Day three of my fishing vacation.

[idahoron]

Unity Lake Oregon 8-25-11. Our last day of fishing for our 2011 summer vacation.
We loaded up with Uncle Jim at 6:00 am to go fish Unity Lake. It is a small lake and from what I have heard from my Uncle Jim has good trout fishing. We loaded up his boat and headed out. Uncle Jim is legally blind and I get a little nervous with his driving the boat. He must know that lake real well because he never had any trouble. He ran the boat like a true captain of the ship.





I baited his hooks for him since he can’t see well enough to do it. I think it is a small price to pay for so much I get from him.
It didn’t take long and uncle Jim was reeling in fish. One fish right after another. Jacob and I were getting skunked and he was close to a limit. We all had the same gear!



We had a great time with Uncle Jim. I got 3 nice fish. I even lowered my standards to have my picture taken with a trash fish, I mean Trout.



We saw a ton of wildlife around the lake.



The afternoon turned into early evening and soon we had to leave. Jacob never got a single bite. One very interesting thing happened. As we were trolling uncle Jim got a fish and I mean a BIG FISH. He stopped the boat and started to reel. All of a sudden the fish just broke his 30 pound line and was gone he said he had his drag set to heavy. As the boat was sitting there I got a HUGE hit and the fish took my gear. It broke a snap swivel. A brand new snap swivel. We had a big laugh about that because my Aunt Iona would never believe us.
We headed home and my Aunt had a HUGE dinner ready for us. Turkey, corn on the cob, Garden picked Green beans, mashed potatoes, and sliced tomatoes from the garden. We finished it off with a slice of her Home made lemon meringue pie.

We were planning on one more day of fishing for the week. We just ran out of energy before we ran out of time. We were going to float from The Boise River to Nyssa Oregon. It was not going to happen this trip. We spent the day Friday getting ready to go home. My Aunt canned the trout for us to take home. She also picked us some tomatoes, and cantaloupe to take home. We had an amazing week of fishing and spending time with our family. I don’t remember a vacation I enjoyed any more than this one. The Highlights of the trip were the HUGE fish I hooked on to on day one but lost. The shear number of catfish in the Snake River. The “white water” trip that turned out to be an absolute BLAST, and BIG the cats that were on that stretch of the river. And last but not least fishing with Uncle Jim.
As I sit here enjoying the pictures and remembering the trip. I am thankful to my Family in Nampa for helping me with this trip. I could not have done it without them. I also have to thank Phil (smartweed) again for his help. It was a trip I have wanted to do for two years. I can’t wait to do this one again. Ron
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[wagdog]

Wow thanks for this and the other report from your trip. Awesome pics and video. I had no idea there were catfish in there. Very cool...
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[idahoron]

If a guys gets out of the Magic Valley and heads west Cats are about anywhere on the snake river. Ron
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[muddydogs]

Looks like a great trip with your son. Nice story and pics, I really enjoyed the read.

Any spec's on the pvc rod holders you guys have on your rigs?
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[idahoron]

What do you need to know? I will be glad to give you any info. Ron
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[muddydogs]

What size pvc did you use? Did you glue anything or just use the friction fit? Were you have it attached to the boat did you drill any holes or just use the foot peg holes and how many holes did you use? What did you use to cut the reel notch?
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[idahoron]

I will post a close up.



From the bottom up it goes.

1-1"x1"x3/4" Slip Fit T. The tube on my foot rest slides into the 1" part of the T.

1- 3/4" union. I join the T to the union with a short piece of 3/4" pipe glued.

1- 3/4 x 1 1/4" bushing. I glue a piece of pipe into the union and glue it into the bushing.

1- 1 1/4" 45 degree elbow. I glue the bushing into the elbow.

1- piece of pipe to fit the length of the rod butt.

I drilled the 1" x 1" x 3/4" T so I could pin it . I also drilled the foot peg on this one.
I like the union because I can set it anywhere I want it to point and tighten it with my hand. I have extra pieces made to replace either the lower half or the upper half if anything breaks. If you use the same brand of union they will fit together. This gives you the option to make other items. I have a Y set up for my sturgeon rod. that screws onto the union. with the union it gives you the option to change it or take it off. As you can see I have the end cut out to (lock) the rod into place. this comes in handy when I get a BIG hit on my second rod or if I snag bottom. I know my rod isn't going anywhere.
In this picture you can see how the rod locks into place. I used a Dremel tool with a cutting wheel to cut out the notch for the reel to fit into.
This one if for a Creek Company boat. They have a much smaller tube for the foot rest. I put a 1" pipe into the 1" T and that bushes it down to the right size for the Creek Company boat. I didn't have to add extra holes for the creek company boat. Ron


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[flygoddess]

[quote muddydogs]What size pvc did you use? Did you glue anything or just use the friction fit? Were you have it attached to the boat did you drill any holes or just use the foot peg holes and how many holes did you use? What did you use to cut the reel notch?[/quote]


Just be careful drilling holes in your frame. It is steel and it WILL rust, not to mention COULD weaken the frame. Try to figure it out without drilling if you can. Just my take on it.
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[idahoron]

In the case of the FC9 I drilled into the foot peg. The Creek Company boat uses the existing foot peg hole. Ron
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