The Battle was On

Me vs. Mother Nature. It's been in the 90's with a few 100's over the past few weeks and will continue through the rest of the week. But today, my only day off, it started in the upper 40's with high winds and storms a brewin'. I knew this morning that it was going to be a tough one. I had hoped I was finished with my waders for the season, but not today. High winds, cool temps and rain were a combo I wasn't willing to take a chance with. So out came the Fall wear and off to the river. It was still partly sunny as I dropped the kids off and made my trek to the water. I knew I had made the right decision about clothing within the first minute the kayak left the bank.

They weren't kidding about the 20-30mph winds. I was about a hundred yards into that constant headwind, and I was overwhelmed with creative thoughts. So I channeled my inner poet and wrote a masterpiece. "Oh, my dear friend, the wind...you suck." - Aggroman
(I had to edit 43 choice words out to make it family friendly and that's all that was left)

I got over my first portage without any problems. It dropped down with higher banks so the wind wasn't as terrible and I was able to cast more than once without resetting. I was an hour in and only had two fish on the books. It was more about me not getting the lure to them than anything. Oh, I can hit the tree above, six feet in front, the bush to the side, anywhere but my target. I will blame the wind again.

I was finally able to get to a stretch that I could use my anchor trolley. The runs before were too short between shallows to mess with it. Finally some deep water. It was amazing how much my accuracy improved when i'm only dealing with the rod as opposed to...adjust, cast, adjust, adjust, crap, reel in, adjust. With that, came more fish. Including this 20.5 incher.

Even some of the little dudes joined in, like this overzealous guy whose eyes were bigger than his stomach...and body.

Now comes the part I had feared. The clouds were getting thicker and I could hear the rumbling in the distance. I wasn't even half as far as I had planned on going. I was watching the skies, but now I was at a crossroads. Keep going and risk it for the chance of a double digit bass, an always present thought when fishing, or turn around and start heading back with the feeling of leaving that double digit dude without having a formal introduction.

Decision time.

As I was standing there, I heard my phone buzz with a new text. It was my wife. "Love ya babe, how's the weather there?" I actually laughed out loud. What timing. What was I doing out here? Wind howling, thunder getting louder, and it's starting to rain. WHOA!! That lightning was close. Yep, it was time to get back to the truck.

Then came the rains, and not just a sprinkle.

 The skies were dark and the thunder was starting to making me jumpy. It's strange how, just in a small amount of time, things can change.

 Same spot about 20 minutes later on the way back.

More lightning, more thunder, more wind, more rain...what else for pete's sake?

Oh. hail. Go figure.

Fortunately it only lasted a few minutes and was very small. It was pretty loud all around me hitting the water though.

Then it got calm, and that always worries me. But as I looked around, the clouds weren't as dark and thick. So I decided to slow down a little and fish some spots I couldn't throw to very easy because of the wind.

I grabbed a few more bass before it started to rain again. Then BOOM! another clap of thunder."Wow that was close." I reeled it in and got back to the truck without wasting anymore time. After all that, it was still an awesome day on the water. Many a fish were caught and I made it out safely. I don't think i'll try this again with the forecast the way it was. Yes, I wanted to go fishing, but at what cost. I wasn't thinking about all that junk. I guess I needed a reminder of what I preach to my kids and any other kayaker who will listen...safety first. Always.

So, is this dedication or stupidity? Well, I'm pretty sure it was a bit of both...leaning a bit heavy on the latter. I'm still going to call it a draw with Mother Nature.

Thanks for coming along,
Scott 

The Day O' Dinks

But what a great day it was. I'm starting to get days off again, so I always make the best of them...regardless of the ever present wind. I dropped the kids off and made the twenty mile trek to the river. I was on the water by 8:30. The wind was not being nice, but since the river has a lot of high banks along the way, it really only affected me on certain stretches. I opted not to take my waders this time. It was hot the last week including 102 yesterday, and same for today. I'm glad I didn't, I would have burned up.

The bass were hungry. So I obliged them with some grub. I had four in the yak before 9am. It started awesome and kept on going. In all...27 bass. Now, I can't sing loudly about their sizes, only the quantity. But at least I got on the board for a Kayak for a Cure tourney i'm participating in.

In a previous post I mentioned this one stretch of river that gets extremely shallow and there is a ton of dragging. That time I brought my cart to help save my yak from the peeling of plastic. It didn't work that time because the strap broke, but I wanted to try it again. This time I used a heavier strap. It actually worked most the way up river, but man, that thing took up some space just for 100 yards. I'm still thinking on a better solution.

The vegetation was getting crazy, but just look how "fishy" this place looks.

The name of the post says it all for the day. Lots of dinks and no big hawgs. As you can see from the pic below, that was kinda the size for so many today. Yes, I know, it's a tiny fish, but check out my new costa's I got the other day. How in the world did I live without these before. Awesome shades.

As the day progressed the fishing started getting harder. It was hot and they weren't liking anything I threw at them. That gave me a little time to take on all the beautiful scenery I miss everyday that I have to work. There were plenty of deer and all sorts of other wildlife out and about today.

This big dude was chilling at one of my dam portages, so I had to pick him up and move him along. It was about 12 inches in diameter.

I saw two beavers, one alive, one dead and about to pop in the blistering sun. It was kind of sad at how much damage they were doing to all the trees though. There were a ton of downed trees they sawed through and then the wind finished the job.

Oh yeah, and this guy. He was about 10 feet from me when I realized he was there. He just moved away slowly. BTW, i'll beat you to it....No it was NOT the girlie screams that made him move on. He moved on by the pure sight of such power and muscle.

Overall, an absolutely amazing day full of catching fish. I couldn't have asked for a better one. The fish were on, the weather was great, and I wasn't working.

If you need a bump board, check out the yakangler store. I love mine, and it works great.

Here is a collage of most the fish I caught today. If they were too small, they didn't make the photo so i'm missing around 9-10.

Dinks or not, i'll take it any day of the week.

Thanks for coming along,
Scott