An Unreal Day?!?!

[sandmannd]

Ever had one of those days where you probably should have stayed in bed???


So I had plans for Rui (Loos15) to meet at my house at 5 AM this morning and head to Prescott to meet up with Justin (Backsmasher) at 5:30 in Prescott. BigWades was supposed to be down there with some guys at that time as well. I woke up at 3 AM and figured I had at least an hour of sleep left so dozed back off. Woke up to my phone ringing at 5:28 with Rui on the other end. This would have been his fourth call and had left a message. So I jumped out of bed and got ready.  I was out of bed and to the boat in about ten minutes.


Well as if getting up late wasn't bad enough, the morning just went down hill from there. I was taking off the boat cover and slipped in some mud in the gutter and went down. Got some nasty scrapes on my knees so went back in the house to clean it up. Rui got the cover off and was ready to go by the time I got back outside. I looked through my phone and couldn't find Justin's number and it was already the time I was supposed to meet up with him. Had to stop to put gas in the boat as well so now we were really running late. Got to Prescott at 6:30 and no Justin. Figured he had enough of the wait and left. So now we needed bait. Headed back to the store to get some bait and finally got on the river by 7ish. Wade's vehicle wasn't there and didn't see River Dan's rig around (very odd on a weekend morning not to see Dan). So texted Wade to see where he was and got no reply. Found out later he wasn't able to make it out.


So we headed up to one of my favorite starting points and rigged the area for 40 minutes. Nothing, couldn't buy a bite. Marked fish, but nothing. Read my text messages and found out Justin wasn't feeling well. Sucks he was sick but at least he didn't have to sit around waiting for my oversleeping old butt. Figured we would make a 20 minute run to a backwater spot that's one of my favorite summer places. Got down there, water was high and flowing very fast. Actually drifted over 5 MPH with no motor. We tried fishing it but just couldn't get our lines to stay down. So we had figured enough of this, was time to catch some fish. So I told Rui to reel up and we headed back to Prescott. Slid into the landing and I went to take a bathroom break while Rui put the handlining reels on.


Remember when I asked if you ever had a day you shoulda stayed in bed? So I get back down to the boat and Rui says "I think there's a problem". I look in the boat and a good 3 inches of water are all over the bottom of it. Dang plug fell out on the way back from the run. Course this had happened about a month ago so I had already used my spare!! So I drive to the gas station up the block where we bought our bait. They said they usually only carry one and it had been sold. Really? You carry one and you sell bait on the river?? They told me to head up to the Fleet Store about a mile up the road. So I do and walk in and ask the guy if they have boat plugs. "Nope, we don't carry anything for boats." So by now I figure probably time to just pull the boat out and go home. Rui calls me on the way back and says it looks like the pump is loosing the battle. AWESOME!!!! So I stop at a little marina right on the water as a last ditch effort. They have some so I bought two of the screw in type so they quit falling out. Get back to the landing, Rui told me a he had been getting a lot of strange looks and comments. I reached down and put the plug in and let the pump do it's work. So we rigged up our lures for handlining while we waited.


It's about 10:30 by now and the boat floor isn't covered in water so it was time to head out. I back up and get into the channel and we put our handlines down. About five minutes later I had the first fish of the day and it was a walleye but it was too short . So back it went and we went on about our business making our way though the channel. Not much to show but we picked up a couple of shorts here and there. Then Rui's handlining reel messed up. Had to do some quick fixing to and on checking the cable it looks like it's time to replace it. Well we got it all fixed up and decided to go farther up the Croix to a spot that's been known to produce some decent fish while handlining.


Success!! First pass through we each had a keeper. We made our way up and down this area a few times and each time we would pick up a couple of fish. Some keepers, some not. Rui had his first double on the reel at the same time in my boat, but one got off at the boat. The Bleeding Chartreuse #5 Rap was the lure of the day for sure. As we did this, we found out that the smaller fish were in the 20-26 FOW range and by slipping out to the 30-34 FOW range we were getting much nicer keepers. So we pulled our cranks until about 12:45 and then......................................

Remember when I asked if you ever had a day you shoulda stayed in bed?
Rui snagged something or a fish grabbed the lure, one or the other but the unthinkable happened. The handlining cable snapped!!!

Unreal!!!!!!!!

Well by this time, so much had happened this morning that it was just time to and call it a day!!

On the bright side, we got the boat out of the water without a hitch, came home with six nice keepers for Rui and built some memories we were laughing about on the way home. No matter what happens, being on the water with a good friend is always a good day. Met up with River Dan at the launch. He was launching as we were coming in so got to chat a little.

The other plus side, is the Terrova with iPilot. Man o man that is the best motor out there IMO. That thing kept us handlining and moving around with ease. I would just set the auto pilot and adjust it as I needed it. Terrific motor and the best addition to my boat in a long time!!

[deadeye]

Sounds like and average day fishing. 
Some friends and I were just talking about a pending shortage of boat drain plugs.  If everybody pulls theirs prior to leaving the lake, I don't think there will be enough to go around.