It turns out that I picked a pretty tough day to try out the bayous. Despite the fact that the weatherman was calling for windy and cold weather this past Friday, I took the day off of work and headed out early. For the sake of full disclosure, I should admit that I got lost on the way to the launch. I got off at the Nunica exit and headed south. I was looking for a stop sign where I would turn right onto Leonard. That stop sign didn't exist, so I flew right by my turn. I knew something was wrong when I crossed the river. I eventually figured it out and arrived at the launch at daybreak. No harm, no foul.
The current was swift and the water looked pretty dirty. I knew it would be because we've had rain recently. Still, it was really pushing hard past the dock and I wondered if I'd have trouble getting the boat back on the trailer. There would be time to worry about that later. I messed around in the river for awhile, trying a jig and minnow for walleye. It seemed fruitless with all of that dirty water flying under the boat, so I headed down to the bayous. On my map, it looked like I'd have a little bit of a ride to get to them, but Stearns was just down river. Next is the small Millhouse Bayou which I tried briefly. Pottawatomie is the third of the 3 spots that I tried. After a brief run through Millhouse, I went back up to Stearns where I spent most of my day. It's a long, narrow piece of water with a few small bays. The 30 mph winds were blowing directly across it, so fishing was difficult all day long. Boat control was impossible and I was frustrated enough to determine that I will definitely save up for a bow mount trolling motor next year. It's just too much of a handicap to go without.
I won't spend a lot of time talking about my first day on the bayous. It didn't go very well. I fished everything in the tackle box plus live chubs under a bobber. All I had to show for it was a 14-inch bass and another similar size bass that came off at boatside. The pike were non-existent. My initial response was that I'm not going to bother going back. Further reflection on the cold front and powerful winds has lead me to believe that it is still worth trying. I hit a bad day. Next time out I'll take advantage of a more stable weather pattern and hopefully find some feeding fish.
It turns out that the day wasn't a total loss thanks to my old friend the channel catfish. After I was worn out with the bayous, I anchored just up and across river from the launch. The current was a little slower here and I was sitting in about 7 feet of water. I cut a chub in half and put each piece on a 5/0 kahle hook. It didn't take long to get a good thump on one of the rods. I didn't hook up, but I was encouraged. A little later I was on the phone with Mort telling him about the woes of my day when one of my rods jumped to life. With a quick, "Fish! Gotta go!" I hung up on him and grabbed the pole. The fish felt big, but maybe it was the current. I got it under the boat and went into a flathead like stalemate. It held bottom for quite awhile. While I was fighting that fish, another fish brought my second rod to life. I saw that it had hooked itself, so I loosened the drag a little bit and finished the battle with the first fish. When it finally surfaced, I could tell right away that it was much bigger than the channels that I see in my section of the river. I netted it and left it in the net at the bow of the boat so that I could go after channel number 2. This one came in a little easier and luckily I was able to grab it without a net. The first fish ended up weighing in at 11 pounds and the second one weighed 7. Not a bad 15 minutes. After I got my picture and both fish back in the water, I called Mort back to fill him in. I got several more hits in that spot over the next hour or so, but I couldn't hook up with anything. They kept stealing my bait which made me wonder if it was just turtles.
While I was impressed with the channel cat fishing in this section of river, I wasn't thrilled with the number of boats and people that were around. The park with the launch was absolutely packed with cars well after dark and there were a couple of boats flying around the river with obnoxious kids yelling and generally being rude. I sound like a crotchety old man, but it just wasn't the solitude that is such an important part of my fishing experience. It did end up being pretty tough getting the boat back on the trailer. The current was pushing the boat against the PVC guide so hard, I feared that it would snap. Thankfully, it held and I concluded my trip with everything in good shape. I'll hit those bayous again, but I think my next trip is going to be to Deer Creek Park for more of those huge channels. I'm going to see if Mort wants to come with me. This is a quiet section not too far up river from where I fished on Friday. We should be able to get the monster fish and the all important solitude all in one spot. Sounds like heaven.
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