it was surprisingly fair weather. We trolled downstream out of the marina for a while, and then the weather changed. The forecast came true, and that's when things got fishy.
A boat fishing near us landed (and unsuccessfully tried to release) a fish that may have been 8 or 9 pounds, and just a few minutes later, Erawk gets a hit. He grabs his setup and I jump to the back of the boat. A minute later, he's got empty hooks. Don't know what happened there.
Then "BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ" sings my reel, and I fly into action. I set the hook and feel serious weight on the other end. My drag starts peeling, and I tell Erawk to get on the motor and turn us towards the fish. I am cranking hard just to keep pressure on as we motor towards the fish, and as I get full tension, I feel the fish thumping, but I can't gain an inch. Not like the fish was pulling, but like I was pulling a tree..... AAAHHHGG! The fish wrapped me up in one of the many trees strewn throughout the river.
We continue to motor towars the fish, and eventually find him, with my $80 hand-carved magnum a/c minnow in his mouth, tied to a tree in about 20 feet of water. We can see the fish, but not the tree. After multiple attempts to pull him out of the mess, it was evident that we had a problem on our hands.
The wind was blowing at this point, and it had started raining, so just seeing the fish was hard. My new plan was to try netting the fish while I put pressure on him. I about went swimming trying, and I could touch the fish's tail, but could not get him in the net.
The next idea was to snag the hooks of my plug with my rod. If I could grab the plug, i should be able to pull him up. No go. Just couldn't catch a hook. I could feel my fishing pole scraping his scales, but no hook. So i say "come on 30lb mono" and I pull. Really frikkin hard. And I snapped that 30lb mono. And I yelled profanities at the canyon walls as the wind blew us away from where that tree sat.
Heartbroken, I ask Erawk to once again head to the approximate area, and through some miracle of the river, I found that fish again. Erawk gets me in position, and I try once more to grab a hook with my 11 foot fishing pole. The first try was a miss, but the second swipe, I felt a click, and then weight. I GOT HIM! I've got him so good it stopped us in the current and wind. Now all I have to do is pull hard enough to break my line, and I will pull up a plug and a striper! I put the brakes on and pulled with all my might. I fell back into the boat with a fishing pole, no plug, no striper, and one of my guides is mangled. We look again for the fish, but this time, there was no miracle, and there was no fish.
And now, I have to go buy a ridiculously expensive lure to fill my heart's void.
We also targeted trout for a small while, and that was un-fruitful as well.
She's a mean mistress.
[signature]
Erawk showed up at my pad at about 5, and we headed for Willow Beach. Weather forecast said wind, cold and rain, so we were ready for the worst. When we got there, it was surprisingly fair weather. We trolled downstream out of the marina for a while, and then the weather changed. The forecast came true, and that's when things got fishy.
A boat fishing near us landed (and unsuccessfully tried to release) a fish that may have been 8 or 9 pounds, and just a few minutes later, Erawk gets a hit. He grabs his setup and I jump to the back of the boat. A minute later, he's got empty hooks. Don't know what happened there.
Then "BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ" sings my reel, and I fly into action. I set the hook and feel serious weight on the other end. My drag starts peeling, and I tell Erawk to get on the motor and turn us towards the fish. I am cranking hard just to keep pressure on as we motor towards the fish, and as I get full tension, I feel the fish thumping, but I can't gain an inch. Not like the fish was pulling, but like I was pulling a tree..... AAAHHHGG! The fish wrapped me up in one of the many trees strewn throughout the river.
We continue to motor towars the fish, and eventually find him, with my $80 hand-carved magnum a/c minnow in his mouth, tied to a tree in about 20 feet of water. We can see the fish, but not the tree. After multiple attempts to pull him out of the mess, it was evident that we had a problem on our hands.
The wind was blowing at this point, and it had started raining, so just seeing the fish was hard. My new plan was to try netting the fish while I put pressure on him. I about went swimming trying, and I could touch the fish's tail, but could not get him in the net.
The next idea was to snag the hooks of my plug with my rod. If I could grab the plug, i should be able to pull him up. No go. Just couldn't catch a hook. I could feel my fishing pole scraping his scales, but no hook. So i say "come on 30lb mono" and I pull. Really frikkin hard. And I snapped that 30lb mono. And I yelled profanities at the canyon walls as the wind blew us away from where that tree sat.
Heartbroken, I ask Erawk to once again head to the approximate area, and through some miracle of the river, I found that fish again. Erawk gets me in position, and I try once more to grab a hook with my 11 foot fishing pole. The first try was a miss, but the second swipe, I felt a click, and then weight. I GOT HIM! I've got him so good it stopped us in the current and wind. Now all I have to do is pull hard enough to break my line, and I will pull up a plug and a striper! I put the brakes on and pulled with all my might. I fell back into the boat with a fishing pole, no plug, no striper, and one of my guides is mangled. We look again for the fish, but this time, there was no miracle, and there was no fish.
And now, I have to go buy a ridiculously expensive lure to fill my heart's void.
We also targeted trout for a small while, and that was un-fruitful as well.
She's a mean mistress.
[signature]