Saturday was not as good for fishing. The day was great, however to many boats on the water, typically cause the fish near the dock not to bite. I fished maybe an hour, netting only 12. I did manage to land a couple of doubles. Since my fishing time has been limited, because of my father's recent fall, I'm forced to fish only for Crappie. Normally we only fish for Crappie while fishing for large Flathead Catfish . I did however land a large channel cat which weighed around 5- 6 pounds. I even had a fisherman in his boat pause and watch the battle on the dock. On an ultralite spinning rod, a fish this size is like fighting a 20 pound Flathead. The Catfish made several runs and the sound of a singing reel, along with pull you get, makes for a great adrenaline rush.
Today, I totally gave up any hope of fishing. I visited my Dad at the nursing home, helped mom and my brother move some furniture for his arrival back home Tuesday. On my way back, I picked up a new rod to go with the new spinning reel I bought Saturday. By the time I got back to the lake, the heavy rain that had been forecast for the day set in. I decided to finally start reading my new book by David Baldacci "The Hit". Around 7 pm, in my mind it looked like the rain had let up some, but the only person who would be convinced of that would be another fisherman. The rain was still falling pretty steadily. Since I wanted to try out my new gear, I figured I would walk out on the dock and make a few cast. I would only be out there a few minutes, so I couldn't get to wet. I didn't have any rain gear on except for an all weather winter jacket. My first cast was directly into the wind which is tough when facing a blowing rain. I decided it was best for me to fish with my back to the wind, casting on the opposite side of the dock, facing west. Soon as the first cast hit the water a fish struck, which was a nice size Crappie. I continued to cast and with each cast I caught a fish. This continued on for my next 10 out of my first 12 casts. All the Crappie were large, with the largest weighing around 2 pounds. Now for those who don't know, a two pound Crappie is citation worthy. The fish was about 15 inches in length. I thought I had either hooked another large Channel Cat or Bass. During this whole time the rain was falling even harder, the dark clouds were even becoming more ominous looking . The weather reminded me of the Priest in the movie "Caddie Shack", who if you remember was having the best golfing round of his life. The only thing missing from the present weather conditions was the lighting. I did look up to the clouds and thank God for such a great time and acknowledged that I knew it was time for me to quit.(I know if I had rain gear on, I most likely would have fished until dark or at least until the first bolt of lighting hit me)
The whole time I was fishing I was watching a Blue Heron on the shoreline. Normally they are the one catching the fish and I'm the one admiring their fishing skills. I do believe the roles were reversed today. It appeared the Great Blue Heron was actually watching me for once. I 'm sure he was wondering how I was catching so many fish and he wasn't. "My real cherry on top of the cake today", came when a Bald Eagle flew overhead with a fish in his claws. I heard his screech and looked up just in time as he flew over. If only I had my camera, of course if I did, my camera would have been ruined. I'm a firm believer in backing up my fishing stories, if you don't offer proof of life, your fishing story becomes another fishing tale. Fisherman have been known to exaggerate their catch numbers and the size of the fish. The photo above is one of the largest Crappies I caught this evening. You will have to take my word on the number of catches, 16 individual Crappie pictures all look the same. Still I had to bring this fish back up to my outside deck for his photo op since by camera was in the house. I almost took the fish inside because of the lighting conditions. After snapping this "Crappie" shot I took the fish back down to the dock and released him. Other than the brief stress of being a fish out of water for a few minutes, the Crappie swam away quickly.
A dreary cold rainy day, had turned into one awesome fishing day for me. From now on I'll be thinking inside every silver lining there is opportunity for some great fishing. After coming back in from 30 minutes of fishing, now soak and wet, I needed to put on some dry clothes. It was then I realized in my haste to fish, I actually had put on two different shoes. Luckily for me I had another (dry) pair just like them that matched. Now that I was back in the warm confines of my man cave, I knew I had to call my son at school. I had to puff a little letting him know what he missed. We are competitive when it comes to fishing. He'll be out of school in another week, so our on going competition for top fisherman will start and continue until Fall. In the next few weeks the 25 -40 pound Flathead Catfish will be hitting off the dock. It will definitely be "Fish On" and one of the best time of year for us both.
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