Rule #75: Always unlace your shoes before you get into a boat or canoe. If the "ship"should go under, you want your feet free!! [See Lutheran Hills Campground "I almost drowned" story for background on this rule.]
Second day of fishing this year. White River, just upstream of the Jackson Street Bridge.
CONDITIONS: I fished about 200 yards upstream from the Jackson St. Bridge. The wind was blowing almost exactly upstream. The sky was partly cloudy. Though the temperature was in the high 40's, the wind was brutal, and I lost feeling in my hands after 90 minutes. I was going to wear my rubber boots, but they still have water in them from doing "hard time" in the back of the truck. The barometer was falling, but not much, from 30.18 to 30.14. I took a reading of the water temperature before I left. Unfortunately, I couldn't trust my fingers enough to string the thermometer on with the bobber set I was using, so I had to just kneel down and set it in the water next to the bank. The reading I got was 48 degrees. I'm assuming that out further in the current, away from the warmth of the shallows, it would be even colder. According to the Solunar charts, I was fishing in the middle of the best time of the month--someone should have told the fish.
Today was cold. Period.
Before I left, at about noon, I looked outside and by all appearances, it was T-shirt weather.
I was wrong.
I fished the White River for about 10 minutes before I trekked back up the hill to my truck to see if I had an extra shirt or jacket laying around behind the front seat. Of course, I didn't. What I did have was the Army blanket I always keep back there and a large bath towel I'd used to soak up some water from the last time I'd let it rain on the passenger seat.
I thought for awhile about cutting a hole in the Army blanket with my belt knife and wearing it like a poncho, but I just couldn't mess that blanket up! So, I took the towel and wrapped it around the back of my neck and let the ends rest over my chest. It kept me reasonably warm.
However, I could tell by the wind, that my time on the river today would be limited--as the tips of my fingers had lost feeling by the time I got my first line tied!
I've been trying to set up a "Tim Galati" (from Youtube.com) drop-shot for bait fishing. Last night, I tried to set everything up, but it's complicated for a guy who can't see to tie knots nearly as well as he once could! Is it some kind of sign if you have to put a pair of "cheater" eyeglasses in your tacklebox?
When I got to the river and set my gear up on a fallen sycamore, things started going "Monday" on me. We've talked about this before; it's when all of the little things go wrong at every turn, leaving you with a negative thought about what you're trying to accomplish. Sometimes, like I've said before, I've been able to take a breath and a sip of coffee and "re-set" myself. But this morning, it was too cold to do so. The longer I was exposed to the wind, the worse things were going to get, so I plugged along--screwing up everything at least twice before finally getting it right--and eventually, I was able to fish a small section of the river.
I started with a small white and chartreuse crankbait. It was one of the best small crankbaits I've used. The action on it was just incredible. I know that when the water warms up, this will be a very good bait. It has two treble hooks, but over about an hour only got hung on itself once, and it has a square bill that really DOES make it bounce off of rocks in its path!
The lure only got hung up once and I was able to free it by going upstream and giving it an extra pull. I think I had one or even two small nibbles on the bait, but it was hard to tell, because both of my hands were beginning to freeze.
After about an hour, I knew that I didn't have long before I wouldn't be able to feel my fingers, so I rigged up my 7 1/2 foot pole with a maribou jig and a bit of night crawler on the hook. I set these below a stick bobber, one that wasn't quite up to the task of keeping the jig and worm above the bottom. I spent a lot of time freeing the rig from whatever it was grabbing on the bottom.
Eventually, I gave myself one more cast . . . then one more, etc. Finally, after I'd fished for about 90 minutes, I gave up.
RESULTS: No serious bites that I could discern; maybe one or two nibbles. Really cold, but fun! Also, as soon as I got home, I put an extra sweatshirt and a pair of gloves in the back seat of my truck. I went to Walmart later for groceries and stopped at the Sporting Goods area long enough to pick up some of their hand-warmers. I have an old pair of warm gloves that I'll cut halfway through the fingertips. That way, I can keep my fingers totally covered when I want to, and expose the skin when I need to. I plan on putting a hand warmer inside each glove, maybe in the palm and on the back of my hand.
We learn, we learn.
No pic's today, because no fish. As soon as I start catching anything, I'll have pictures--I promise!
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