Fish Catching Travel
Day 12 af our marathon. Over the years Clyde has people come on this trip and after a week of it they can not believe how much he fishes and they often never come back. This time will be the all time record. We fished again from 9 until 8. My body is aching, my mind is numb, and I can not feel the keys with my fingers. It is 6 am and of course I am the only one up, so I will get his done and then get them up. If you ever want to come with us you better man up. Up at 7, we have been eating a 10 at night, a few hours of sleep and here we go again.
Today we headed to Lake of the Woods. Shoedog and I started in the Devils arm and we started catching fish. And catch them we did, for 11 hours. Today they bit. I have been waiting for this day, and it was here. The water temp has gone from 52 to we actually found 76 degree water and the bite was on, big time.
They are all different, this one was long and skinny.
Today there were no “big” fish caught, though here big is a relative term. We caught 15 or more in the first place, and it went from there. Today was one of those days where they were hungry and on the chew. It was by far our best numbers day. Though before we left the Devils we heard an elk just scream across the mountains and hollows. What a truly awesome addition to the trip.
The Shoedog with a nice run of the mill Lake of the Woods smallmouth.
The nextplace we fished was a long bank and it was easily 25 in the boat. I threw grub some for smallmouth, it worked , but I got tired of the pike biting it off. I mean those fish were flat out biting.
Love that buzzbait.
Most of the day Shoedog stayed with the Rapala jerkbait. I threw the works at them. Before the day was over I caught them on grub, crankbait, jerkbait, spinnerbait, and finally on buzzbait. Around 6 to get out of the high wind we headed in to this long narrow cove and it was game on. The bite I have waited for all week happened. We did not catch the numbers we had caught earlier in the day but let me tell, if you like smashing strikes, I mean toilet flushed, buzzbait was the ticket.
When one smashes a buzzbait you know you had a bite.
While we were in there we heard the wolves howling. What a day!
This one smoked the buzzbait and we thought he was a giant. Nice when this size is just a good one.
They just kept coming all day.
With sun headed down the buzzbait bite was awesome. There is nothing else to say about that. Just reel it along and they would hit it about 15 feet off the bank and there was no missing them.
My best bite of the day.
Our hands were aching, backs stiff, but we fished on, and on, and on. Finally about 8 we went to find them, no small feet on a lake with 65,000 miles of shoreline. They also caught the shot out of them. They stayed on the grub pattern most of the day and also reported huge numbers. They also wanted to keep a few pike to take home. These are perfect slot fish.
These are eaters. They are perfect slot fish headed back to Arkansas with Clyde and John.
The one in Clyde’s hand was a real fattie, heavy for his length. I guess when you have a nice smallmouth in your belly you can add a little weight. It is eat or be eaten here, reminds me of the Gulf. If you can live long enough you might get big. With the winters here the fish are old, and with the protective limits they have a chance to grow. It what’s make this place what it is.
The call of the loons and dead quite of this place. Awesome.
Turtles, big deal?
So what is the big deal about a couple of turtles? From Texas to Canada, and most places in between, in early spring this is a sign to get out the rod and hold on. As the water temp warms when you see the turtles out in mass, the bite is on. They were up and warming all over, and so were the fish. We saw a bunch of snappers out yesterday, a sure sign you are about to hurt them.
So here I am, blind tired, feeling like 100 miles of bad road. The wind is howling and it looks like rain. Funny how as soon as we hit the water all will be forgotten, the aches will go away, and I will be able to feel my arms again. It is now 7 and it is time for those panty waists to get their ass up, put on their big boy pants, and get on the water. This will be our last full day, and it will be a long one and I can not wait. I am not going to check the editing and spelling today, it is time to hit the road. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
