The Lull Continues

I’m dying to catch my next flattie.  I haven’t run into one in my last 4 or 5 trips.  They are definitely in the spawn and off of the feed.  The big channels have been pretty active.  I'll run through my last few outings.  

To begin, I’m definitely a better solo fisherman than I am a guide.  I was able to take my sister-in-law’s husband, Evan, out a couple of times last weekend.  They were in from Boston .  Our first night seemed perfect.  It was hot and humid.  We even had some fog rolling over the water.  Evan and I sat up at the elbow for a couple of hours starting at dusk.  There was nothing going on up there so we slipped down just below the elbow into the long, deep run.  After a couple more hours, we finally got a good hit on a live creek chub.  I set the hook on the fish and offered the rod to Evan.  He told me to go ahead and bring the fish in.  It turned out to be a decent channel.  We were shocked and horrified when I brought the fish boat side.  Its right eye was gone and surrounded by bright pink flesh that made it look like it had survived a fire.  My hook had taken care of the other eye.  This poor fish was completely blind.  Evan had a pretty strong reaction to the gory sight which sent me into hysterics.  Underneath it all, I felt bad for the fish.  I did decide to release it, figuring that sight is probably the least important of a channel cat’s senses.  After night one, I hadn’t put Evan onto any fish.  Like with Josh and Elijah, I was pretty frustrated.

We decided to go out one more time a couple of nights later.  A thunderstorm and heavy rain pinned us under the bridge.  I sent 4 lines back as far as I could throw them down river from the bridge.  We didn’t end up with much lightning in our area, mostly wind and rain.  It turned into a pretty relaxing atmosphere sitting under there and watching the rain.  Evan had his iPhone and was showing me funny YouTube videos.  That thing downloaded the videos faster than my Mac at home.  Pretty amazing.  We had a few hits that didn’t turn into anything.  Then my clicker on a rod with a live chub started zinging.  I was paying attention to that rod when Evan announced behind me that he had a fish on.  The fish ended up getting hung up on a log as he reeled it in.  He could still feel it fighting, but each time he pulled the rod back, it would come to a dead stop.  I could picture the fish down there getting its head rammed against a log.  I grabbed the rod and put the reel into free spool, using my thumb to apply just enough tension.  The fish took off down river and freed itself from the log.  Evan was then able to get it to the boat.  It was another decent sized channel, probably just over 5 pounds.  We had a great time together out there, but I really wish I could have put him onto a big flattie or maybe a few more channels.

A couple of days later, Michelle and I were trying to figure out our week and when I could work in a trip.  In the meantime, she went to do something with the kids and some friends while I waited at home for a guy to show up to buy my weight set.  He drove into the driveway at a little after 7:00 and Michelle called me just a little later.  She suggested that I head out that night.  Time to scramble.  I threw some things together and then went to our creek to see if I could catch some bait.  I caught 2 nice sized chubs on a worm and then a couple of little ones.  I then switched to salmon eggs and caught one more little one.  I didn’t have much, but it would have to do.  I ran up to the river, forgetting my camera and one of my cat rods.  I got to the river at close to 9:00 and decided to spend my first hour trying to get some bait.  It was a struggle.  I only managed one big rock bass and a smaller one that had swallowed the hook. 

With my late start, I decided to fish the deep water just above the bridge.  I started out with the healthy rock bass, one of the big creek chubs, and then one of the small creek chubs hooked through a nostril on a #6 hook.  I was hoping to maybe stumble into a walleye.  It took awhile to get anything going, but the big rock bass finally got hit.  I’m not sure what grabbed it, but when I reeled it in it had a munched head with one blood red eye bulging grotesquely from its face.  I decided to lop off its head and fish it as cut bait.  Just as I was about to cast this line back out, the little spinning rod with the small chub on it just about got pulled into the water.  I  grabbed it and set the hook on a heavy fish.  I knew that it was a channel.  This was confirmed when it rolled up to the surface back behind the boat.  With a medium spinning rod and 8 pound test, I took my time with this fish.  It probably went around 6 or 7 pounds.  That #6 hook was much nicer to this fish than the 8/0 was the other night.  I released it with barely a scratch.  I neglected to mention that I had caught one other channel before dark.  It was maybe a 4-pounder that hit on a ball of worms.  I had one more big minnow get crunched before the end of the night, but I didn’t set the hook on any more fish.  The going is tough right now.  I’m praying for the spawn to end.