This Weekend at Cutler

[SkunkedAgain]

Disclaimer up front:  I fished two trips that were less than two hours each, so not a large sample size.  

Friday I launched at 7:30 PM, headed to my number one spot, casted out first rod and before I got the second rod baited I had caught my first 18" channel.  The night continued about the same way, every time I'd try to work on the second rod I'd get a bite.  I had issues hooking them again and missed a lot of hits, but did finally get the second rod out.  I was using night crawlers, but they were sort of rotten, can you smell it?  Anyway the fish didn't care, it was the best trip I think I've had in a long time.  I landed a 22.5" channel that was the biggest one landed for the night and all the fish are really fat and healthy looking...  For my last bait up of the night about 8:30,  It took a little longer to get a hit, but that fish was crazy it ran from the front of the boat to the back and turned around and did it again, I couldn't even slow it down.  I got to see a huge tail way behind where my line was coming out of water, so this one was probably 28 +, but I never got it landed, the hook pulled out and I lost the best fish I've had on this season...   Very fun night even if it did end with a little disappointment, guess I tried to horse it in too fast when I should have played it out... (I think I landed 6-7 fish and missed or lost at least that many more)

Saturday I launched at 7:15 PM, headed to the same spot, but didn't have any crawlers and was fishing carp chunks.  It was much slower.  I started the night with a 14" channel and then pulled the hook out of about 3 fish in a row and then caught another 22" fish and finished up the night with a 17" channel.  Some big fish in the area tonight, but they would get up to my bait and spook and take off in a big swirl.  They were definitely recognizing something wasn't right, even though I was rigged the same as I was with the crawlers, except for the bait.  Funny the carp filled the hook much better than the worms, but they didn't like something.  Anyway I didn't plan on getting out either time, hench my poor bait conditions, but I was glad I ran down for those two quick trips... I need to plan ahead better for my next unplanned trip... Later J

[SkunkedAgain]

Added one more night to the trips last night, this time I started to get ready to go about 6:00 thinking I'd get a little longer...... Nope ended up my wife had supper ready, then I couldn't find any worms and when I finally got the boat hooked up my son in law got home from work and was able to go fishing too, so by the time we got on the road it was after 7:00 again... We hit my usual second spot first, this time Calvin had a fish on before I even got my pole baited. It was a really chunky 22" channel.... he later got a nice fat 20"er and I had a couple hits, but couldn't hook anything... Then things really slowed down so we headed to my other spot.... Calvin quickly tied into an 18"er with really cool coloration... That fish had a ton of white all over its sides instead of just it's belly... Well I still hadn't caught a fish, so I made him stay until I finally caught a bullhead so I could say I didn't get skunked... but it was basically a skunking and when I got home and went to put my bait in the freezer in my out building I stepped in the door and instantly was overcome with skunk smell... No lights in there, so I backed away and left the carp chunks for the cats.. Man I don't know if the skunk was still there or had just had a battle with the cat, but it sure made my shed smell terrible... Anyway I hope not catching a fish doesn't make me smell like that.... Later J

[wiperhunter2]

Glad you have been able to get out and get some tugs, even a few hours of fishing is better than none. My guess you won't have a lot of time for fishing once the farming season kicks in.

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Curt, you are sure right, but with the high tunnel we've actually already went to work getting stuff planted for the market... Been eating spinach and lettuce for a month or so and I'm hoping to have some beets and cabbage by market opening day in 3 weeks... That's probably why I'm doing short trips... But things will get a lot worse, we are building a garage on our house this summer and i'm trying to general it, plus we'll have market each Saturday, so my fishing will probably be pretty weak till I'm done with at least the garage... I keep thinking one of these years I'll get to fish like I want to, but I just keep getting myself into too many other things... Church released me, so I was thinking this year would be a good one, but then these other things came up... So I suspect it will always be my forbidden fruit that I just can't quite get to... But I'm still going to keep trying.... Later Jeff

[wiperhunter2]

Hey Curt, you are sure right, but with the high tunnel we've actually already went to work getting stuff planted for the market... Been eating spinach and lettuce for a month or so and I'm hoping to have some beets and cabbage by market opening day in 3 weeks... That's probably why I'm doing short trips... But things will get a lot worse, we are building a garage on our house this summer and i'm trying to general it, plus we'll have market each Saturday, so my fishing will probably be pretty weak till I'm done with at least the garage...  I keep thinking one of these years I'll get to fish like I want to, but I just keep getting myself into too many other things... Church released me, so I was thinking this year would be a good one, but then these other things came up... So I suspect it will always be my forbidden fruit that I just can't quite get to... But I'm still going to keep trying.... Later Jeff

When you retire you will have more time, even if you still have your farming duties. Do you have a heater in your high tunnel?

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Curt, no heat in the high tunnel, just solar from the daytime sun... But I have been using walls o water and row covers inside the HT and it's been giving me about 6-8 degrees above the over night HT low temps... Which so far has been about enough to keep things from freezing... Only problem was one night it wasn't supposed to be very cold, so I didn't cover my tomatoes that I had set out in the HT to get some sun and it hit 23 that night so I lost 65 tomatoes for being lazy. Got down to 26 in HT...

Doesnt look like my beets will make it by the 11th they are about quarter size now.... Cabbage will probably need a little more time as well, but it's looking good... I do have a zucchini plant with small buds that I hope to get some early squash, but most of it will just be a little earlier than the outside stuff... Well I haven't planted the outside stuff yet, so might be a while earlier... Still a few more days of cold mornings predicted up here, but I expect I can start planting corn soon and follow that up with some squash and tomatoes... Hope your garden is going well? Later Jeff

[wiperhunter2]

Hey Curt, no heat in the high tunnel, just solar from the daytime sun...  But I have been using walls o water and row covers inside the HT and it's been giving me about 6-8 degrees above the over night HT low temps... Which so far has been about enough to keep things from freezing... Only problem was one night it wasn't supposed to be very cold, so I didn't cover my tomatoes that I had set out in the HT to get some sun and it hit 23 that night so I lost 65 tomatoes for being lazy.  Got down to 26 in HT... 

Doesnt look like my beets will make it by the 11th they are about quarter size now.... Cabbage will probably need a little more time as well, but it's looking good...  I do have a zucchini plant with small buds that I hope to get some early squash, but most of it will just be a little earlier than the outside stuff... Well I haven't planted the outside stuff yet, so might be a while earlier... Still a few more days of cold mornings predicted up here, but I expect I can start planting corn soon and follow that up with some squash and tomatoes... Hope your garden is going well?  Later Jeff

Bummer on losing all those plants, do you grow them from seed? The GH up in Idaho has a heater but it's just for a backup, in case things get bad. How about ventilation, do you have to open your doors in the Summer, when it really heats up?  Or do you have and fans to keep it from getting so hot? I'm really running late this year on my garden, hopefully in the next two weeks, I'll get it planted but we will see.

[SkunkedAgain]

My HT has rollup doors and sides, so when it gets hot, I open it up and it cools down pretty well... I was really surprised that the HT doesn't stay warmer over night. It's only a degree or two warmer inside than it is outside. But it does warm it enough during the day that plants will grow earlier... I'm going to have to do a smaller GH with heat for keeping my tender plants alive...I did start a lot of them from seed, but now I froze out, I went to town and bought some replacement plants... Only problem is I can't find the varieties I wanted to try this year... I replanted some, but they will be at least a month behind so I'll be lucky to get much fruit off of them now... But it's fun to try anyway... Good luck with your garden, really isn't too late yet, only for trying to be first at market for a premium price.... Good luck... Jeff