05-06-2009, 10:22 PM
Ok..... so..... If ANY of you were there, we didn't see you.
The little wifey and I were on the water at 6:50am. We fished near the launch for approx an hour and didn't see anyone else launching a boat. We (I) had one good strike that I missed but other than that it was a slow first hour of fishing.
With no one else launching a boat we decided to pull up the lines and move onto a couple of my hot spots. Another 2 hours of fishing and the only thing we had to show for it was another 5-6 lost harnesses and being colder and a bit wet. So we pulled up the lines and stopped off on shore for a little break to warm up.
We walked around a bit and found a spot where a beaver took down a couple trees. It was a pretty neat thing to see. Nature at work. Was also VERY nice being the only ones out there. No noises from passing cars, no tv, no kids (we did have a cell). Only the water and the sounds of the birds walking up the shoreline with their morning calls. We made jokes that people pay good money for CD's with these sounds on them. Poor folks don't know what they are missing not hearing it in real life.
Anyway after a quick shoreline walk to get the blood moving again we were back on the open water. The wind really picked up and it was hard to keep the boat on a straight course trolling against it. Trolling with the wind wasn't good either because even at the slowest idle of the motor the wind was pushing us a bit fast for spring time fishing. So I stayed closer the the shoreline trying to keep us on a steady pace. Another couple hours and it was noon so we pulled up and hit shore for a picnic lunch. Normally we would have ate in the boat but fish weren't biting anyway so why not...
We walked up to the park office and I asked if anyone else signed up for the tourney but she said that no one had. So after a couple sandwiches, chips and a drink we hit the water again.
We went over to another hot spot of mine and within 5 minutes I had a fish on. Didn't feel like a monster but was definately NOT a rock bass. After a few minutes I saw a white belly roll over about 10 feet down and I was like YES !!! Walleye dinner tonight. I told the wifey to grab the net and about the time she had it I told her forget it as the fish turned out to be a northern pike. (Have you ever had a pike in a net before? Those darn things thrash around so much it could take 10 minutes to get the things out). I reached down and pucked it out of the water. A pair of pliers and a quick measurement later and the fish was back in the water. It was 19 inches and was a nice change of events after drowning night crawlers all morning long with only one other strike.
The excitement was short lived though. Nothing else biting and wind picking up even harder so we decided to pack up and move to Cooke dam and see if our luck would change (and the wind).
40 Minutes later and we were back on the water on Cooke pond. The wind was a bit calmer over there (not as open as Orchard park) and I'd like to tell you we started pulling in fish after fish but no such luck. We did however get visited by a pair of bald eagles. They hung around for a good half hour and made the fact that we wern't catching anything a bit easier. Again, most people just see them on tv, we had them in real life swooping down playing and providing us with arial acrobats for our viewing pleasure.
So the days stats weren't good---
--- We were the only ones to show up for the tourney
--- We only caught one fish for 7 hours of fishing
--- A total of 11 night crawler harnesses lost to logs
AND.....I banged up my knee on the trailer pulling the boat out of the water (I slipped and it was either that or go swiming)
BUT WE HAD A GREAT TIME !!! (What's that saying.... a bad day fishing beats a great day at work)
So I think we may have to regroup and try this again maybe in the summertime. Untill then feel free to send me any prizes you want as I was the only one who actualy caught a fish [
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The little wifey and I were on the water at 6:50am. We fished near the launch for approx an hour and didn't see anyone else launching a boat. We (I) had one good strike that I missed but other than that it was a slow first hour of fishing.
With no one else launching a boat we decided to pull up the lines and move onto a couple of my hot spots. Another 2 hours of fishing and the only thing we had to show for it was another 5-6 lost harnesses and being colder and a bit wet. So we pulled up the lines and stopped off on shore for a little break to warm up.
We walked around a bit and found a spot where a beaver took down a couple trees. It was a pretty neat thing to see. Nature at work. Was also VERY nice being the only ones out there. No noises from passing cars, no tv, no kids (we did have a cell). Only the water and the sounds of the birds walking up the shoreline with their morning calls. We made jokes that people pay good money for CD's with these sounds on them. Poor folks don't know what they are missing not hearing it in real life.
Anyway after a quick shoreline walk to get the blood moving again we were back on the open water. The wind really picked up and it was hard to keep the boat on a straight course trolling against it. Trolling with the wind wasn't good either because even at the slowest idle of the motor the wind was pushing us a bit fast for spring time fishing. So I stayed closer the the shoreline trying to keep us on a steady pace. Another couple hours and it was noon so we pulled up and hit shore for a picnic lunch. Normally we would have ate in the boat but fish weren't biting anyway so why not...
We walked up to the park office and I asked if anyone else signed up for the tourney but she said that no one had. So after a couple sandwiches, chips and a drink we hit the water again.
We went over to another hot spot of mine and within 5 minutes I had a fish on. Didn't feel like a monster but was definately NOT a rock bass. After a few minutes I saw a white belly roll over about 10 feet down and I was like YES !!! Walleye dinner tonight. I told the wifey to grab the net and about the time she had it I told her forget it as the fish turned out to be a northern pike. (Have you ever had a pike in a net before? Those darn things thrash around so much it could take 10 minutes to get the things out). I reached down and pucked it out of the water. A pair of pliers and a quick measurement later and the fish was back in the water. It was 19 inches and was a nice change of events after drowning night crawlers all morning long with only one other strike.
The excitement was short lived though. Nothing else biting and wind picking up even harder so we decided to pack up and move to Cooke dam and see if our luck would change (and the wind).
40 Minutes later and we were back on the water on Cooke pond. The wind was a bit calmer over there (not as open as Orchard park) and I'd like to tell you we started pulling in fish after fish but no such luck. We did however get visited by a pair of bald eagles. They hung around for a good half hour and made the fact that we wern't catching anything a bit easier. Again, most people just see them on tv, we had them in real life swooping down playing and providing us with arial acrobats for our viewing pleasure.
So the days stats weren't good---
--- We were the only ones to show up for the tourney
--- We only caught one fish for 7 hours of fishing
--- A total of 11 night crawler harnesses lost to logs
AND.....I banged up my knee on the trailer pulling the boat out of the water (I slipped and it was either that or go swiming)
BUT WE HAD A GREAT TIME !!! (What's that saying.... a bad day fishing beats a great day at work)
So I think we may have to regroup and try this again maybe in the summertime. Untill then feel free to send me any prizes you want as I was the only one who actualy caught a fish [
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