What a wonderful trip!

[Big Cliff]

Well our long awaited and much anticipated cat fish charter finally arrived yesterday. The day started off early for me, out of bed at 3:15 am before the alarm even went off. As with many such trips I had laid in bed last night trying to get to sleep but I was much too excited. When I finally did get to sleep it seemed like it had only been a minute or two and I was rolling out of bed again. Anyway, morning routine out of the way and I was on the road by 4:45 heading down to burlington to hook up with the rest of the crew.

 

We all got to John's within minutes of each other and after a brief round of introductions, headed out to get some breakfast at a little spot John knew about and discuss the day ahead and to get a chance to get to know a little about each other. A nice relaxing breakfast (boy was the food ever good) and we headed out to Fishmasters.

 

Steve had warned us that the high winds might make the fishing a bit tough and that they hadn't been too successful the day before but what the heck, we are fishermen after all and you know what they say about a bad days fishing..... Anyway Steve really had to work at trying to position the boat, the winds were gusting to something in the 35k range and changing direction causing the boat to swing and making it very hard to know if we were getting a bite or just draging bottom.

 

The first spot we tried produced one hit but nothing else so Steve decided to try a spot that might be a little more protected and it wasn't long before we had our first fish on. Mike landed this beauty (I believe it was 33").

 

Mike with the first fish. Good Job Mike!

 

A few more misses then Jose landed this guy. Not quite as big but it sure was a fighter.

 

 

The wind changed directions again and the boat started swinging in spite of three anchors and drift socks so Steve decided that we should move and try for an even more sheltered spot to where they'd had fairly good success a couple of days before. We were marking fish but again the wind made it very difficult to tell a bite from dragging bottom so we didn't stay there very long.

 

Then Steve took us to another spot, the wind was still blowing us around but seemed to be a bit lighter, there were even a few times where it seemed to die down a bit and when it did, wwe would get hits but setting the hook was not easy and there were a lot of misses. It was Stan's turn to handle the rod for the next fish but he declined and insisted that I should take the next fish and suddenly it was "fish on". there was a brief agruement with both of us insisting that the other one should have the honor and the next thing I knew I was holding the rod and fighting this fish. (sorry I didn't get a picture of it, perhaps one of the other guys can post one).

 

We fished for w while more, Mike caught a good size clam:

 

There were a lot more hits but no more fish landed.

 

And here is one of the crew: From right to left:

Stan, Mike, Jose, John, and myself.

 

 

I really want to thank Fishmaster (Steve) for making this a wonderful day on the water, I don't think I have ever seen a capt. work so hard to help his customers find and catch fish, I'd be happy to book a charter with him anytime.

 

To the rest of the crew, what a wonderful group, I really enjoyed meeting each and every one of you and am looking forward to fishing with you again some day soon!

Edited April 20, 2009 by Big Cliff

[crappieperchhunter]

Glad it was a good day Cliff. I know you have been looking forward to it. Sounds like the wind made it a bit of a challenge. However it also sounds like Steve did everything he could to put you guys into fishable areas, can't ask for better then that.

 

Thx for the report.

[b2kptbo]

Certinly sounds like a fast paced day, quite the crew your hangin with Cliff, glad it was a good time, WTG...

[Spiel]

 

 

Hey I was standing in that very spot on Friday. Alas I have no fish to report.

Good to see you guys made out better than I.

[bigugli]

Good friends tend to make for a great day on the water.

 

Glad to see Steve got you onto some fish despite the wind

[corvette1]

allways a good time with steve congrats

[Bitsmith2k]

Cliff, it was a pleasure meeting you, john and stan.. stan (hearingfish) is a class guy for giving you the rod.. nice fish:

 

Big Cliff in action

 

end result

[John]

Thanks for a great day guys. Couldn't wish for a better bunch to spend time on the water with. I hope that we get a chance to do it again soon. Special thanks to Steve (Fishmaster) for making sure that we found some fish on what was a very tough day, he went way beyond expectations.

 

See you again in a few weeks Cliff.

[John]

Hey I was standing in that very spot on Friday. Alas I have no fish to report.

Good to see you guys made out better than I.

 

Steve mentioned that you had been down Chris.

[Beans]

Nice clean lookin' cat you got my friend...Glad you had a good time despite the weather...

 

Cheers!!!...Mate

[e-z-out]

Had a great time with you guys thanks again for the great day out on the water.

Cliff i'll be heading up your way in the next few days or so.

Great meeting you stan cliff and john.

 

Mike you can wash them pants now lol

 

Thanks again to steve for all the hard work.

Will be seeing you for that combo in a few weeks or so.

[tinbanger]

great report!

 

nice to see some fish caught and a bunch of ofnr's getting together.

 

well done

 

TB

[JeffBornFishin]

Nice fish guys

 

Sounds like everyone had a great day despite the conditions.

 

Thanks for the report and pics

 

Nothing beats an OFC get together

[ccmtcanada]

I've been looking forward to this report! Great job out there guys! You managed to boat a few fish despite teh nasty weather conditions. Great pictures and a great story.

[TJQ]

Super report!!

[Fishmaster]

It was great meeting all of you! It was a Great Day Definately... Thanks Cliff for not hitting the gas when I was out the front of the boat.

 

You are definately a bunch of stand up guys, each donating money to come on this charter certainly helped out Rick. So hats off to you all.

 

We look forward to seeing you out here or at the next OFC get together.

 

 

 

Steve ( Fishmaster) and Jen ( Bernadette)

[Terry]

sounds like a good time

and that's what it's all about

[sonny]

To bad the weathr didn't co-operate for you guys,,,i know how hard it is out there when the wind picks up,,,and i know steve works hard to get people on the fish so glad you guys had a good time!! and nice report!

[John]

It was great meeting all of you! It was a Great Day Definately... Thanks Cliff for not hitting the gas when I was out the front of the boat.

 

You are definately a bunch of stand up guys, each donating money to come on this charter certainly helped out Rick. So hats off to you all.

 

We look forward to seeing you out here or at the next OFC get together.

 

 

 

Steve ( Fishmaster) and Jen ( Bernadette)

 

The pleasure was ours Steve. After all, you donated the day to benefit Rick in the first place. I offered Cliff $50 to put her in reverse and hit the gas but he wasn't biting!

[wuchikubo]

Well as mentioned above, the day was a bit slow on the bite but the great company made up for it all.

 

Big Cliff forgot to mention the great venison pepperettes and Steve's great smoked catfish. Sorry, I didn't get any pics of those.

 

Anyways, here's a few more pics from my cam.

 

First the initial group of guys playing peek-a-boo from the cabin.

 

 

The day's first fish and the end of Bitsmith2K's skunking streak.

 

 

Hmm, I seem to have forgotten to take Aile Goby's pic of his fish, my apologies. But I'm glad Cliff got it in the original post.

 

Now I must let everyone know that I was just hoping a fish would drive some adrenaline back into Cliff as he was starting to doze off in the cabin, understandably after an earlier start to the day and a 3+ hr drive. I think the kitty did it!!

 

Here's the action shot (from behind).

 

 

Fishmaster (Steve) unhooking the kitty.

 

 

Pic 1 of Cliff with the kitty.

 

 

Pic 2 of Cliff with the kitty and Fishmaster on the left of the pic.

 

 

And of course Mike (Bitsmith2K) working on the multi-species.

 

 

 

Again Thanks to Steve (Fishmaster) and the bunch of guys for the great day out!!

 

Cliff, I may just take you up on the offer fishing off your dock.

 

Stan

[Fishmaster]

O yes thanks Cliff I've been nibbleing on the venison pepperettes all day I must say they are good ...

[Joey]

What a super report and pics Cliff. Looks like you all had a good time and caught some nice cats

 

Joey

[danbouck]

Great Report, sounds like everyone had a great time even with the winds causing problems.

[Leecher]

Great report and pics Cliff

 

Looks like you guys had blast even tho mother nature did not cooperate and caught some nice cats to boot

Congratulations to everyone

Thanks for sharing

Leechman