Hi,
Around 7:00 am this morning, I got a call. It was Jim Bohrer and he couldn't get in touch with the guy who he was supposed to fish with today. So he asked me to go. I hadn't rigged my new rod and reel combo but I wasn't doing anything today- so agreed to meet him at The Snook Nook.
I got there a few minutes early and spooled some 10 lb braided line on my new reel. Jim arrived and helped me with two new knots, a "Bimini Twist" and a "double uni"-- I was just learning to tie a loop knot.
Fishing Report: 5-1-15 around 9:00 am return to Round Island, water muddy, temperature cooler around 80, water temp down to 79 from 84 just a week ago. Gusting and sifting winds out of the Northwest at about 10 mph- a beautiful day. We were fishing the last half of an incoming tide, with swimbaits on 1/8 oz jig-heads.
We went to the "honey hole" on the South East side and I quickly caught the first trout. The tide was incoming and already high. I cast again immediately set the hook and lost a trout after briefly hooking it. I had another strike, then hooked another trout. My bait was torn up so I switched colors. Jim caught a trout and since the water wasn't as rough he decided to move- so we went South.
We fished around a point and I caught a trout on a shallow grass bed. Jim hooked a nice snook but it jumped twice and threw the bait. We tried drifting along the shore but the wind pushed us out and we repositioned- something we would do the rest of the day. I caught a small Jack and Jim hooked one too. We pull up and headed North.
We stopped at what seemed like the middle of the River but it was a grass bed to try a few casts. We tried and then he said, "Let's go." Before I could pull in I hooked a 3 or 4 lb trout that jumped completely out of the water and threw the hook. So we stayed. Two casts later I hooked and landed another trout, then Jim caught one and I bought a nice one almost to the boat but lost it. After drifting through several more times I picked up another trout and we pulled up--headed North.
We stopped several places he had marked on his GPS and threw a few casts. When I asked him how deep we were he said, "3 and a half feet, everywhere we are fishing is going to be 3 to 4 feet deep." After he told me this twice it dawned on me - I had been fishing too deep when I was wading. Also that most of the grass beds weren't over 5 feet deep-- another important truth to trout fishing.
We tried a spot near an oyster bed for redfish but the wind was blowing wrong. Then went west toward the middle of the River and threw a few casts, then again further west about 50 yards. I got snagged, then snagged again, the water was only 2 to 3 foot deep with pockets and holes in the weeds. I hooked up and when I looked over at Jim he had a trout too. I lost mine and 2 casts later we both had fish on again at the same time- two doubles in 2 minutes! He switched to a top water plug and hooked and lost a nice trout. The wind pushed us North through the shallow flat and we drifted through once more. I got a bad snarl and had to retie, Jim helped me and as we drifted down the action in that area was over.
The tide was going out and we tried some places on the West bank, picking up a couple small trout, before we headed back South to the honey hole. At this point we had caught eighteen trout but unlike yesterday I had caught ten of them. Fishing was harder and we had to work more-- we had already fished longer and had less fish than yesterday.
The wind was blowing the wrong way to fish his best spot. I picked up a small trout and then lost one on top of the water. Jim caught one but the wind wasn't cooperating. We had 20 trout when we stopped one last spot on way back and Jim caught a nice bluefish and Jack and I snagged another trout.
We were beat so we headed back before the tide was too low. 21 trout total and I caught 12 and Jim caught 9. I know the total wasn't so important to him -- but he is competitive. I felt somewhat vindicated from the day before-- but we both knew what was important- I was learning.
I am grateful and thankful for Jim's help. It is another step towards being a better fisherman-- I had learned so much, the main thing is: you have to know where the fish are.
When we stopped at the boat ramp something happened that neither of us anticipated-- his back right trailer tire was flat. Someone had let the air out and left a note on his windshield saying he needed to drive slower-- a prank? an enemy?-- it was too dastardly to figure out.
After changing to the spare which was also flat, we pulled the boat out. Then he took the original tire and got air in it. Almost two hours wasted!!! I believe that bad karma begets bad karma. The universe will get that guy straight!! We don't have to do it.
TY again Jim,
Richie
No comments:
Post a Comment