JSGOLD
Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2009
- Messages
- 609
Today me and the wife decided to go to out our favorite local lake for about 3-4 hrs of fishing....weather has been too windy and unpredicable in the last day or so and we had a front moving through so we left the boat here and decided to go to our favorite place at Elk Fork lake, near the boat ramp and fish from the bank....Now we have not seen much "funny" stuff as of late...but that changed today.
To begin with, Elk Fork has a 10 HP or less motor rating, so you will see all manner or boats there, usually larger HP boats using electric trolling, some small hp OB's and some that are only electric.....did not think we would see many today but was amazed to see over a dozen out there. with a constant wind of 20-25 mph and gusts early on over 35...some should have stayed home.
Contestant number one came in to shore but wound up in our fishing laps as he was trying to run on electric but could not quite make it to the dock, so he dropped off wife and dog next to us then got back into the boat and banged into the left ramp with a thud finally....no big deal, but he should have used the small OB on there I thought....contestant number two came in with a big fancy 18ft plus fishing boat and fought to get onto his trailer until he decided to fire up his 60HP motor and get in in that way....good thing no game wardens there pal...
Contestant number three was funny....two guys came in and they made it to the left side of the left dock and when the first guy jumped the wind picked up and the boat and the other buddy went backwards....when the guy came back with his truck the boat was already 20-30 ft away again and could not get back...the fellow tried reversing it, forward driving it, but the same result...either he missed and banged into the dock on the wrong side or the wind kept him from getting anywhere. After 30 minutes of this they hooked a rope to the trailor and pulled the boat and slide it the hardway scraping it along the front of the dock (concrete) and then forced it (crooked) into the trailer....then with the boat still crooked they left and figured that was good enough...
Contestant number 4 had more problems. We are still not sure what it was...a boat, a canoe, home made or what....but they left with an electric trolling motor, two rods and various gear....came back with one oar, no rods, a submerged trolling motor (at least most of it I think) and were soaking wet.....apparently they made it to the far side and turned over....losing gear as they went. But no worries...the one guy made it plain they caught ONE fish before they went under....and no, no life jackets....lucky for them this is NOT a deep lake in many parts.... Now there were some good drivers out there for sure, but fishing was tough, at least until the wind died down, which it did.
Of course I did not figure to get involved as we were not boating but the fish had other plans for me as well. We managed to catch 14 bass, the last one a 13" largemouth that my wife caught using a rubber worm with two hooks on it. The bass was pissed off and like any squirmy fish he decided not to co operate and flopped the second hook into my finger and flop around a bit, driving the hook into me and him....so I am cursing, the wife is yelling, the fish is flopping. Finally we separate, I say to heck with it and we leave for a less than great dinner at Burger King in Ripley....and it just seemed to me that overall
we fishermen lost the battle today, whether in boats ot not.
To begin with, Elk Fork has a 10 HP or less motor rating, so you will see all manner or boats there, usually larger HP boats using electric trolling, some small hp OB's and some that are only electric.....did not think we would see many today but was amazed to see over a dozen out there. with a constant wind of 20-25 mph and gusts early on over 35...some should have stayed home.
Contestant number one came in to shore but wound up in our fishing laps as he was trying to run on electric but could not quite make it to the dock, so he dropped off wife and dog next to us then got back into the boat and banged into the left ramp with a thud finally....no big deal, but he should have used the small OB on there I thought....contestant number two came in with a big fancy 18ft plus fishing boat and fought to get onto his trailer until he decided to fire up his 60HP motor and get in in that way....good thing no game wardens there pal...
Contestant number three was funny....two guys came in and they made it to the left side of the left dock and when the first guy jumped the wind picked up and the boat and the other buddy went backwards....when the guy came back with his truck the boat was already 20-30 ft away again and could not get back...the fellow tried reversing it, forward driving it, but the same result...either he missed and banged into the dock on the wrong side or the wind kept him from getting anywhere. After 30 minutes of this they hooked a rope to the trailor and pulled the boat and slide it the hardway scraping it along the front of the dock (concrete) and then forced it (crooked) into the trailer....then with the boat still crooked they left and figured that was good enough...
Contestant number 4 had more problems. We are still not sure what it was...a boat, a canoe, home made or what....but they left with an electric trolling motor, two rods and various gear....came back with one oar, no rods, a submerged trolling motor (at least most of it I think) and were soaking wet.....apparently they made it to the far side and turned over....losing gear as they went. But no worries...the one guy made it plain they caught ONE fish before they went under....and no, no life jackets....lucky for them this is NOT a deep lake in many parts.... Now there were some good drivers out there for sure, but fishing was tough, at least until the wind died down, which it did.
Of course I did not figure to get involved as we were not boating but the fish had other plans for me as well. We managed to catch 14 bass, the last one a 13" largemouth that my wife caught using a rubber worm with two hooks on it. The bass was pissed off and like any squirmy fish he decided not to co operate and flopped the second hook into my finger and flop around a bit, driving the hook into me and him....so I am cursing, the wife is yelling, the fish is flopping. Finally we separate, I say to heck with it and we leave for a less than great dinner at Burger King in Ripley....and it just seemed to me that overall
we fishermen lost the battle today, whether in boats ot not.