Winter Rebellion 2016

Howdy Folks!  Let's talk about the Winter Rebellion, shall we?  First off, I've not ever caught a fish during this annual event!  Never Ever!  I practiced fishing that location before the event-- in the rain!

Yes, I am fishing from the truck.

What's a "Winter Rebellion" you ask? 

It's a morning in which, I get up insanely early to freeze my bootie off (and all my other parts too), while attempting to catch fish!  Here is part of my set-up at zero-dark-thirty AM.  Ugh.  ;-)

As the sky was becoming lighter, I kept telling myself that these fish were going to turn on at any moment now!

Any moment now...  and can ya bite already fish, we're freezing out here!

Right about that time, Mike caught a brown trout!  Way to go, Mike!

And I was ready to catch fish.  Anytime now!  Umm, let's just untangle some line first!

Yikes,  I turn my back for two minutes and I'm reeling in a mess!

Ewww, a mess with a worm center.

Meanwhile, the guy next to me, fishing buddy Randy, caught a coho!

Way to go, Randy!

Jean and I were talking about how a plus of fishing the harbor is, that we're not getting our lures stuck in the trees.  Yet, Jean is soooo talented, that she managed to get her lure stuck in the flag pole rope!

 Seriously!

 

Logically, one would think all we would have to do is use the pulley and lower it down.  If only the swivel was not stuck on the other rope too!  That there is talent, Folks! 

The final weigh-in was interesting, as usual!  Tony had the biggest steelie!

Whitefish and suckers were also caught that morning!

Andrew won first place with the biggest brown.

Tony came in second with the steelie.

Let's do a brief recap here of my fishing, shall we?   I fished between Mike, who caught a brown, and Randy who caught a coho.  Jean caught a flagpole rope.  I caught nothing.  Nothing-- not even a flagpole rope!  Next year, I am sleeping in.  Just saying.  ;-)   Sigh

Trout Day

The big steelhead, er MY big steelhead, spooks easily.  So, if he sees me before I see him, he takes off down the creek!  The trick is to ever so stealthy, drift a hook right to him from a bit of a distance.

The trouble with that plan, is these young'ins like to ride the hooks!

They are some cute little steelies and browns, but after a few dozen tries to get the hook to the big daddy, catching these little ones starts to wear on a gal!

 

They are lucky they're so dang cute and painted up so nicely.

Sadly, that can't be said for all the fish in the creek.

I do not know what happened to this poor fish.

I have a feeling the trash in and around the creek might have something to do with it.

 

Luckily, the trout all looked good!


The sizes of the little ones varied from 5" to just over a foot.

Midway through the day, I decided to change things up and fish the pond for gills with some buddies.

The gill bite was extremely slow and I only caught one.  Besides MY big steelie was still waiting for me in the creek! 

We might have an extra hour of daylight, but there never seems to be enough time!

I didn't photograph all the little ones.  Some were just too cute not to, with those big ole eyes.  Actually, most of the young-ins flipped right off the hook as I reeled em in.

They are extremely flippy little fish!  I practically have to squeeze the life out of em to keep a grasp!

No worries, none of the fish were harmed.  They dart away, happy as can be! Even the BIG ONE I EVENTUALLY GOT!

Sooo, I propped up the camera, set the timer for 10 seconds, AND MY BIG STEELHEAD FLIPPED RIGHT OUT OF MY GRASP!

I was concerned he was going to die, so I put him back in the creek.  Flippy Fish!

My 44th Birthday & Creek Fishing

Jean and I fished Coffee Creek the other day.



We were searching for big Steelies, but all we found were little fish.



The weather was cold and rainy on my birthday.  Glenn and I had plans to take the kiddos to Chelburg Farm for Maple Syrup Days, but the weather made us change our plans.



We went to the mall instead, as it's been quite a while since I've been there.  Check out the new, electronic ponds:

And folk's riding around on motorized stuffed animals:

We didn't stay long, just long enough for me to shop my favorite clothing store!  ;-)

Back to what I like even more than shopping-- FISHING!

I have no idea who/what this is?  At first we thought it was some sort of water snake, and it might be.  Jean nor I was going to touch it to find out!

I caught a crazy mix of fish on Mill Creek, all within a couple hours.  Gills, crappies, rock bass, lm bass, creek chubs, and carp.

For the most part, they were all fairly little.

We gave the fish a mix of presentations, a hook with a wax worm, nymph flys, and a jig.

It didn't matter what we casted, the fish went bonkers for it all!

The SNAKE was the biggest critter I seen that day!  Why this snake isn't still sleeping I'll never know!  It's cold out!!!

On a remarkable note, I caught more rock bass that day than ever before!

It was like they were all pilled up on a certain section of the creek and as soon as the jig hit the water they gobbled it up!  If the jig landed in a shallower section, the creek chubs ate it!

The bluegills were attacking everything quite fierce as well!

Having a mix is fun.  Ya never quite know what you will get!

Mostly as were reeling in we play the guessing game of, "What do you Think It is"!  And if it gets away before we get it in-- it's the biggest fish we ever almost caught!  ;-)

Happy fishing to ya!