Greencoachdog

HEY!!! I resemble that remark!!!

Like I mentioned in a couple previous threads, we've been getting an enormous amount of rain down here (we needed it). I fish Lake Neely Henry on the Coosa River, it's the 2 lake down in a chain of 6 lakes. Logan Martin is the 3rd lake and it has been about 8' above normal for this time of year. I've been waiting for the water on Henry to clear up and for most of the debris to be washed away, today I couldn't wait any longer. It was a fairly decent day weather wise, light winds and a high of 55*F. I got to the lake at about 10 a.m and was kinda disappointed at my first look at the lake. The water was still chocolate milk and still a large amount of debris in the lake. Leaves, small tree branches, large branches, big logs, and litter. I said "what the heck, I'm already here" and launched the boat. The first thing I had to do was run the gauntlet!!! They were everywhere!!! It brought back the hellish nighmares of my childhood!!! This one stood in the same spot all day and watched me... I just knew he was goin' to attack any second!!! ... but he didn't! *whew!* I took this pic for Bernie, he mentioned in another thread he'd like to see a boat and some wake! Like I said the day was nice, but my confidence was low. The cold muddy water and dropping water levels are just not condusive to good fishin' (catching). I just baited up one Sabiki rig with big shiners (2 1/2") and drug it around the lower end of my favorite creek. I drug that thing up and down the creek for 2 hrs. and not even a sniff. Kept checking the shiners to see if any had gone AWOL or were dead... nope!... everybody was still alive and accounted for. I had lulled myself into a daze daydreaming of fish caught and days gone by when I was rudely interrupted by a "rattle rattle" and then a zzzzzzzz zzzzzz zzzzzz, I thought to myself "what in the hell is all that racket about??? Then I looked over to my rod in the holder and saw it bent over double with the top half in the water... then thout to myself "damn! snagged!!!" Then saw the rod strt to jump and more drag peel zzzzzz zzzzz! I said to myself "Wake up dumbass, you've got a fish!!!" ( I have to get pretty stern with me sometimes! ) Grabbed the rod outta the holder and feel good weight!!! Something was heading for the bottom!!! About a 5 minute battle ensued and I finally got this thing to the net!!! YUP!!! A gigantic World record Bullhead!!!... if I had kept him for the record, it wouldn't have been for the money... or the fame... it would've been for the Groupies!!!... but then I thought about the whippin' I'd have to tote if Ol' Yeller ever even caught me TALKIN' to a groupie... so I let him go, after playing the picture takin' game. I know how some of these radioactive brainwave fish are around these parts, so I took three pics (returning Mr. Gigantic World Record Bullhead to the livewell after each pic)... Well, after the 2nd pic... Mr. Gigantic World Record Bullhead got tired of playin' the picture game and proceeded to latch onto my thumb and rotate himself thricely in the livewell when I grabbed him for the third pic... mangling my thumb not unlike a baby Muskrat on meth would do!!! ... but that's ok, I prolly deserved it!... I wear my fish battle scars proudly!!! After that all was quiet again... until I decided to eat lunch... as soon as I grabbed my bag of tater chips the rod went off again.... this time, much smaller and much more worthless. That's right! A baby Sheepie! After that... NOTHING!!!... hung around for an hour or so and decided to pack it in calling it a slow but surprisingly good day! Stay tuned for your next softwater fix!!!

The rule of thumb is 30', but some fish can relieve the pressure by "burping". I believe Lakers can do this. If you can manage to controll yourself and reel the fish up slowly, they'll have a better chance of surviving when released. If you start bringing up fish with their air bladders sticking out of their mouths, you'll need to fish shallower. Crappie can have decompression from be brought up out of just 20' FOW, on the other hand, you can snatch a catfish up out of 40 FOW and he'll just croak at you and take off like a bullet when you release him. Watch your fish when you release them, if they don't swim straight back down to the bottom, they're having decompression issue and you may want to fish shallower.

Very nice report and pics!!! Weekend traffic on a lake can kill the fishin' quick! It sounds to me like the pattern for the fish is nomadic schools... they do that to me down here too!

Excellent report and pics Jacques!!! Looks like some great Perch action there!!! Always good to get out with good friends too!!!

Great report and pics Urby!!! That Dave is really a stand-up kinda guy eh!!! I'd have had to cut off a chunk of that bitten Bonefish and thrown it back out there to see if Mr. 'Cuda was still hungry!!!

If you'll hold yer rod tip in the water they'll stay down... do I have to teach you everything???

If it's a little'un I say "HA!" If it's a decent or good one, I say "Ugh!!!...There's one!" If it's a little baby catfish when I get it to the top, I sing the baby catfish song Catfish! Catfish! He's a little ratfish!

I can C&R a fish... can you shoot and release an animal???

Ditto!!! The fish will only see it for a few seconds!... spend your money more wisely on a sonar unit and some kind of motor!!! That little boat right there will catch you some of the best fish of your life!!! Function over form any day!... do you know what that means?

Albino???.. I don't think so! That's what happens when they roll in the snow eh!!! Moose!.. such a docile animal, anyone that shoots one should step on an anti personal landmine!!!

Too bad you don't have a Humminbird!!!! The Quadrabeam transducer gives you a 90 degree cone... or twice the depth you're fishin'! So if you were fishin' 20 fow, your cone would be 40' wide... but how wide of a cone do you need for an -hole.. er.. uh... I meant ice hole!!!

These 2 are my favorite!!!

Great to see ya out Steve!!! ... you need to start documenting those fish with a '09 OFC Tourney logo Bubba!!!

Leave those poor little B-hoppers alone and pick on something your own size!!! I'm thinkin' wild hog... but it'd prolly be tough to tell which is which in the "trophy pic". If it's warm enough to go huntin'... it's warm enough to carry your sorry out on the ice and catch me a fish to look at!!!

Yup! What Roy said... we gots a bit of a flood going on down here right now, but we really needed it!!! The water tables have recovered... and then some! I've been wanting to go fishing , but my once peaceful lake is now a raging river with Alabama Power pulling 57,000 cubic feet of water per second thru the dam ! We have 4 days forecast without rain next week and that will help.

Just about any light source will work, and as others have said glow times will vary. Don't be too eager to recharge the glow, sometimes the fish just want a faint glow, other times they want a bright glow. Experiment with them and let the fish tell you what they want. I haven't had much success with glow anything during complete darkness hours, but have had great results during early morning, later afternoon, on cloudy days, and in muddy water.

Jus' going under the assumption that it's pretty lame that someone can't cath their own fish and has to post pics of someone else's... if you could catch one that big, you'd be showing us a pic of your fish eh!!! ... and now it's x2!!!

Heavier than Jed has ever caught and Jethro has ever et!

They cam smell your fear! They will seek you out!!! If I hadn't had my mouth open... he'd have pooped in my eye!!! If you ever post another pic of my hellish childhood again... This old man will stomp a mudhole in your ... and walk it dry!!! Thanks for the report -hole!

Well I don't have an ice hut to take a sit behind... The way we had it last year worked well for me and most of the other captains. The fish don't come in that fast a furious, so if your team captain will update them as they come in instead of letting them accumulate it's no big deal. ... btw... I'm in for captain again if y'all will have me back.

Hey Hey!!! Looks like I woke somebody up! Good Morning Cliff!!!

Sounds great Spiel!!! I just happen to know where some minnows are that need drowning, and some jigs are that need a darn good washing!!!

Are we going by rules or suggestions this year? I reckon and" '09 OFC Tourney" logo is all we need in the pic?