10-08-2019, 10:20 PM
I met up with Pisco at the launch ramp at 6:45 this morning. He tried to show me how to catch the wb but they either weren't there or just didn't want to cooperate. We had a lot more of that as the day went on.
Jim wanted to go out this morning and his wife couldn't join him; I wanted to get in on the early-morning bite, so we each went out in our own boats and fished together in case either should run into trouble. More about that later. We motored straight out to about 8 fow and started strolling west. I wanted to stay close so I could pick up Mooseman and Ty at 8:30 or so. First Jim caught a nice heavy fish that went 27.5". I got a strong hit on one rod but the fish got off. When I reeled in I saw that the bait/hook was all tangled up with the sinker. What a mess, and braid made it even worse. In the middle of trying to sort that out my other rod started doing the Watusi. This one was heavy and a strong fighter. I haven't had to net many of my own fish lately so when I reached down to grab the net I discovered that in my haste I had dropped the obnoxious tangle right into the net and there it stuck. I had to cut the fish a little slack and put the rod back in the holder. He hung around while I extricated the tangle. When I finally got him in the boat he turned out to be a feisty 28"er. No bumper today as that was the only fish I would catch.
It was about time to head in to pick up the other guys. I cranked the motor, which has always started right up, to no avail. I yelled to Pisco and he came over to help. Some basic trouble-shooting didn't resolve it. I was afraid that I was low on oil and that the motor had a cutoff that was stopping it from starting so Jim loaned me some. That wasn't it. I finally decided to head in using the electric motor. About the time I got in the channel Mooseman pulled in. He tried to start it too and all we got from that was some black, oily stuff out the pee-hole. I called Jim and he came back in to help us. After checking some things he hopped in and tried it and got it going. He had told me what to do out on the water but my technique was a little off. Nothing like being shown what to do. Now I know what to do next time.
That was good news for us, but Jim had bad news of his own. A warning alarm had started up and he discovered that his motor was not pumping any water. He went back out using his Minn Kota and kept on catching fish. Read his post for details on how it all went for him.
We got Mooseman's tackle all loaded up and headed on back out. We went out to 8 fow and started slow-trolling toward the island. We got a number of inquiries but no sales. They even stripped our bait a few times but it soon became frustrating/boring. We pulled in and headed out to deeper water with the same results. Finally, with three minutes left before we had to go, Tyler caught one. Little one, but he kept the skunk off him. Don't know what we were doing wrong but it might have been that we weren't in deep enough water. But then Jim was catching them in close by the springs, so who knows.
If all's well that ends well we had an okay day. No motors had to be shot and survived to fish another day. Our egos may have been slightly bruised but I'm just glad we survived.
[signature]
Jim wanted to go out this morning and his wife couldn't join him; I wanted to get in on the early-morning bite, so we each went out in our own boats and fished together in case either should run into trouble. More about that later. We motored straight out to about 8 fow and started strolling west. I wanted to stay close so I could pick up Mooseman and Ty at 8:30 or so. First Jim caught a nice heavy fish that went 27.5". I got a strong hit on one rod but the fish got off. When I reeled in I saw that the bait/hook was all tangled up with the sinker. What a mess, and braid made it even worse. In the middle of trying to sort that out my other rod started doing the Watusi. This one was heavy and a strong fighter. I haven't had to net many of my own fish lately so when I reached down to grab the net I discovered that in my haste I had dropped the obnoxious tangle right into the net and there it stuck. I had to cut the fish a little slack and put the rod back in the holder. He hung around while I extricated the tangle. When I finally got him in the boat he turned out to be a feisty 28"er. No bumper today as that was the only fish I would catch.
It was about time to head in to pick up the other guys. I cranked the motor, which has always started right up, to no avail. I yelled to Pisco and he came over to help. Some basic trouble-shooting didn't resolve it. I was afraid that I was low on oil and that the motor had a cutoff that was stopping it from starting so Jim loaned me some. That wasn't it. I finally decided to head in using the electric motor. About the time I got in the channel Mooseman pulled in. He tried to start it too and all we got from that was some black, oily stuff out the pee-hole. I called Jim and he came back in to help us. After checking some things he hopped in and tried it and got it going. He had told me what to do out on the water but my technique was a little off. Nothing like being shown what to do. Now I know what to do next time.
That was good news for us, but Jim had bad news of his own. A warning alarm had started up and he discovered that his motor was not pumping any water. He went back out using his Minn Kota and kept on catching fish. Read his post for details on how it all went for him.
We got Mooseman's tackle all loaded up and headed on back out. We went out to 8 fow and started slow-trolling toward the island. We got a number of inquiries but no sales. They even stripped our bait a few times but it soon became frustrating/boring. We pulled in and headed out to deeper water with the same results. Finally, with three minutes left before we had to go, Tyler caught one. Little one, but he kept the skunk off him. Don't know what we were doing wrong but it might have been that we weren't in deep enough water. But then Jim was catching them in close by the springs, so who knows.
If all's well that ends well we had an okay day. No motors had to be shot and survived to fish another day. Our egos may have been slightly bruised but I'm just glad we survived.
[signature]
The older I get the more I would rather be considered a good man than a good fisherman.
