Fun Wednesday

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Met up with Fairwayphilly at the south marina Wednesday morning. Hit the water just after 6 am. Weather report said calm when I left the house but there were 2 foot bumps on the water outside the marina when we got there.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Threw plastics and cranks along the inside edges of the marina on the way out to the sloppy choppy. Not a touch. Fished more of the same around the first 50 yards of rocks to the north of the harbor entrance. More of nothing. I moved out into deeper water and Philly cruised by in his toon, trolling along the rocks...rockin' and rollin' in the waves.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Finally gave up on lures and started dragging a minnow too. WHAM. 21" channel cat. Happy. I needed to get a few more cats for the fish fry I had been elected to put on for the last session of the Bountiful Lake chapter of the DWR Youth Fishing Program. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was hoping I might score a few more of the larger kitties. Nope. Caught a bunch after that but nothing over about 14". Most smaller. But, they did eat my minnows and carp meat with fervor. I brought somewhere between 25 to 30 to my tube, to keep eight for the fillet table. Actually ran out of bait.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I lost one fish I know was a wiper and had several hard whacks that took my minnows that I suspect were wipers. No proof.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water and wind started laying down about 9:30. Philly cruised by and seemed to be having the same luck I was. He had caught nothing trolling but had a few small cats hit bait. The only fish I saw taken by trollers was a small catfish.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was off the water down the road by noon. Had fun with the bitty kitties and left a couple unfilleted to do the "show and tell" on filleting at the kids program.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The last meeting was a success. TubeBabe and I had started out with a group of five youngsters to work with, but it had quickly declined to three...one boy and two young sisters. The boy had caught the first fish of the group...a trout...on the first meeting. He caught nothing since. He seemed to be more interested in casting than in catching fish and quickly became bored.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The two young sisters were accompanied each week by their grandfather. TubeBabe and I became quite fond of them. They are really nice girls and were always eager and patient...well, maybe not the youngest. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Shelby, the oldest sister, caught her first fish in five weeks last week...a small catfish. No bass tournament winner could have been more proud than she was of that fish. Her younger sister, Allison, still had only had a few bites, but no fish, going into the last evening.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We did a filleting demo and then used my propane deep fryer to cook up several pounds of fish fillets I had brought. There wasn't any left. Those kids, parents and instructors fancied my kitty krispies.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We had an hour to fish so we hiked up the shoreline and got the lines out. Nobody around the lake was catching anything. In fact, the guy that kinda looks after things around there said that there had only been four or five fish caught all week. Looked grim for Allison to finally score something.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]At about 7:45...only 15 minutes left in the whole program, Shelby (the oldest) was reeling in her rig to check her bait when a silly largemouth pounced on her moving worm. GAME ON. The sudden smack and the leap out of the water brought an excited shriek from the young girl. I did the netting job and showed her how to lip it. She preferred holding it on a stringer. Still more girl than fisherman.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We had barely worked off some of the excitement when Allison's grandfather yelled for me to bring the net. Allison was hooked up. You should have seen the look of determination on her young face as she wrestled in the small channel cat. It could have been several pounds larger and it wouldn't have thrilled her more.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I think that of all the groups in this round, ours was the only one in which all the kids finally caught fish. Good instructors, right?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The program was a lot of fun, both for the kids and for the adults who participated. I strongly urge everyone to sign up for at least one program during the coming year. It is a great way to rediscover the joys of learning fishing again, through the eyes of a kid.[/#0000ff]
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[Kent]

Great report Pat. I plan on getting signed up in time next spring (missed getting signed up this year by a few days).
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[DKStroutfitter]

Thanks for helping with the Youth Fishing Program this year.
I don't know of anyone that is as busy with life as you and yet you and Tubebabe found the time to help the kids. I hope that there will be a lot of folks from BFT that follow your example and sign up to help next year.
I saw you and Philly at Willard yesterday morming. I passed you at about 7:30am. I was solo in the White and Yellow Tri Hull. The water was so rough that I didn't dare stop to say hi. I wound up with 2 Wipers and one Walleye myself. You had left before I made it back to the East side of the reservoir.
Thanks again for helping with the kids this year. I hope to see you and Tubebabe signed up again next year, Dale.
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[fairwayphilly]

I don't have a whole lot to add to Pats report. I, like pat never did pick up a wiper or a walleye. I casted to the south shore all the way to the pig farm and turned down wind and trolled back to the marina. I got hits on carp meat pretty consitently until about 11:00. I couldn't pick up nearly as many as Pat. I had a little problem with getting to hook set, but I still managed to pick up 8 or 10. Didn't bring any home for dinner. It was a beautiful day when the wind laid down, but that is about when the catfish bite laid down also. It was my first trip out waderless and I've got the sunburn to show for it.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]From what I hear and observe, you do much fine work with the kids in the north. There are several BFTers who participate in the Youth Fishing Program, but as you know, Drew Cushing can always use more help. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The sizes of each group can only be as large as there are adult "instructors" to work with the younguns. In most programs, each instructor handles up to five kids. I have heard that in some programs they have to turn away quite a few kids because they don't have enough instructors.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I can tell everybody, after my first go round, that it really does not take that much of your time and you really don't have to do much more than help the kids with rigging, baiting, casting and handling fish. Tough duty. The rewards are seeing the kids light up when they catch their first fish and then catch fire about becoming lifetime anglers.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Hey Dale, you spin a pretty convincing story about being out there in that boat, and Philly said that he had actually fished with you before. But, I am beginning to think that you are somewhere between snipes and bigfoot. I have never seen any solid evidence that you actually exist.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Maybe...just maybe...we could arrange a meeting and a fishing trip sometime.[/#0000ff]
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[DKSRenegade]

I'm not sure how to take being called "Snipe-Foot", but my wife says that I do exist at least when supper is on.
I have seen you on several occations in the past. I'm the one that looks like Wilson, on Tool Time[]
We will definatly have to hook up and fish a pond some time.
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[d-mack]

I'll vouch for ya' Dale! I am one of the few that HAVE met you in person. You were kind to me at rockport the ice season before last and gave me a hand made custom perch eye remover tool! I still have it and have put it to good use! It was the day your son caught a pretty nice brown trout up there ('bout 20").

I hope to see you again!

Dave.
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[DKStroutfitter]

Hi d-mack. You know I think that was the last time that I fished at Rockport. I hope that it will make a good come back. Look for me at Pineview this ice season. It is starting to improve again.
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