Rub-A-Dub-Dub...Willard 9-20-24

[TubeDude]

Pat,

“The bigger they are, the harder they fall”.
Us bigger guys can get pretty busted up when we go down.
I bet you are feeling if today?
Got my boat prepped for Perch Jerkin yesterday.
Downriggers off, Salmon poles out of the box, and my two favorite Perch poles ready to dance.
I hope you recover quickly!

Shane

Thanks...for the sympathy and well wishes.  No real damage on the "controlled crash".  A skinned spot on the back of one hand...from the reels...and a sore knee from a one-point landing.  But I've had worse.  

I'm codgertatin' about tubing Deer Creek next week and then focusing on the "yellow tigers" of Willard the remainder of the year.   Would be glad to join you in your boat for a personal intro to some of those bigguns.  No downriggers needed but your spotlock can come in handy.

At least you have an extra hand if you skin the other up. Haha
You bet I am excited to take you up there this year.
Give me a week or two notice as you feel the time is upon us and I will hook up my boat and pick you up!
Thanks Pat,
Shane

You got it.  I'll be posting reports and I'm sure others will too.  So as soon as you feel lucky...and want to try to beat me "single-handed"...have your peeps contact my peeps and we'll make it happen.  The first wave of action usually gets going by the first week or so of October.  But all-out best perchin' is around the middle of November.  My best day ever was while fishing all alone on Thanksgiving a couple of years ago.  But every year can be different.

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Glad you three had a successful outing. Sorry you took a tumble Pat, luckily tough old birds are hard to take out. Sounds like I need to visit the scene of the crime and scavenge around if any trinkets may have been lost in the in the process.

Doubt you'll find much.  I picked up all the body parts and scattered debris.  But if you get down this way I got some new stuff that is working well.  The old fave tailed fligs still catch a lot of fish, but the hooks are fine wire and catfish are not kind to them.  So I have been making some slightly larger tailless fligs...both with 2X strong hooks built in and some wired ones with articulated hooks...kinda like the whirly fligs but without the blade.  And a third model is the "dropback" with a short length of wire between the foam body and the hook...like Hali Jigs and Snare Spoons.   All have been catching fish and they don't wimp out when chomped by nasty catfish.
 

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Sorry to hear about your mishap and hope your knee doesn't give you any problems. I'm not steady on my feet anymore (I'm 79) and when I get out of my boat at wedge docks, on all fours, it's a struggle to get up on two legs. I need to carry a pole to help myself get up. Also climbing up boat ramps seems to be getting longer and longer. Getting old isn't for sissies.

My knee is a little sore but mending quickly.  Only thing is I can't kick 50 yard field goals.  But I couldn't before anyway.  

It really is a challenge when your body will no longer cash the checks your brain writes.  We think we're still young enough to keep on doing some of the stuff we used to do...until we try to do it and our body balks.  But, as I keep muttering to myself..."It's hell growing older...but considering the alternative..."