4/21/16    


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!

3/28/16

Rule #16.  Admit when you're wrong.

SEASONAL INVENTORY/"WISH LIST"

At the beginning of each season, I try to compose a post that's a kind of "wish list" of equipment and things I will need for the coming season.  It's also an opportunity for me to take inventory of the things I have already.

I start the season with:

Rods & Reels:

1) a VERY good, Bass Pro Shops "Micro-Lite," 7 1/2 foot, yellow UL pole, with an EXCELLENT   UL Pfleuger "President" spinning reel, with 4 pound Stren monofilament.

2) another VERY good Bass Pro Shops "Micro-Lite," 7 foot, fast action, bronze, L pole, with an EXCELLENT L Pfleuger "President" spinning reel, with 6 pound Stren monofilament.

3) another VERY good Bass Pro Shops "Micro-Lite," 5 foot, yellow UL pole, with a decent (but OLD) Shimano reel, loaded with 4 pound Stren.

-----

4)  a decent Shimano rod, 5 1/2 foot, black, UL pole, with an OK Diawa reel (New Castle flea market, $5!),  monofilament backing under 4 pound Spider Wire braided line.

------

Then, I have individual parts that I can switch around as necessary until I find a "suitable" rod or reel to complete the outfit.

1)  a VERY GOOD Quantam KVD Series, gray, MH Graphite Spinning Rod (my wonderful wife chose this for me in a bank account give-away promotional series!), 7 foot, 9 eyes, line weight 10-25 lb., lure weight 1/4 -- 1 1/2 oz.

2)  an old large "EXPRESS" spinning reel with several unnecessary parts missing; it's loaded with an unknown, but heavier monofilament (looks like Stren); I'm pretty sure the bail has to be manually switched.

3)  a "Mr. Rowland," Mitchell, fiberglass, 6 foot, ML spinning rod; it's almost certainly an antique, but it casts well and is a really fine plastic worm rod.

4)  a crappy Mitchell "Advanta" reel:  too much plastic, too few bearings, you name it.  I'd much rather throw this in my recycling bin, but I have too few reels.

5) an ancient Wright & McGill, 8 foot, dull yellow, fiberglass fly rod, 2 piece, "mini-ferrule," 6 eyes;  I have an "automatic" self-winding fly reel for this rod that I bought thinking I might give fly fishing a try.  I'm much more likely to duct tape a spinning reel to it for bluegill fishing!


Needed Equipment for This Season:

• One GOOD medium-heavy weight spinning reel, Daiwa or Shimano, with 6 or more bearings to pair with the Quantam MH rod--this will probably have to be new.  I'll look for sales at Meijer and Walmart--wink, wink!
• Two decent ultra-light or light weight spinning reels, to pair with the Mitchell 6 foot, and the fly rod, respectively.  There's no sense in spending more than a few dolllars ($20 at most) on these, because the rods they'll be matched with just don't merit that kind of quality.  Flea markets and rummage sales!

When I complete this part of my "wish list," I will have four really good rigs, matched reel to rod, and two decent back-up outfits--but still, matched reel to rod.


Also needed:

• Good, polarized sunglasses, with a case to leave in the glove box of my truck and only used when fishing.
• Repair kit for waders.
• Lightweight, "invisible," flourocarbon for leader material.
• Cast-a-Bubble--I already have the solid, clear, teardrop-shaped one, I also need a few of the clear, hollow ones that you can fill, or partially fill with water to give them weight.
• Fishing, "Kiss My Ass," hat.  Bucket, Pork-Pie, light blue--just like Grandpa B's, the only hat I've ever worn that was actually too big for me!
• Wader socks.
• Dunham's football cleats for wader shoes.
• Treble hook "bonnets."
• Triple Swivel rigs for bait fishing.
• Cheap hand warmers.
• Huge cotton socks to put over shoes and up over the bottoms of waders.
• Seine net--if you can find one.
• Spray bottle and Isopropyl Alcohol for wader repair.
• [Always looking for used jon boats, float tubes.]

4/12/16

Rule #5:  NEVER wear your pants inside your boots, unless they're rubber--I mean the boots.  If your pants are rubber, a whole different set of rules applies to you.

Mansfield Park Pond

Well, the 2016 season is off and running!  Last Saturday, March 13th, I went fishing.  I headed down to the river, but as I crossed the Wheeling Avenue Bridge, I could see that there weren't going to be fish taken out of that particular body of water on that particular day.  We've been having rain, but the Water Company must have also let water out of Prairie Creek Reservoir in the days leading up to the weekend--it was running the color of a Burger King Chocolate Shake and the waterfall below the bridge was just a "speed bump"!  So, where could I go without having to drive to the Reservoir, and without prior permission?  I settled on driving down to Mansfield Park.

But even when you CAN catch fish at Mansfield, it's kind of a boring, desperate place to fish.

The pond has primarily stunted bluegill and mud cats.  At least, that's all I have ever caught from it. Since I was rigged to fish the river, I had a small tackle box with an assortment of little crankbaits, a Panther Martin spinner, two Beetle Spins, and a black and blue "jig-n-pig."

I said my annual prayer for Grandpa Bird--which must be done before the first cast of each season--and started in.

The jig was on the bronze ML pole with 6 pound monofilament on the light Pflueger President reel.
 I had previously modified the 1/8 oz. blue glittery jig by cutting back some of the fiber weed guards; the "pig" part was a Tiny Paca Craw in black.  I was very encouraged by the way the rig slid through the rocks and slimy weeds--until after about an hour, I got it stuck on something that did NOT want to give it up.  Had it been warmer, I'd have gone in after it, but that would have been a cold and miserable drive home.  I'm going to wear my waders next time I go out there.

I had one of my new tiny Bass Pro Shops crankbaits on the long yellow UL pole with the ultra-light Pflueger President reel with 4 pound test.  I was pleased with the distance I could get out of the outfit, but the action of the crankbait was way too exaggerated.  The "wobble" didn't look like anything I'd seen in any water, and  apparently the fish were repulsed as well.

CONDITIONS:  It was about 50 degrees out; it rained later that evening, so it was overcast and the air was damp.  There wasn't enough wind to hamper tossing small crankbaits into the wind, and there was minimum chop on the water, so I could watch for those small "ticks" in the line, indicating a nibble when casting that "jig-n-pig."

I didn't get so much as a nibble in the hour and a half of fishing, but did make some observations:

Even though Mansfield is a very shallow body of water and should warm up quickly, there weren't any signs of the panfish moving in to start to build their nests.

There are signs of crawdad activity in the form of those little mud towers they build on the shore, so I think when I return, I'll try to match the pattern of whatever color those 'dads are.  Maybe I'll even poke around with a stick under some rocks to see if I can spook one out of its hiding place.  Ideally, I could catch one, but at any rate, I should be able to see what color they are.  Depending on the water and the composition of the bottom they crawl around on, I've seen them from bright orange to a green so dark it's almost black.

No pictures from the day's activities.  It was cold, humid, and there was litter everywhere--and, of course, Canada Goose shit.

Ideas for the next time I visit Mansfield Park:

1)  As per above--wear waders.  If I go back soon, I should definitely wear some sweats under the waders.
2)  Bring some bait.  When they're in season, the bait store on Memorial west of the park, sells soft-craws, or used to.  It's also one of the last places to get Kelly's Pier-Boys.
3)  The water here is murky, stained to say the least.  I need to use brighter colors--perhaps the small, brighter orange and white crawdad-imitating crankbaits (I also have one in a silver finish that may additionally, look like a small shad if there are any in the pond.)
4)  The two poles I brought are fine.  Until I hook something large enough to warrant it, I'm not going to use anything above 6 lb. monofilament.
5)  There's a fountain out in the middle of the pond, and I've heard that the majority of the fish hang out near there, probably for the oxygen.  It's a long cast at best!  I might consider a weighted bait rig, either a 3-way swivel with a hardware nut for bottom fishing, or a "Gescheidler"-rig with one of those lead-weighted bobbers to fish just off the bottom.
6)  If I bait fish, I'd bring another long rod, instead of the 6 foot ML pole.  Crickets, worms, leeches, crawdads, maybe some shrimp left out to spoil for some bull-heads!  Also, that place gets so  fishing pressure, I think I'll go with a flourocarbon leader.

If I can get permission, I'm going to try to go fishing Tuesday or Wednesday of next week at the Fisher Ponds.  Those mark the first days when it should be warm enough to fish and when my wife won't need me at home.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Rule #11:  Never promise something you even suspect you might not be able to do.  Keeping promises is keeping your word--as such it is a key quality of a person's character.  Save promises for important things; don't promise to take out the trash, just say you will.  

When writing about my Bass Tournament experience, January 15, I referred to that feeling fishermen always get now and then wherein something goes wrong at the beginning of your outing and from that point on, everything just continues to spin out of control.  Today, as I was setting out:

I thought I'd get a coke at the Marathon, but of course, had no money or the Marathon card in my wallet.  I had to drive back to the house and start over.

When I got to the spillway by the Treatment Center, and parked the truck, it started to rain.

The first cast I took snagged a "Wacky Worm" rim I was fishing, and I had to break the line.  Though I'd stuffed the pack of worms in my front pocket, I had forgotten to bring anymore hooks, so that made that rod pretty much ineffective.

Ignoring the rain, I fished on and caught a smallmouth--only about a pound--but unfortunately, he swallowed the Panther Martin 1/16 oz spinner I was using, and to get it out, I had to kill the fish. Great.

After I caught a couple more very small bass, all on the Panther Martin, the rain began to come down in earnest, and so I called it a day.

That being said . . .

CONDITIONS

Temperature:  I mowed the yard yesterday and the sky was high and blue.  A storm cell moved through to our north last night, and this morning it was again looking clear and warm.  About 1:00, however, clouds moved in and it became more humid, and hotter, about 85 degrees.

Water Clarity:  I fished just above the "dam" across the river from the Treatment Center, because John Craddock told me that the smallmouth were thick there when the water officials had electro-shocked the White while making a species count.  The water today was that dark green color we get sometimes when the river is going down from being high and brown.   When I was retrieving the spinner, I could see it ten feet out at about 6" below the surface (the water is very shallow at this place on the river.)

Depth and Flow:  Just above 5', and flow rate, just above 0.4.   (I found a National Weather Service web-page that keeps record of this data.  It's measured close to the Elm Street Bridge, but still, this could be profitable information to keep an eye on!)

Bottom/Vegetation: Vegetation was marginal, really.   (Just "vegetation" isn't as big a category in the river, at least at this time of year.    So, I'll expand this to include "bottom," which is more important.)
The bottom in this area is very rocky, with even some gravel bottom closer to shore.  The river runs hard here, it's shallow, with some large stones beneath the surface that create eddies.  Those eddie areas were where I received the majority of my bites.  Snags too!

Cloud Cover:  Cloudy, rainy.

Wind Speed: 2 MPH, Maximum 12.

Pressure:  30.13


LURES/METHODS

Because I lost that Wacky Worm on my first cast, I used the other outfit I brought, which was my new ultralight reel on an old floppy fiberglass rod, designed for 6-10 pound test.  I used the Panther Martin 1/16th oz. spinner in bronze with a black body with little yellow dots on it.

I always take a pair of needle-nosed pliers to the treble hook on these lures to open the curve of each of the hooks just a bit, and I think it makes a huge difference.

I switched to a chartreuse Road Runner late in the outing, made maybe 12 casts with it, got one hit, though it's hard to tell with that fiberglass rod whether it was a hit or a snag.


I only fished about an hour today.  I think I'll start making my way down the river, starting where I ended up last year.  So, I'll begin at the lone sycamore tree upstream from the large concrete pad on the shore.  I might return to this spot, however, for a while, the bite was pretty heavy.

Rule #37:  Don't try to kick your attacker in the balls, he is hard-wired to defend against that.  Instead, fake that move and then punch or elbow him as hard as you can in the throat.  If he can't breathe, he can't fight.

CHANGES:  This week has been a week of dramatic changes around our house.  The Young Lady is moving to Bowling Green to enter a Master's Program for a year and a half.  The Boy has decided to join the Navy after he graduates in a year.  Girl 1 is, thank God, living with us again, working, and soon will take on another summer job in addition to her summer college courses.  Girl 2 is taking a math class at the local Junior College in preparation for classes at the university in the fall.

The 1st Girl is coordinating all of these changes while working hard for summer money from the university.

Me?  Cooking mostly.  And fishing.  And foot modeling, of course.

Rule #29:  You don't get to choose your own nickname.



FISH AND ANTS AND CATS, OH MY!

Girl 2 and I went fishing at the old Fisher Pond Saturday.  It was an odd day, a day brought to you by the makers of Slim Jim, makers of fine grease- and spice-laden meat products.

We got there about noon and fished for a couple of hours.  We looked all over for a styrofoam cooler to put ice in, because Carly wants badly to eat some of the fish we catch.  After 45 minutes, it became obvious that we weren't going to exactly slay them, so it wasn't an issue after all.  I've decided, though to start keeping all fish I catch in that pond, and maybe the Keep-Out Lake, cleaning them, and freezing them until we gather enough for a meal.




Anyway, the CONDITIONS:

Temperature:  We'd had a few hot days, higher humidity, and Saturday was a break from the heat. The high was probably 70 degrees, but while we were fishing, it was mid-60's.  I didn't take temperature readings of the water, but the bluegills and bass were largely in post-spawn pattern, so it's not as warm as it will be in the summer, but still, pretty warm.

Water Clarity:  The current owners of the pond dyed the water sometime in the last two months--as they do every spring.  The water, therefore, was that artificial-looking blue-green color.  Most of the water drops off steeply, so you can see maybe 3' of bottom, on average.

Vegetation:  Between the dye and the MANY grass carp, there is no vegetation to speak of--on top or on bottom.  The first lure I used was a Bitsy Jig with a salt-infused Tiny Paca Craw plastic grub.

Dragging and twitching it across the bottom, I snagged two small sticks, but never had to clean vegetation from my lure.

Cloud Cover:  It "felt" fishy--cool, with some humidity, and constant cloud cover, a grayish sky all day.

Wind:  Wind speed, 10 MPH, (ENE); max wind speed, 16 MPH; max gust speed, 20MPH.  Casting wasn't difficult, but then I wasn't using anything too light.  The only problem posed by the wind was that it was hard to "line watch" for strikes.  This is the first time I've tried to teach Girl 2 how to fish a plastic worm--by the end, we were both using a salt-infused, light brown, two-toned YUM 4" worm, wacky-rigged.  When the wind picks up and creates turbulence on the surface, it's more difficult to detect strikes, especially light ones.

[The worm I was fishing looked a lot like the brown and yellow one second from the bottom, "salt-infused and covered with it too.]

Pressure:  The whole time we fished, we were under a rapidly falling barometer.  On Saturday, the pressure fell from 30.2 to 29.6.


LURES/METHODS:

We forgot to get worms, so Carly started bobber/bait fishing with a hunk of Slim Jim she bought at the gas station!  It didn't work, but she stuck with it a while.  Sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes not.  I think there's a lot to be said for getting some bites immediately, it boosts the confidence--especially of a young person.  Next, I let her use my outfit with the Bitsy Jig and Tiny Paca.  Again, this dragging and twitching method is new to her.  Then, she tried a 1/4 oz. white Mister Twister jig and she got a couple of nibbles there.

Finally, she switched to the YUM rig I mentioned above, and I told her this time, to simply reel it in slowly and steadily.  This got her away from trying to keep the slack out of her line and at the same time, hopefully, kept the lure down low.
And, she finally hooked one well.

             [That's her fish below the catfish.  I had a good hold on my fish, so,              though it would've made a better picture if my big ugly hand
             weren't in it, I wasn't about to risk getting "barbed" by getting                        another hold on it!]













I only used three different lures:

• the Bitsy-Jig/Tiny Paca package
• a Kelly's fire-tail.
• and the YUM worm set-up

I caught one bass on the jig and grub, about a 1.5 --2.5 pound largemouth--nothing on the Kelly's, but I had some good bites.  Then on the YUM wacky-worm, I caught three very small bass, maybe .5--1 pounds.

Then, as Carly was reeling in her fish, I cast the wacky-worm and the instant it hit the water, the lure was snatched up and driven to the bottom of the pond.  I couldn't believe the fight!   Carly got her fish in, and then I handed the pole to her to fight mine in the rest of the way.  I was using the Pfleuger/Micro-Lite combination, and it worked great.  Carly and I both pointed the pole straight up to let the rod do the work, but still, the fish was stripping line off the Pflueger, the drag operating extremely smoothly!

We finally got it close enough to the bank to see that it was a large Channel Catfish: 16" long and somewhere between 2.5--3.5 pounds.  A beautiful fish.

EPILOGUE:  As I was re-rigging our poles over on the pier, I heard Carly yell ad saw her running towards me.  Somehow, during our battle with the two fish, we had stirred up some seriously pissed-off biting ants.   Shedding her shoes as she ran, Carly got to me and I used our bottled water to rinse them off of her legs.  Frantic patting ensued. Finally, we got them controlled and we decided that that moment would be a good time to end our day.

Lots of emotional content--Channel Cat and biting ants!  Top that!

Rule # 35.  Know the words to our national anthem and sing it loudly at every opportunity.

SO, IT'S SPRINGTIME.

The forsythia have bloomed, and that means the bluegill and bass have started nesting.  I told my late Great-Aunt Wilma that I could smell bluegill nesting, and she was certain I was continuing the family tradition of stretching the truth!  But I really can.  Really.  I can also smell Garter Snakes--but that one she just flat out refused to believe!!

I miss her so much.  Everyone needs someone who'll call them for bull shit--not that I was lying or exaggerating.

Not only do the forsythia signal the beginning of my heaviest fishing period, but because June 15 is Father's Day, and July 3 is my birthday, I'm looking forward to a new rod and reel this year!  Each year, for the last few, I have asked for a Pflueger reel and a Bass Pro Micro-Lite rod--one for Father's Day and the other for my birthday.  For Father's Day, I also ask if the kids and Peggy and I can go out for dinner--there's nothing I like more!!!

Last year, I asked for and received the Pflueger President Model 6925.  I've described this in previous entries, suffice it to say that I remain so very positive about this reel.  Today, as I was trying to wrestle in a 2-3 pound Channel Catfish, the drag actually engaged, and smoothly!

I paired this reel with a Bass Pro Micro-Lite rod: ML70LS2, a seven-foot Light weight rod, very sensitive and will cast a light weight lure a country mile!

The way I see it, that reel and rod constitute my mostly everyday, LIGHT WEIGHT, outfit.  I run 4 pound test on it, or the equivalent in different lines, and can cast lures weighing from 1/16 oz to 1/4 oz.  The catfish Carly and I wrestled in today give good evidence that the combination can take a large fish pretty easily.

This Father's Day/Birthday cycle, I'm working on creating an ULTRA-LIGHT outfit.  I looked throughout the Bass Pro Shops catalog for different makers of rods and reels, but in the end, I chose the lightest weight Pfleuger President reel, and the lightest weight Bass Pro Shops Micro-Lite 6' 6" rod.  I'll mostly use this outfit for river fishing, as I catch mostly smaller fish on the White.  I plan on spooling it with 2 pound test--probably braid.

I already have the makings of a MEDIUM-HEAVY rig, and I don't really want to spend much money on what will be my final outfit.  There are just so few times that I need to use more than 10 pound test.  The rod Peggy got for me from our bank's "Annual Value Points" is a wonderful MH weight rod, and I can slap just about any one of my extra reels on that and call it done.

I'm more interested in giving Carly some of my "hand me downs."  I want her to have a good rod and reel, because nothing is so frustrating as using inferior equipment when you know you could be catching fish!!