05-05-2019, 02:08 AM
Just wanted to report on my own fishing experience at the Flotilla. I went out with brookie on his new boat. What a sweet ride. I was a little afraid to get any fishy stuff in it, but he assured me that that is what it is for. Turned out that he got a lot more fishy stuff in it than I did.
He told me that he hadn't done much catfishing before but that he knew his way around the lake. He had gone out and gotten some circle hooks at my suggestion and they paid off for him.
We started off dragging bait out from the springs. Right off, at 7:30, I was into a good fish. Turned out to be a 26.5"er. I said something about how it might be one of those days where you catch one right off, expect a great day, then have that be your one and only fish of the day. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why give fate an opening like that?! We "strolled" on around past the L and toward the orchards, but couldn't get anymore interest, so we headed for the island. A lot of boats were anchored up there on the north side near the cove. We joined the group. We could see a big rock sticking up out of the water so we gave it a wide berth. We eventually inched our way further toward the mouth of the cove. I could identify where we were from landmarks I noted from a couple of trips there last summer. We would go over holes that were 8 or 9 feet deep then have the water depth jump back up to under 3'. We took it easy and got quite a ways in. Then the fun began. John caught a big white bass and we didn't waste any time turning it into bait. He put a big old section of cut bait on and proceeded to kill them. At one point he had two fish on at once; I kept the second one entertained while he landed the first. The more torn up that piece of bait got, the better the cats liked it. He caught 5 in all while I, doo-tee-doo, was wasting my time getting hung up even though I was fishing under bobbers. He was casting toward shore and I was casting out. It may have been location, location, location, but I have to admit he just plain outfished me today. One of his fish was 27" long and won him second place in the big fish contest. Mine won second. Was a fun fishing day all around. And making a new friend was the best part of all. Isn't that why we do things like the flotilla anyway?
[signature]
He told me that he hadn't done much catfishing before but that he knew his way around the lake. He had gone out and gotten some circle hooks at my suggestion and they paid off for him.
We started off dragging bait out from the springs. Right off, at 7:30, I was into a good fish. Turned out to be a 26.5"er. I said something about how it might be one of those days where you catch one right off, expect a great day, then have that be your one and only fish of the day. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why give fate an opening like that?! We "strolled" on around past the L and toward the orchards, but couldn't get anymore interest, so we headed for the island. A lot of boats were anchored up there on the north side near the cove. We joined the group. We could see a big rock sticking up out of the water so we gave it a wide berth. We eventually inched our way further toward the mouth of the cove. I could identify where we were from landmarks I noted from a couple of trips there last summer. We would go over holes that were 8 or 9 feet deep then have the water depth jump back up to under 3'. We took it easy and got quite a ways in. Then the fun began. John caught a big white bass and we didn't waste any time turning it into bait. He put a big old section of cut bait on and proceeded to kill them. At one point he had two fish on at once; I kept the second one entertained while he landed the first. The more torn up that piece of bait got, the better the cats liked it. He caught 5 in all while I, doo-tee-doo, was wasting my time getting hung up even though I was fishing under bobbers. He was casting toward shore and I was casting out. It may have been location, location, location, but I have to admit he just plain outfished me today. One of his fish was 27" long and won him second place in the big fish contest. Mine won second. Was a fun fishing day all around. And making a new friend was the best part of all. Isn't that why we do things like the flotilla anyway?
[signature]
The older I get the more I would rather be considered a good man than a good fisherman.
