Wednesday, November 30, 2011

26NOV2011

Saturday after Thanksgiving. Supposed to be a beautiful day. A slight chill in the air, so Stew and I decide to make it a 9 am launch. Arrive at Bobby's SUPER early only because I am too excited to sleep in, can't wait to hit the water!

Black Friday turned out to be an awesome time. I wouldn't know because I was working. I heard everyone had a great time, most people caught fish, and the food was great. One of the things I like about fishing with friends is the leg stretch time. Park on the shore, get out for a stretch, shoot the breeze and most times kick a fire. Sometimes we eat, others we just hang out. Either way, it's a great time! Glad everyone had a good day, but it's Saturday now, and I'm gonna make my day even better.

Hanging out, gearing up, and getting the 'yak ready to go. Kneeling down putting the last few items in the crate, and my feet start getting wet. The dam at the north end of the lake is just opened, and the water is churning. No biggie, we go south. Easy paddle to the fish. Paddle our way down for a couple of hours, and no fish. Not looking so good, but we carry on. Stew and I paddle into a creek and it's looking fishy. BAM! Stew hits a nice fish but can't quite land it. Here's when I'm thinking all is going to turn on. However, we start to notice the water in the creek moving back out. The dam closed up and the current is changing.

We paddle for a while and fish spot to spot, with no such luck. Its early afternoon, and the weather is changing. A front is coming through and is going to cool things off. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, but the wind gusted up pretty good. The sky was fairly overcast most of the day. The wind was blowing to the north, opposite of the current from earlier. So basically it meant we were getting an easy paddle back to the launch. We reach our furthest point and head back with the wind aiding us along. This wind made for a tough day of fishing. Especially in the cool weather when technique has to be more deliberate. A little more than an hour after leaving the creek, we were getting near it again. There is a large rock pile near this creek. Most of the boulders are submerged, with just a small part of two rocks protruding through the surface. Stew is hitting the creek mouth in search of his missing fish, so I decide to try these rocks again. 2 jigs, a shakey head worm, and a texas rigged brushhog heed no attention from surrounding fish. Cool weather, overcast, windy, and very cool water with no bites...yet I get this idea. Topwater. Topwater? I asked myself this question twice before I decided to throw.

I target the largest rock jutting through the choppy water and land my Zara Spook Jr. directly behind it. I start slack line twitching the plug, creating that amazing and famous walk the dog action. 6 pops and stop as the lure slides in front of the boulder. Pause for about 3 to 4 seconds and start to walk her again and "slurp!" I really thought it was a small spotted bass from the attack on the lure. Wasn't a large splash or a large swirl. Setting the hook left me thinking small fish for sure. Then out of nowhere, my rod doubled over. As I set the drag a little looser, she began to fight like no other. I could feel the power through my rod, and it was GLORIOUS! I call for Stew to come over and I get excited. "Good fish man! BIG FISH!" It was all I could do to keep from jumping in the water and tackling this beast.

[Sidenote](Not too far from this very spot I lost a 4 to 5 pound fish in late spring, and wasn't going to lose this one. I finally get her to the boat, hoist her up, and let out a howl like I had just won the Bassmaster Classic. Awesome feeling. I am still smiling 4 days later as I write this. And this feeling that I am having and had on Saturday has opened my eyes. This is what I love. I know it's a hard life being a tournament fisherman, so that is something I may chase later. For now, I want to keep on fishing from my kayak, fish in kayak tournaments, and enjoy the experiences along the way. This is what makes me happy. But I have realized that if I can share my experiences with you, and I can bring a smile to your faces, maybe I have something here. So I am starting this blog as my way of fine tuning my creative writing skills that I haven't used since basically high school. So I hope you enjoy.)


Stew got his camera out and took some GREAT shots. I didn't weigh her, but I measured her out, and she was just a hair over 22 inches long. Best estimations put her between 5 and 6 pounds, and by far my personal best bass. It ended up being my only catch of the day. Not a bad trade off. I would do it again in a second. Time spent on the water is great, catching fish is great as well. But spending time on the water with someone I met through this sport and has become a great friend is priceless. Regardless of what we catch, or how bad of a paddle it is, I can always look back and say that kayaking has opened up a whole new world to me, but that day, November 26, 2011, was all about a personal best that will hopefully be beaten over and over again.