Fishing--2 days without snow!

[Wayne and Carolyn Mathews]

Please note that the subject is "fishing," not catching!

Today was the second day in a row without any snow, so we grabbed our fishing gear and headed to Clark Canyon Reservoir because the fish are biting now that the ice is receding. I hooked two, but each broke my line less than 5 feet from the bank. I'm using a new reel with new line, so I'm not quite sure why the line broke; the fish appeared to be in the 4 - 5 pound range, and my line should have handled that size easily. I've never had a line break twice in a row like that. Wayne hooked a nice rainbow, too, but his practically spit the hook out at us when he broke the water. We had a nice afternoon at the lake, even though our skillet is empty tonight.

Carolyn

Left, Wayne not-catching. Right, rocks under the water.

[Waynem]

Let's see now. Have I told you about the one that got away? It must have been 20 pounds and 40 inches long. Well, ok, maybe 10 pounds and 20, or 5 pounds.... Well anyway, it got away.

[Wayne and Carolyn Mathews]

Pretty funny! Actually, now I understand about the ones that get away. Before, you understand, I landed ALL my fishies. (Not! )

Carolyn

[exav8tr]

I still say "A bad day of fishing beats any good day of work", at least somebody says that.....

[Wayne and Carolyn Mathews]

Without a doubt, exav8tr, without a doubt!

Carolyn

[Icehouse]

I agree with exav8tr! I'd rather fish (and get nothing) than work!
T

[Glenn and Lorraine]

Story of my life. Lots and lots of fishin but very little catchin but than again who cares.

When we had our motel/fishing camp we had to older gents in their 80s that would go out in the boat fishin everyday, all day, but they rarely put bait on the hooks. They'd go out with a six back or 2, drop anchor, cast their lines over the side and just sit back, relax and BS. Could do that for 6 to 10 hours come back in for a bite to eat and go back out and repeat the fishin and relaxin and more BSn. When you asked about why bother wetting the line their answer was that they told the wives they're going to Black Lake for a week to do some fishin and they didn't wanna lie to them. They never told them that they never intended to do any "catchin". In the whole week they may have caught a half dozen fish mostly by accident and maybe one or 2 big enough to keep, which they didn't as that would have caused them to work cleaning the fish.
They said that in their younger days they fished every chance they had and caught some mighty fine fish. They both had their own boats and fished many, many tournaments. Walleye and Bass were their favorites and when they weren't in season they'd fish for crappy, blugil or perch. They also had the pictures and even some newspaper articles to prove their talents. Two of the greatest guys you could ever meet. When the one died the other pretty much gave up fishin as it was no longer any fun. He died about a year later.

[SlickWillie]

Looks like some pretty water there. Fishing always gets my attention. What sort of tackle y'all use there? I've been using the Super Pro braid from Bass Pro Shop on my reel. Then a fluorocarbon leader about two feet long. The fluorocarbon leader is practically invisible in the water. Very pleased with the braided line. You get twice the strength with half the size with that line. I nailed a couple nice Reds right behind our RV a couple weeks ago. One 27.5" and the other about an inch shorter. Grilled on the half shell. Ummm, so good.

[deadeye]

Carolyn:
Re-adjust the drag on your reel. You are letting to many fish get away for all of the effort you are putting into fishing.Also when you are showing someone how long this fish is by the hand measurement, hold up one hand only. That way they will know you are telling the truth....JB

[deadeye]

Carolyn:
Re-adjust the drag on your reel. You are letting to many fish get away for all of the effort you are putting into fishing.Also when you are showing someone how long this fish is by the hand measurement, hold up one hand only. That way they will know you are telling the truth....JB

[Waynem]

Carolyn,
Don't y'all believe 'em thar pickatures. Even standing there holding dem fish on da end of da line no mean a ting. Plastic!!!

Recently on Paula Dean (Food Network - my wife watches, I just happen to be sitting here) she and her sons were out deep sea fishing for Marlin. She was taking a nap and when she came up on deck they had her sit in "the chair" and handed her the rod. Immediately she caught something. They let her fight it for about an hour and when she finally pulled it in, it was a plastic one they had set up to "fun" her. It was funny when she pulled it up.

So with that said, don't believe any fishing story unless you are telling it yourself. (Did I say that)

[Wayne and Carolyn Mathews]

Whatever line was on our reels is no longer there. "Uncle Bob," our resident fishing guru, is putting new line on as I write. I have to tell you that never, ever have I lost a fish because he broke the line, at least never when I was fresh-water fishing. I can't help but think that maybe the line was not good to begin with, or maybe it was coming out of the reel and rubbing against something that frayed it a bit. Who knows? Breaking a line by hanging up in the weeds or on a stump, now that's another matter, especially when I fish in the Beaverhead River, because it's so narrow. I've had fish spit out the hook or a fly, and I've had fish make a break for it just as I reach out with the net, but breaking the line and making off with everything, never in fresh water.

I'm lake fishing now because the river still isn't open to float fishing, and I'm using . . . gasp . . . worms, and fishing on the bottom. The set-up that seems to be working for everyone at the moment is a "donut" weight on the end of the line, with a swivel below it, and then an 18" - 20" leader secured to the swivel, and then a worm on a hook at the end of the leader. The weight holds the line on the bottom so that the worm can float up and look tasty. (I would be flyfishing, but the winds have been so bad that unless I hand-carried the fly out to where I wanted it, there's no chance it would touch the water.)

I stopped by the west end of the dam today as I came in from work just to see how the fishing was going in a little rocky cove that's everyone's favorite. The score seemed to be FISH, 0, BEER CANS, WAY over the limit! Lots of happy fishermen, too.

Carolyn

[Wayne and Carolyn Mathews]

Back to snow and no fishing. Bummer.

On the bright side, the bad weather arrived at a good time. Our daughter owns a dance studio in town, and her recitals are Friday and Saturday night (9th and 10th). This week I've drawn, cut out, glittered, and hung a 25' palm tree on one side of the back stage curtain and a 15' palm tree on the other side. I also painted and glittered 24" high letters for the theme, Wild About Dance, and pinned them on the curtain between the palms. We've painted and glittered approximately 200 5" - 6" "vine" leaves, and those will be pinned to the vines we made and have hanging from some bars that go across the stage. I have been up and down the tallest ladder I've ever seen more times than I can count this week. I've also designed, typed (song titles and 140+ names), and printed the programs, a different one for each night because there are different dancers each night. In a nutshell, since Monday night, instead of putting a fly on my line, I've generally been putting glitter on anything that holds still.

Getting ready for the recital meant I missed American Idol this week, and even though I recorded it, by the time I've gotten home, usually 11:00 PM or later, I was too tired to watch it. Some of the dancers told me tonight that Jason bit the dust--long overdue, although my English students and every one of the dancers are mourning his demise.

The weather was nice enought last week to let us pull away the skirting from our rig, much to the relief of our kids, who thought we were looking sort of like "Deliverance" people. With the price of diesel now $4.35 a gallon in town, that skirting may be the only thing pulled around here any time soon.

Carolyn

[Waynem]

Carolyn,
I'm going to have to go back to bed and take a nap. You plumb wore me out with that story. You are working way to hard and not playing enough.

[Wayne and Carolyn Mathews]

You're right. And, to add interest to tonight and tomorrow night's events, more snow. We woke up to 2" on the ground and it's still falling. Tutus, tights, ballets, taps . . . trudging to the auditorium through the snow!

Carolyn

[Wayne and Carolyn Mathews]

Forget my earlier post about no snow for two days. I took the photo below this post on Friday morning, May 9th. We just can't seem to get a break from winter. Friday night was Wild About Dance, Part I, the first night of my dance-teacher daughter's recital. Last year, the dancers complained about how hot it was on stage. This year, we couldn't tear them away from the spotlights--they loved the heat. We had dry weather for last night's recital, but the temperatures hovered in the 30's.

Snow is forecast again for the morning. Hmmmm . . . let me think . . . global warming?
Carolyn