Reward those Fish

There was a camera shy snake here:

It was the first snake I have seen this year!  I caught this pretty little sunfish and part of it's tail is missing.  I wonder if the snake snacked on it.

Jean and I fished for a couple hours.  I'm catching fish and she, for some odd reason, isn't.  So, she asked me to trade rods with her, and I do.  

Still, she cannot catch a fish, not even a cute little hungry sunny.  We decide to call it a day and as I'm putting away the flyrods I noticed it!!!  There's your trouble-- no hook!  Ooops, it must have broke!

The next day, we go to fish another place.  As we approached the water, we noticed a nest of eggs.

Expecting to see mama, coming to protect her nest, we checked out the area.  No mama in sight.  Do we sit on em till she gets back?  It crossed our minds.  :)

Meanwhile, as we are fishing and pondering adopting a nest of eggs, a dog decides to bathe in the creek upstream of us.

 He's just drinking up the creek and relaxing.

Jean teased me about giving her a rod with an actual hook on it this time!  So, to be safe, I gave her a little ultra light and she turned into a bobber watcher for the day.

 

My favorite way to catch fish is on flies that I have tied.  It cracks me up that they will actually fall for it.

Also, there's no bait to deal with.  With that being said, it is kinda nice to switch things up once in awhile though.

Top water flies are my favorite, because no matter how prepared I think I am for the strike, it still surprises me!

It's exciting to see fish come up and bite!

Maybe, I will start carrying fish treats with me to reward them with.  :)

Memorial Day 2015

Wow, this year is flying by!  It's hard to believe the kids are almost out of school for summer vacation!  Gracie, my oldest child, had a birthday that fell on Memorial Day this year!

I spent the day relaxing, reflecting, and recovering from a fun weekend of fishing. 

Mom, my family, and I enjoyed an afternoon at the local theater for a showing of Disney's Tomorrowland.  The movie communicated an important message. :)

Memorial Day was rather windy and rainy.  We all ate supper out; at Culvers. 

Everyday is a Memorial Day for those I love and miss, as they are, in some way, with me everyday.

Goal-- Muskie On the Fly!

Ahh, goals; goals are good.  My muskie fishing goals are as follows: To catch, photograph and release (cpr) a muskie all by myself, to catch a muskie on the fly, to catch a muskie from a kayak.  :-)  I set out to reach the "catch a muskie on the fly" goal this weekend.

 

 The strategy for attacking this goal included fishing with some excellent muskie guides.

  
Although, I have yet to find a guide who has a knack for catching muskie on the fly.  Still, there is much to learn about this elusive species of fish.  Garrett was brave enough to allow me to fly cast for them while in his boat. :-)

In the beginning of this adventure, I used the classic bait caster/muskie rod outfit just to get the feel for muskie fishing again.  It didn't take long for me to develop "muskie thumb"-- a sore thumb with blisters from not being used to casting a bait caster.

Garrett's puppy, also named Sophie, went along for the ride.  She behaved very well.  Isn't she a Sweetie!

We tried different lakes, different lures, and their is no question of the effort we put in.  However, the fish just would not bite!!!

All of the sudden, Garrett had a follower!!!!!   Seeing that HUGE fish sent chills up my spine and it was like I got a second wind. 
 

 

At times we would take a break from casting and troll.  I thought for sure we would get a hit trolling over some heavy fish populated areas.

The day went by in a quick flash.  Garrett had at least two followers!  It was exciting, and although I was exhausted, I hated to see it come to an end.

Gravel roads tend to lead to some of the best places ever!

This one led to a boat ramp at a rather remote little lake:

Ahhh, muskie flies-- eenie, meeanie, minie, mow, catch a tiger...er, a muskie...on a tiger..., yeah, I picked the orange tiger fly.  I've heard good things about orange.

 

Not to mention it was a rather heavily weighted fly, comparatively, which I needed to pair well with my floating line. 

 

The googly eyes cracked me up: 

 I checked out the tippet and wire leader connection (from Scientific Angler).  Hey, I could make that!

I used the fly rod almost exclusively, and I had four followers!!!!  However they would not take the fly.  The muskie actually opened and closed it's mouth at the fly, but still would not attack it!  Yeah, I was practically hysterical!  The bite came right after switching to an open spin with a classic muskie lure---Wham!!!!

The beautiful fish made my heart race!  Although, I wanted very much to catch it on the fly, I was overjoyed to reel it in with the open spin/bass rod outfit.

I felt like, although I didn't reach my goal, I got closer to all of them.  I know more than I did about muskies, and got acquainted with a great little lake to kayak fish for em.

Also, I know how I want to tweak my fly fishing outfit to make it better.  Sooner or later, God willing, I'll reach those goals. :-)

 

In the meantime, I had a blast trying! 

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

Friday night, I attended Award's Night at Westville School.  Chancellor Dworkin, of Purdue North Central, gave a speech on the importance of reading.

My daughter, Gladys, was one of many who recieved a trophy for reading accomplishments in the Accelerated Readers Program.  I'm so proud of her!!!  :)

 

Friday night was a busy evening, that even included a mini-crises by Gladys of, "I have nothing to wear!" :)

Unlike The Grinch,  the Award ceremony went smoothly, once she got there, although, it did make for a late evening.  No worries though, because I was on the ball!!!  The truck was packed with stuff for the early morning tourney including waivers and trophies.  The trophies I labeled for Fishing Awards; they are desk sets.  My friend, Charlotte, found these cool gems at a discount store!

The weather here has been playing heck with my allergies lately.  In addition to getting to bed later than usual, I also took a Benadryl.  The alarm was set for 4AM.  Morning came before I knew it and I heard pouring rain hitting the bedroom window.  Glenn said, "You're not seriously having a fishing tournament in this storm; come on back to bed, Babe.".  And with that, my seductive husband twisted my arm so much, that I climbed back into the bed. 

What was I thinking!!??  I had a fishing tournament to run!  Was I thinking?  It was, after all, before coffee.  Do decisions made before coffee consumption even count?

After a few minutes of listening to rain and drifting off to sleep, I suddenly WOKE UP!  The rain had stopped.  Sheesh, I HAVE GOT TO BE THERE!!!!  I did a mad dash to get dressed.  Randy called, he politely asked if I was on my way.  All the way there, I pictured an angry mob of folk's ready to catch fish and completely dismayed at my lateness. 

  

Thankfully, Mark, Randy and Josh, picked up the slack for me.  They had a tent set up and got the competitors registered.  Being twenty minutes late to a fishing tournament that I am supposed to run was not a good idea.  Lesson Learned. 

  

The other day, the Laporte Newspaper printed an article regarding a gator sighting on Pine Lake.  I was lucky enough to spot the gator while fishing the tournament with my friend, Terry.  Do you see it in the above pic?

I had a great time, as usual, fishing with Terry.  We didn't catch a lot of fish.  In fact, I got completely skunked, but still had fun fishing.

As for the tournament, it was a success! 

The rain subsided, folk's had a good time, lots of fish were weighed in, and we raised some funds for the club.

 

Josh won First Place!  His top ten fish weighed 5lbs, 6.7 oz.

Mike came in second with  5lbs, 3.9 oz.

John came in third, with 5lbs, 1.5oz.

Congratulations!