08-20-2015, 09:22 PM
[#0000FF]Shoulda stood in bed. But din't...and glad of it.
Pa and myself planned a general assault on the fishies of Willard...at the north marina. His truck drove up to my driveway right on the dot of the agreed upon time. Gear loaded and got ready to hit the road. Oopsie! Lee had locked his keys in the truck. His spare was at his house. Too early to call the wife...and live.
So we climbed in my vehicle, narrowly escaped between his truck and the fence and drove over to his house to get the extra key. On the road only a half hour later than planned.
Then we yakked right past our turnoff to get a breakfast sandwich at Maverik in Ogden. Got off at the next exit and went back. A few more minutes lost from our lives forever.
Got to the ramp and found several boats all trying to launch at the same time. No probbie. We got to use the low water float tubers' ramp. But when we went to mount our electric motors we found that the blue "smurf pipe" extension handles had been broken off...probably by some low life while we were in Maveriks. One was gone but were able to salvage one. Lee gave his up and let me use his. Nice guy...after all the other.
As we cruised out the channel the forecast "light" SE breezes were actually pretty strong NW "zephyrs". We got to bounce around and exercise our leg muscles for a while. But it laid down before too long and it was pretty nice the rest of the day.
Thanks to our neighbor states we got to enjoy the (cough cough) lovely smoky haze of their forest fires. Nice of them to share. Made for a spooky "smoke rise" as the sun peeked up over the mountains. If we had wanted to smoke some fish all we had to do is hold them in the air for a while.
Saw lots of fish on sonar...a lot more than on the ends of our lines. Everything from small clouds of shadlets to plenty of mid and large size targets. But they were not what you would call overly active. I suppose the predators have been dining well and didn't have much incentive to hit the silly stuff we were offering them.
Water temp stayed right around 75. And the water was somewhat murky but not overly. And once the breeze bumps flattened out on the lake there were lots of bitty shad dimpling the surface...sucking up midges or whatever. And there were a few terns dropping down to pick up the shaddies. But no big splashes to indicate feeding on them from below.
Tough fishing. But we did coax a few everlovin' Willard cookies (catfish) to come out and play. Some hit worms. Some slurped prepared carp cutlets. Others hit plastic jigs. Some were underfooters. Others were standard cookies...from 16 - 19 inches. Good eatin' size. And tugs is tugs.
The highlight of my day was a 21 inch wiper. It slurped up a little blue and clear sparkle tube jig and tried to take all the line from my light rod and reel outfit. But eventually he got an insane urge to join me in my tube and I invited him home for dinner. Actually, he ended up with my next door neighbor who has been sharing his bounteous crop of tomatoes and other garden goodies.
All's well that ends.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
Pa and myself planned a general assault on the fishies of Willard...at the north marina. His truck drove up to my driveway right on the dot of the agreed upon time. Gear loaded and got ready to hit the road. Oopsie! Lee had locked his keys in the truck. His spare was at his house. Too early to call the wife...and live.
So we climbed in my vehicle, narrowly escaped between his truck and the fence and drove over to his house to get the extra key. On the road only a half hour later than planned.
Then we yakked right past our turnoff to get a breakfast sandwich at Maverik in Ogden. Got off at the next exit and went back. A few more minutes lost from our lives forever.
Got to the ramp and found several boats all trying to launch at the same time. No probbie. We got to use the low water float tubers' ramp. But when we went to mount our electric motors we found that the blue "smurf pipe" extension handles had been broken off...probably by some low life while we were in Maveriks. One was gone but were able to salvage one. Lee gave his up and let me use his. Nice guy...after all the other.
As we cruised out the channel the forecast "light" SE breezes were actually pretty strong NW "zephyrs". We got to bounce around and exercise our leg muscles for a while. But it laid down before too long and it was pretty nice the rest of the day.
Thanks to our neighbor states we got to enjoy the (cough cough) lovely smoky haze of their forest fires. Nice of them to share. Made for a spooky "smoke rise" as the sun peeked up over the mountains. If we had wanted to smoke some fish all we had to do is hold them in the air for a while.
Saw lots of fish on sonar...a lot more than on the ends of our lines. Everything from small clouds of shadlets to plenty of mid and large size targets. But they were not what you would call overly active. I suppose the predators have been dining well and didn't have much incentive to hit the silly stuff we were offering them.
Water temp stayed right around 75. And the water was somewhat murky but not overly. And once the breeze bumps flattened out on the lake there were lots of bitty shad dimpling the surface...sucking up midges or whatever. And there were a few terns dropping down to pick up the shaddies. But no big splashes to indicate feeding on them from below.
Tough fishing. But we did coax a few everlovin' Willard cookies (catfish) to come out and play. Some hit worms. Some slurped prepared carp cutlets. Others hit plastic jigs. Some were underfooters. Others were standard cookies...from 16 - 19 inches. Good eatin' size. And tugs is tugs.
The highlight of my day was a 21 inch wiper. It slurped up a little blue and clear sparkle tube jig and tried to take all the line from my light rod and reel outfit. But eventually he got an insane urge to join me in my tube and I invited him home for dinner. Actually, he ended up with my next door neighbor who has been sharing his bounteous crop of tomatoes and other garden goodies.
All's well that ends.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]