Ahhh...it's been so calm around here lately that I could not refuse another chance to get out and paddle in some glassy smooth local waters. So quiet that you could hear some of the overhead clouds making dewdrops for the next day already.

Arrived at the beach launch site chosen for this outing and as I started to lug gear into the kayak I noticed that the following items were missing:

1. No sunglasses
2. No 5 amp hour battery to run electronics
3. No hat!

After a day on the water yesterday, I had the battery all charged back up but left it sitting on the kitchen counter... and decided to run my hat thru the washer since it was due for a cleaning. Normally I put things right back in my "fishing truck", but I simply forgot! No sun specs...oh well, I'll just have to squint!

Bugger! I'm not going back home so I shoved off and made the best of it. Thankfully I did have some AA batteries in the hand held GPS, so at least I could partially rely on the underwater charting as well as my troll tracks. That helped a bit, but for the most part I just straddled the "color line" where the turquoise water color met up with the navy blue tones. That would mark the 25' depth corridor, and even without sunglasses I could see it fairly well.

Only ended up with 2 hook ups, one with a smallmouth bass and the other with a northern pike. The bass gave a nice backward bend to the rod, and while I reached forward to get control and pull it out of the rod holder the fish went airborne. I saw the line come up and go parallel to the surface...heard a nice splash, and she shook the hook. Dang...never even saw her!

That is what little "ICBFM's" do...intercontinental ballistic fish missiles....

I was running an experiment using the exact same lure on two different rods...one set up with single hooks, and the other with trebles. This fish came on the treble...so who knows what might have happened if she struck the other lure!?

So as not to end up with a skunk, I was thankful for a 31 inch pike that found one of my deep diver lures as I changed up where I was trolling and headed out into deeper waters. When he struck, I was in the middle of bringing in my other line for a weed check. The active rod doubled back in the holder and I thought it was going to break in two before I could stash the other rod. I figured I had hung up on bottom because the kayak swung around at a "minus 90 degree" angle and seemed to halt in place on the port side. I loosened up the drag ASAP...and thank goodness the line did not snap either!

All of the sudden there was life...a brutely tug and underwater standoff indicating that I was in for battle. Yep...a flexible submarine dressed in fish skin was headed my way. Since I was in deep water, the fish had many options...among them being able to go back down and wrap around some weed stalks. I thought it was all going to end badly, but lo and behold...the weeds gave way, still attached to the fish, and everything came back into the upper water arena to have the final showdown!

The pike cooperated with a gentle grasp of a jaw grabber, and with a flick of my wrist and some help from a pair of surgical forceps I was able to unhook him and watch my tug of war partner swim away for somebody else to catch.

Oh...and who was "Mr. Forgetful?"...that was me!

" flexible submarine dressed in fish skin "

Fy, that sounds like a book in the making there and with the pic, simply amazing. Your talents of narration always impresses me. I sure hope that doesn't become a item on the forget list in the future.

But you are not alone with the forgets. My hat and bug spray right next to the garage door to grab on my way out. " Still there for next week "

I didn't bring up a monster from the deep at my first location this morning. Nor was a picture of the 8" mud catfish going to find my lens. Just a Thanks to the big guy for keeping the skunk at bay.

Ahhh...it's been so calm around here lately that I could not refuse another chance to get out and paddle in some glassy smooth local waters. So quiet that you could hear some of the overhead clouds making dewdrops for the next day already.

Arrived at the beach launch site chosen for this outing and as I started to lug gear into the kayak I noticed that the following items were missing:

No sunglasses...no 5 amp hour battery to run electronics and no hat!

After a day on the water yesterday, I had the battery all charged back up but left it sitting on the kitchen counter... and decided to run my hat thru the washer since it was due for a cleaning. Normally I put things right back in my "fishing truck", but I simply forgot! No sun specs...oh well, I'll just have to squint!

Bugger! I'm not going back home so I shoved off and made the best of it. Thankfully I did have some AA batteries in the hand held GPS, so at least I could partially rely on the underwater charting as well as my troll tracks. That helped a bit, but for the most part I just straddled the "color line" where the turquoise water color met up with the navy blue tones. That would mark the 25' depth corridor, and even without sunglasses I could see it fairly well.

Only ended up with 2 hook ups, one with a smallmouth bass and the other with a northern pike. The bass gave a nice backward bend to the rod, and while I reached forward to get control and pull it out of the rod holder the fish went airborne. I saw the line come up and go parallel to the surface...heard a nice splash, and she shook the hook. Dang...never even saw her!

That is what little "ICBFM's" do...intercontinental ballistic fish missiles....

I was running an experiment using the exact same lure on two different rods...one set up with single hooks, and the other with trebles. This fish came on the treble...so who knows what might have happened if she struck the other lure!?

So as not to end up with a skunk, I was thankful for a 31 inch pike that found one of my deep diver lures as I changed up where I was trolling and headed out into deeper waters. When he struck, I was in the middle of bringing in my other line for a weed check. The active rod doubled back in the holder and I thought it was going to break in two before I could stash the other rod. I figured I had hung up on bottom because the kayak swung around at a "minus 90 degree" angle and seemed to halt in place on the port side. I loosened up the drag ASAP...and thank goodness the line did not snap either!

All of the sudden there was life...a brutely tug and underwater standoff indicating that I was in for battle. Yep...a flexible submarine dressed in fish skin was headed my way. Since I was in deep water, the fish had many options...among them being able to go back down and wrap around some weed stalks. I thought it was all going to end badly, but lo and behold...the weeds gave way, still attached to the fish, and everything came back into the upper water arena to have the final showdown!

The pike cooperated with a gentle grasp of a jaw grabber, and with a flick of my wrist and some help from a pair of surgical forceps I was able to unhook him and watch my tug of war partner swim away for somebody else to catch.

Oh...and who was "Mr. Forgetful?"...that was me!

Thank you Plumb! I knew I would most likely be fishing again this morning, based on the "weatherbug" web site that I check before going out...but completely forgot about putting stuff back in the truck! It was almost like "old school" fishing where you just wing it!

Sounds like you got out to paddle and fish today as well. Glad you caught something to tug on the end of your line too!

Since my story was getting long, I did not mention what was actually the highlight of the morning... an adult bald eagle making two different passes in front of me to snag a fish at the surface. The first time was from my starboard side coming from shore...about 200 feet away. The second time he came in low and overhead from behind me, and grabbed a yellow perch at the surface less than 50' away right out in front! I almost thought I heard that poor little fish scream out loud!

Ahhh...it's been so calm around here lately that I could not refuse another chance to get out and paddle in some glassy smooth local waters. So quiet that you could hear some of the overhead clouds making dewdrops for the next day already.

Arrived at the beach launch site chosen for this outing and as I started to lug gear into the kayak I noticed that the following items were missing:

No sunglasses...no 5 amp hour battery to run electronics and no hat!

After a day on the water yesterday, I had the battery all charged back up but left it sitting on the kitchen counter... and decided to run my hat thru the washer since it was due for a cleaning. Normally I put things right back in my "fishing truck", but I simply forgot! No sun specs...oh well, I'll just have to squint!

Bugger! I'm not going back home so I shoved off and made the best of it. Thankfully I did have some AA batteries in the hand held GPS, so at least I could partially rely on the underwater charting as well as my troll tracks. That helped a bit, but for the most part I just straddled the "color line" where the turquoise water color met up with the navy blue tones. That would mark the 25' depth corridor, and even without sunglasses I could see it fairly well.

Only ended up with 2 hook ups, one with a smallmouth bass and the other with a northern pike. The bass gave a nice backward bend to the rod, and while I reached forward to get control and pull it out of the rod holder the fish went airborne. I saw the line come up and go parallel to the surface...heard a nice splash, and she shook the hook. Dang...never even saw her!

That is what little "ICBFM's" do...intercontinental ballistic fish missiles....

I was running an experiment using the exact same lure on two different rods...one set up with single hooks, and the other with trebles. This fish came on the treble...so who knows what might have happened if she struck the other lure!?

So as not to end up with a skunk, I was thankful for a 31 inch pike that found one of my deep diver lures as I changed up where I was trolling and headed out into deeper waters. When he struck, I was in the middle of bringing in my other line for a weed check. The active rod doubled back in the holder and I thought it was going to break in two before I could stash the other rod. I figured I had hung up on bottom because the kayak swung around at a "minus 90 degree" angle and seemed to halt in place on the port side. I loosened up the drag ASAP...and thank goodness the line did not snap either!

All of the sudden there was life...a brutely tug and underwater standoff indicating that I was in for battle. Yep...a flexible submarine dressed in fish skin was headed my way. Since I was in deep water, the fish had many options...among them being able to go back down and wrap around some weed stalks. I thought it was all going to end badly, but lo and behold...the weeds gave way, still attached to the fish, and everything came back into the upper water arena to have the final showdown!

The pike cooperated with a gentle grasp of a jaw grabber, and with a flick of my wrist and some help from a pair of surgical forceps I was able to unhook him and watch my tug of war partner swim away for somebody else to catch.

Oh...and who was "Mr. Forgetful?"...that was me!

Ahhh...it's been so calm around here lately that I could not refuse another chance to get out and paddle in some glassy smooth local waters. So quiet that you could hear some of the overhead clouds making dewdrops for the next day already.

Arrived at the beach launch site chosen for this outing and as I started to lug gear into the kayak I noticed that the following items were missing:

No sunglasses...no 5 amp hour battery to run electronics and no hat!

After a day on the water yesterday, I had the battery all charged back up but left it sitting on the kitchen counter... and decided to run my hat thru the washer since it was due for a cleaning. Normally I put things right back in my "fishing truck", but I simply forgot! No sun specs...oh well, I'll just have to squint!

Bugger! I'm not going back home so I shoved off and made the best of it. Thankfully I did have some AA batteries in the hand held GPS, so at least I could partially rely on the underwater charting as well as my troll tracks. That helped a bit, but for the most part I just straddled the "color line" where the turquoise water color met up with the navy blue tones. That would mark the 25' depth corridor, and even without sunglasses I could see it fairly well.

Only ended up with 2 hook ups, one with a smallmouth bass and the other with a northern pike. The bass gave a nice backward bend to the rod, and while I reached forward to get control and pull it out of the rod holder the fish went airborne. I saw the line come up and go parallel to the surface...heard a nice splash, and she shook the hook. Dang...never even saw her!

That is what little "ICBFM's" do...intercontinental ballistic fish missiles....

I was running an experiment using the exact same lure on two different rods...one set up with single hooks, and the other with trebles. This fish came on the treble...so who knows what might have happened if she struck the other lure!?

So as not to end up with a skunk, I was thankful for a 31 inch pike that found one of my deep diver lures as I changed up where I was trolling and headed out into deeper waters. When he struck, I was in the middle of bringing in my other line for a weed check. The active rod doubled back in the holder and I thought it was going to break in two before I could stash the other rod. I figured I had hung up on bottom because the kayak swung around at a "minus 90 degree" angle and seemed to halt in place on the port side. I loosened up the drag ASAP...and thank goodness the line did not snap either!

All of the sudden there was life...a brutely tug and underwater standoff indicating that I was in for battle. Yep...a flexible submarine dressed in fish skin was headed my way. Since I was in deep water, the fish had many options...among them being able to go back down and wrap around some weed stalks. I thought it was all going to end badly, but lo and behold...the weeds gave way, still attached to the fish, and everything came back into the upper water arena to have the final showdown!

The pike cooperated with a gentle grasp of a jaw grabber, and with a flick of my wrist and some help from a pair of surgical forceps I was able to unhook him and watch my tug of war partner swim away for somebody else to catch.

Oh...and who was "Mr. Forgetful?"...that was me!