10-07-2014, 08:26 PM
[#0000ff]Okay. Everybody else on the board gets away with interchanging dam for damn, etc. My turn.
Met up with HighNDry at the Island ramp about 6:30 this morning. Air temp 39 and water temp 60. Light breeze and some wisps of fog coming off the water. Cool. Actually kinda chilly until the breeze died down and the sun came up.
Seems like maybe the predators dined by the light of the moon last night. They sure weren't hungry after daylight. In fact, we dammed near got skunked. But not quite.
Actually, I got my first of two rainbows within a couple of minutes of leaving Glenn to finish prepping for launch. I pitched out a jig and fly combo in the predawn darkness, set the rod in my "quick draw" holder and started getting ready to put out a second rod. WHAM!!! A ferocious 16 inch rainbow slammed the copper/rootbeer jig and tore line off the drag. As TubeBabe says, "He fought bigger than he was." I was expecting to see a fish twice its size but was happy to help him into the net.
I figured it was gonna be a bananner day. I figured wrong. First time ever. I promise. Only had two or three "hit and run" inquiries until the last half hour before we packed it in. Inexperienced fish. Didn't know how to take a hook properly.
Glenn was right behind me and he hooked and lost a rainbow before sunup too. And then he also kept a straight rod for at least a couple of hours before he dinged his first and only landed rainbow.
We both sonared many acres of Deer Creek lake bottom, searching for perch, bass, walleyes...ANYTHING. No schools of fish anywhere and only a very few singles...with no married ones. (sorry) Tried bottom bouncing, vertical jigging, mid-depth presentations. Nada, zip, zilch. Had one small fish about halfway to the top from 30 feet of water. I suspect perchkind but cain't prove it.
I think we verified for ourselves that the bass have packed their summer bags and have headed for winter quarters. We both peppered the banks and worked shoreline structure up to about 25 to 30 feet deep. Nary a smallie whisper.
Quite a few bank tanglers both around the Island/peninsula and along the shoreline below the highway. Didn't see any of them reel in a fish or show any kind of excitement.
Also quite a few boats seemingly trolling for trout. I heard one angler in a small boat whooping and hollering...cranking on a bent rod. I got ready to take his picture with a big rainbow. But all he brought aboard was a long string of cowbells. Hey, tugs is tugs. Right.
Didn't see any fish come aboard any of the boats but did talk to one group of 3 anglers that claimed to have caught 5 trout...on shallow-trolled spinners. That prompted me to drag one for the last half hour too. Glad I did.
I had just used the walkie talkie to tell Glenn that I was going to give it another half hour...trolling a spinner. Then, if that did not improve fishing I would be ready to boogie. He agreed. So did a silly rainbow that was the mirror image to the one I caught earlier...and the one Glenn caught too. But even though I caught one more quickly, nothing else happened over the next half hour and we headed in.
Some doofus with a long noisy inboard (power squadron) had been parked on the ramp, blocking access to us tube and toon types to be able to beach our tubes and drive onto the gravel to recover them. Finally he backed his monster noisemaker into the water and practiced sending sound signals into outer space for a few minutes. Then...GET THIS...he backs the boat off the trailer, leaves the truck and trailer there and heads off up the lake. Glenn and I were debating whether or not the guy owned the lake or just thought he did.
The truck and trailer were still there when I drove off.
Beautiful weather but we came dammed close to smelling skunk. Glad we didn't.
[/#0000ff]
[signature]
Met up with HighNDry at the Island ramp about 6:30 this morning. Air temp 39 and water temp 60. Light breeze and some wisps of fog coming off the water. Cool. Actually kinda chilly until the breeze died down and the sun came up.
Seems like maybe the predators dined by the light of the moon last night. They sure weren't hungry after daylight. In fact, we dammed near got skunked. But not quite.
Actually, I got my first of two rainbows within a couple of minutes of leaving Glenn to finish prepping for launch. I pitched out a jig and fly combo in the predawn darkness, set the rod in my "quick draw" holder and started getting ready to put out a second rod. WHAM!!! A ferocious 16 inch rainbow slammed the copper/rootbeer jig and tore line off the drag. As TubeBabe says, "He fought bigger than he was." I was expecting to see a fish twice its size but was happy to help him into the net.
I figured it was gonna be a bananner day. I figured wrong. First time ever. I promise. Only had two or three "hit and run" inquiries until the last half hour before we packed it in. Inexperienced fish. Didn't know how to take a hook properly.
Glenn was right behind me and he hooked and lost a rainbow before sunup too. And then he also kept a straight rod for at least a couple of hours before he dinged his first and only landed rainbow.
We both sonared many acres of Deer Creek lake bottom, searching for perch, bass, walleyes...ANYTHING. No schools of fish anywhere and only a very few singles...with no married ones. (sorry) Tried bottom bouncing, vertical jigging, mid-depth presentations. Nada, zip, zilch. Had one small fish about halfway to the top from 30 feet of water. I suspect perchkind but cain't prove it.
I think we verified for ourselves that the bass have packed their summer bags and have headed for winter quarters. We both peppered the banks and worked shoreline structure up to about 25 to 30 feet deep. Nary a smallie whisper.
Quite a few bank tanglers both around the Island/peninsula and along the shoreline below the highway. Didn't see any of them reel in a fish or show any kind of excitement.
Also quite a few boats seemingly trolling for trout. I heard one angler in a small boat whooping and hollering...cranking on a bent rod. I got ready to take his picture with a big rainbow. But all he brought aboard was a long string of cowbells. Hey, tugs is tugs. Right.
Didn't see any fish come aboard any of the boats but did talk to one group of 3 anglers that claimed to have caught 5 trout...on shallow-trolled spinners. That prompted me to drag one for the last half hour too. Glad I did.
I had just used the walkie talkie to tell Glenn that I was going to give it another half hour...trolling a spinner. Then, if that did not improve fishing I would be ready to boogie. He agreed. So did a silly rainbow that was the mirror image to the one I caught earlier...and the one Glenn caught too. But even though I caught one more quickly, nothing else happened over the next half hour and we headed in.
Some doofus with a long noisy inboard (power squadron) had been parked on the ramp, blocking access to us tube and toon types to be able to beach our tubes and drive onto the gravel to recover them. Finally he backed his monster noisemaker into the water and practiced sending sound signals into outer space for a few minutes. Then...GET THIS...he backs the boat off the trailer, leaves the truck and trailer there and heads off up the lake. Glenn and I were debating whether or not the guy owned the lake or just thought he did.
The truck and trailer were still there when I drove off.
Beautiful weather but we came dammed close to smelling skunk. Glad we didn't.
[/#0000ff]
[signature]
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thing is that he probably just went on his merry way and didn't give a thought to any inconvenience he may have caused others. Kinda like some of our elected officials.
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