Wellston(Tippy Dam) steelhead contest

[lonehunter]

Pappys tackle shop in wellston is having its annual steelhead fishing contest on Saturday 2-28-09 .
I'll try to get more information on it today .
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[davetclown]

I was just there at pappy's just 5 months ago... LOL

ok, so I dont get around much....

I did pick up a bit of tackle when I was there. Including a 'fish necked" bumper sitcker.. lol.

ok I am showing my dark side, I did pick up a new guns and camo calender. I will have to enjoy it for the both of us, I am sure your honey and doughters wouldnt apreciat guns and bows hanghing on the kitchen wall all year long...[:p]
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[lonehunter]

Well I called Pappy's , called the buckhorn inn and no answers at all .
I'm heading over saturday anyway to give it a go [fishin], taking the video camera too .
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[davetclown]

good luck.

arent you are headed out about 2-3 weeks early?

any way good luck.

how's the job front holding up? I am watching the news, and every day another 3000 people seems to have lost thier jobs.
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[lonehunter]

They are in there pretty much all year if you know where to find them , that's the trickey part .
It'll be cold no dooubt about that , but from what I hear there is $2000.00 up for grabs with a $5.00 entry fee , I could use it .
The job , well all I can say is that the economy isn't doing us any favors .
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[lonehunter]

Well we arived just 20 minutes too late to get in on the entry deadline of 12 noon for the contest . The store had several trophys awaiting the luckey anglers along the counter top and yes we tried our best to get ourselves in on it and almost made it in with the owners wife due to the fact that we traveled quite a distance and that we had been trying to reach them for details all week while they were closed due to the flu . The guy stated , "rules are rules and that's all there is to that ".
I guess me being a little late to the pick up site and the stop at Mc Donalds for brunch just knocked us out of the contest .

Oh yea, the stairs are a bob sled run , take care going up and down them .



This was the first and only fish landed during our afternoon of fishing in 16 degree (-5 degree windchill )temprature , cought by our female member of the group . She cought it within munites of our arival on a small rattletrap and quickley released it . not only was she the only member of our group to land a fish , in fact she was the only one on the river that landed a fish during the time we were there.
Yes , us guys were in a somber mood when we left and she was a great sport at not rubbing it in our faces .

There were only three guys on the river when we arived , about twenty when we left .
One of the contestants had been there since 4 A.M. with one 6 lb. male to his good .


this is our gals boyfreind , he's a regular with me on fishing trips to tippy and is getting the hang of using the long rod , both he and I tried our best despite near frostbite on our fingers and toes to get something on a stringer , just wasen't in the cards I guess .

I did manage to hook into a cromer at the bottom of the stairs with a couple waxeys dangeling off a #18 circle hook within the first hour and a half . The battle lasted about two minutes before the steelhead rolled over the coffer barrier dam . I couldn't complain , it was a nice sized hen and that would have put me in the money but I wasen't entered anyway . I did get a few swipes from the browns , just taking enough of the waxeys to keep me busy fumbiling to rehook more of the bait with numb fingers . When I could no longer pinch my hook I knew it was time to go .

Just a word of warning , there is a speedtrap as you leave the tippy parking lot , halfway between the parking lot and the first campground road , left hand side . He didn't get me .

The Mexican resturant in Caddilac on 55 was our evening meal , pretty good food and service there , try it .

Lake Mitchell had dozens and dosens of anglers out there and ice was thick enough for SUV's to be parked on (iI wouldn't chance it myself ).

Rods used by the crew , St.Croix wildriver steelhead rods

Lines used ,
Me , Maxima 4# test
By bro , Cabelas 6# test mono
The gal , Firewire XXX super mono,12#test

tackle
The gal , Rattletrap and crappie jigs
The guys , bottombouncing rigs , 20"lead line , Owner circle hooks (#6 and #8 for my bro , #18 for me ), and split shot .The guys baits , waxeys and spawn sacks (red and orange ).

Water was high and clear , very slightly stained and cold as a mother-in-laws toung !

Sky was clear and bright , kept the crome deep in the holes .
Air temp , so cold the video camera wouldn't function so we don't have any videos to show today , sorry !

All in all , we had a great time .
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[davetclown]

rules is rules, I cirtanly would have been disanchanted had I been chumped out by a bend in the rule... Lets just say that I got chumped that way in a bass tournament where an angler was allowed to stay out on the lake fishing an extra half hour after weigh in time.

so we'll chalk this event up as tried tested and true...[cool] good deal
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