Today started out bad. Got worse. But ended up pretty good over all. Had a headlight go out on the way south to Lincoln Beach. No biggie. But, when my tube blew off the top of my car…fully loaded…it was a big deal. Front rope came undone and the tube lifted up and tore loose from the other tie downs. Lit in the fast lane and a couple of trucks pretty well creamed it before I could dodge traffic and recover it. Smashed my new Humminbird sonar too. Bummer. Big bummer.
TubeBabe is the greatest. She offered to let me go out in her tube and she would fish off the dike so I could be with the other members of the floatilla. What a girl. Of course I accepted so that I wouldn’t hurt her feelings.
ParrMark, 4 luv of fishing, Hnaf, Tube Ike and albinotrout all drove up before about 6:30. Tubes and toons were prepped and launched. Steve (4luv) launched his bass boat. LloydE and his old friend “Tug” showed up just after 7 and launched in Lloyd’s motorized raft.
**Water was 71 degrees and glass at daybreak. Not even a whisper of a breeze all morning long. Livin’ right…but that does not explain the smashed tube. **
I got the first fish jinx out of the way with a white bass. Then a couple more. Tube Ike caught the first catfish…about a 20 incher. He was pumped.
After that everybody pretty well spread out all over the southern flats away from the dike and close to the reeds along the south. Everybody was catching a few white bass. A few folks got into some kitties.
I worked hard to scratch out a limit of 8 cats just before 10 and headed for shore to hand off the tube to TubeBabe so she could have a shot at some of the action. She had only managed one white bass from shore.
All in all, I got about a dozen white bass and kept a half dozen for my sis in law. The cats were mostly cookies, but I did have a chunky 20, a 23 and a 24 incher. Those larger cats fought a lot bigger than they were. Fun, fun.
**Most of us came in just after 11 and headed for the cleaning station. I fired up my trusty little 12 volt electric fillet knife and put those kitties on a crash weight loss program. Ended up with a good batch of fillets and returned to the covered tables. **
Got TubeBabe in off the water. She had scored 3 quick kitties and lost a couple of more. No doubt she would have gotten a lot more if she had more time on the water. In fact, the only reason I got all the cats I did was because I was in her tube with the pink rod holder. All the cats thought I was her and cooperated. Boy were they surprised when it was me holding the net.
**Sorry I didn’t get pictures of LloydE and Tug. They caught a few kitties but did not get back in until I had traded my camera for the fillet knife. Ditto for Steve (4luv). He also got several decent cats. And, sadly, ParrMark had to go retrieve TubeBabe while I was getting the fish on the fryer so I did not immortalize her contribution. **
We fired up the propane fryer, filled the pan with peanut oil and crispicated a whole bunch of fish fillets. Not many survivors. Thanks to the folks who brought salads, drinks, dessert, etc. It was all a good contribution and made a good meal.
Fun fun.