splashhopper Posted April 25, 2011 Report Posted April 25, 2011 (edited) My buddy, Dutchy, was not too hopeful for opening day weather. All week he was saying that it was gonna be a bust. i kept reassuring him that he was looking at the cup half empty. ( the weather guru's were saying 60% empty too No matter, I was going just to get out of town and be at one with my Creator and all His glory. Friday came along and the wind was HOWLING.... the river mouth on Lake Huron was frothy and muddy... who cares! I am outa town and going wherever I feel like it. I sat in the truck listening to speakers that I enjoy and pre-tied leaders for the midnight madness. Hell, I even had a NAP I kept Dutchy informed of the weather and as I suspected, the bug had him by the THROAT and he was coming up anyways He brought his friend JJcanoe along too. They arrived at "the spot" around 10:30 and were just getting a fire going to keep us warm. Good thing too, as the temperature had plummeted and was expected to stay around 1-2 degrees throughout the night. Two more of our friends showed up around 11:30. It was gonna be a little tight at this spot, but we were all friends and knew how to drift in tandem. At the sound of our phone alarms going off, we dropped our lines in the honey hole with anticipation. A couple of minutes in to it and the first fish was on... yeeehaw.. here we go.... or so we thought:mellow: In the next 90 minutes only a couple of fish were caught. NONE by me Oh well...I was cold and tired by now and the rain had started so I bid my friends adeu and headed out to my sleeping spot for the night in my truck. The electric heating pad under my sleeping bag would be my friend Friday night. This was the first time sleeping in the back of the truck for me and I had not figured in to the equation - NO PRE HEATED - air space to transition in to sleep mode from the toasty warm cab Oh well, I was out of the wind and rain and had a good sleeping bag and comforter anyways. It was urban heaven ! 5:30 Sat am came waay too early for me... no matter,, I was pretty close to a timmies and there were fish to be caught... or so I hoped.. I went in and had just sat down for a cup of joe and a bagel and Dutchy bbm's me from the honey hole... he and JJ are coming to timmies... the hole had turned to chocolate milk and they needed a coffee. Apparently, Dutchy caught a fish or two after I left the night before too Over the next 30-40 minutes Dutchy was whinjin and whinin about the chocolate milk and the high rivers every where... no matter,, i am NOT going home.... lol Good thing we were in separate vehicles,, he is a little bigger than me We drove over to another river that we had pre-scouted in the summer but the water was not looking any too promising. JJ headed north to his brookie honey hole Dutchy went home. I walked along the tracks to the pre-scouted spot. Tied on a big fat dew worm on a 18" flouro leader and a HEAVY bell slip sinker .. I slowly dropped that morsel down below the froth in the backwash of a tree jam and WHAMMO ! My 10 ft rod bent in half .... and then.... limp... worm was gone and was pumped... but I shouldn't have been though.... I fished the bank edges and tree jams and big rock eddies for about 500 yards all along that river without even a bump... So I decided that a little still fishing was in order and possibly a nap in the ever warming sun too I think i napped for about 15 minutes... checked my line and what do you know... my puffed up worm was still there... I hadn't missed a damned thing This particular spot has produced well for me and I decided it was time to start tossing some hardware... little cleo's, jerk baits, spinners, ... u name it... i through it... nothing.. I packed it in and was off to the grocery store for supplies for my next destination. It NEVER FAILS ME ... ever.. Upon arriving at ol faithful hole of the fish god's I am pleasantly surprised to find no other vehicles there. I love this place and have permission from the farmer to fish it as I will Walking through those woods for 15 minutes with no snow is a heel of a lot easier than than the last day Dutchy and I fished there... ( snow was 2-3 ft deep in dec) . As I turn the last bend and get closer to the river... it is GREAT COLOUR... a little high... but no mud ... yeaaahhh The three rods I brought in were already rigged and ready to go... I walked down river and tossed the husky jerk from my 5.5 ft ultra light and 4 lb test line... I got one hit on the second cast... missed it... but it was promising and I didn't care... I was in a beatiful location and there was no sounds of humans... just the water and the geese and the odd rustle in the bushes behind me. A few minutes later... and CRRRRUUUNCH.... FISH ON ... had it on for a minute... poof... it was one Two casts later.... whammo... another good one... but it was aerial within seconds and I could see that it was an OOS smallie.... a bloody big one... but a bass never the less.... so big in fact... i took a quick pic and released her ... ( pic removed from the suggestion of Chris K about OOS fish ) I switched lures and kept getting bass.... moved out of that spot,,, I was not there for them.. i wanted chrome. Trudged up river 500 yards in to the "the hole".... this spot is down stream about 500 yards from a gravel bed and on the inside of a long wide and curve and a 50 ft cliff directly across the river and straight in to the river.. This hole can be counted on for some trout... every year... perrrfect... it's all mine... and guess what.... NOTHING ... i bottom bounced fresh roe... i drifted full worms , half worms, pink worms... i floated nymphs... I tossed hardware... nothing.... i really think the water was just too fast and I couldn't find the holding places for those buggers in there if I my life depended on it. Oh well,,, I was well rested.. I totally relaxed and not a worry in the world was with me for those 4-5 hours of bliss... I was reminded of how great our Creator really is during a moment that I was reminiscing about my closest friend,Hutch, that died unexpectedly in August.. His ever present encouragement and whit were with me and as a reassurance that he will always be with me two bald eagles flew up the river at that very moment... Trekking back to the truck was just another reminder of how great things are in this world for me when I keep my eye on this exact moment in time. Just as I came up a small hill on the path, a deer was slowly making her way up the path ahead of me... I don;t know how she didn't hear me before this,,, but I was just grateful to see that white tail point up and remind me yet again of my friend Hutch. Driving back in to town I was undecided as to where I was gonna fish Sunday morning. Got some late dinner and went down to the pier to sit with the sound of the waves and wind. Sleep was near and I knew I needed to get to my sleeping area and scout it out for a spot to blend the truck in for the night. My bed was PRE-HEATED this time and I was sawing logs before I could count to 10. I slept like a baby, until nature called at 5:30 .. Oh well, I was up now... might as well grab a timmies and go back to the opening day honey hole.. Wondering if the mud was gone, I had a back up plan in case it wasn't... Arriving at the hole... no cars.... no mud.... PERRRFECT I brought the 10 ft and the 5.5 ft rods down with me... Tossed some zero and #1 mepps and got a couple of hits immediately... but, were they really hits.. or were they rocks or tigs on the bottom.. I was soon to find out with this ..... and another shot of the same fish After losing a few little lures in this tight spot, I switched to drifting roe bags... 5 drifts in and down she goes... missed it .... put on a new bag and next drift... down she goes... wham,... fish on... and a good one too... she is up and down that pool like a bonus ball in a pin ball machine.. but i kept her out of the trees... thank goodness for the ten footer... She was pretty beat up but was a decent sized bow,,, and I was NOT SKUNKED for the opener .... Dutchy can be a "real friend" when u get skunked... all season long And the release shot ( from my black berry that was gripped like a vice in my nervous hands near water ) Whooo hoooo... no skunk for meeeee ee .. A few minutes later and I was rewarded with another beauty... even bigger... this one stayed down a long time... pulling and pulling... but i finally got her to break the surface and she all but gave up at that point, until she saw the net.... back down she went... and stayed there for another minute or two... but up she came... She was released too.. About an hour later, a couple of my local friends showed up and fished the hole with me for 30 minutes.. Then they invited me to another river... and off we went... Trekking 20 minutes in At the bottom of that hill... and 10 minutes walk from the river yet,,, was an over flowing beaver dam... let me tell u ... felt bottom wading boots and mudd do not make for easy slugging on an ankle that I had sprained two weeks ago... needless to say... my blackberry was NOT coming out of its pouch till i got to terra ferma And then we arrived... heaven.... all to ourselves again... The first drift... whammo... roe bag gone.... second drift... fish on... had it for 30 seconds.... BING! float was in the trees behind me Tried again.... nothing.... and then... this beautiful german lady comes up behind me... says hello and asks me who I am... sensing she was more interested in my presence there than my charming personality after a long weekend of fishing... i politely told her.... she then informed me she and her husband were the owners of this pieces of Heaven.. after a few minutes she assured us that they were fishermen friendly but just wished that people would pick up their trash.... no kidding.... My three buddies then whistled for me that it was time to go... When I got to them... they were standing with these two HUUUGE german dudes.... they made paul bunyan look like a midget! But... apparently they sensed that I had no intention of getting more friendly with the pretty frauline that I had just met Then the husband of the blonde beauty asks us why we didn't come in from his property, after all it was only a FIVE MINUTE gentle walk in We now had another access point to another great hole... Let me tell u , by the time we got back UP cardiac hill, I was sure glad I was very polite to the very fit frauline My drive home was uneventful but filled with a sense of my friend Hutch's presence with me.... Thank you for Creator for the memories and for all You have given me. Edited April 26, 2011 by splashhopper
mercman Posted April 25, 2011 Report Posted April 25, 2011 Thanks for the epic report Ron.Always nice not to be skunked on opening day
Live2fish85 Posted April 25, 2011 Report Posted April 25, 2011 Great Report I got lost in thinking I was there with you lol, wish I was. But nice fish as well got some real beauts there. Chris
Roy Posted April 25, 2011 Report Posted April 25, 2011 A very good report, thank you. Sounds like you had a blast.
tibbs Posted April 25, 2011 Report Posted April 25, 2011 Great Report Splashhopper! Sounds like you had a great opener.
WeedLine Posted April 25, 2011 Report Posted April 25, 2011 This is a great opener report. Glad that persistence paid off for you. Something similar happened to me this weekend. It's good to be alone with nature sometimes. Beauty fish
The Urban Fisherman Posted April 25, 2011 Report Posted April 25, 2011 Great report Ron! Thanks dude!
I'mHooked Posted April 25, 2011 Report Posted April 25, 2011 Wow, great report. (Only missing the frauline photo )
Twocoda Posted April 25, 2011 Report Posted April 25, 2011 Nice shootin Ron ...you were rewarded for your time invested... its nice to see the water level up in that river...fish might stand a chance of doing what they need to do... Good on ya
splashhopper Posted April 25, 2011 Author Report Posted April 25, 2011 This is a great opener report. Glad that persistence paid off for you. Something similar happened to me this weekend. It's good to be alone with nature sometimes. Beauty fish do tell weedline
spinnerbaitking Posted April 26, 2011 Report Posted April 26, 2011 Great Report now lets see if you can catch fish when we get out LOL SBK
TerryC Posted April 26, 2011 Report Posted April 26, 2011 That was a great little read. Thanks for posting. Cheers, Clarence
hurraylien Posted April 26, 2011 Report Posted April 26, 2011 nice job ron.I think i recognize one of those shots.
ChrisK Posted April 26, 2011 Report Posted April 26, 2011 Excellent opener Ron ! You did amazingly well there brother and although we discurage the posting of OOS fish here on OFC that was a huge smallie. Betcha it would of went at least five pounds if caught in the summertime. Cheers !!
splashhopper Posted April 26, 2011 Author Report Posted April 26, 2011 Excellent opener Ron ! You did amazingly well there brother and although we discurage the posting of OOS fish here on OFC that was a huge smallie. Betcha it would of went at least five pounds if caught in the summertime. Cheers !! Thanks Chris... the suggestion was followed about the pic too.
Leecher Posted April 26, 2011 Report Posted April 26, 2011 Great report and pics Splash Sweet reward for your efforts and persistence!!! Thanks for sharing Leechman
Stern Rules Posted April 27, 2011 Report Posted April 27, 2011 Did you get that rod at CT this year? I got a couple.
spincast Posted April 27, 2011 Report Posted April 27, 2011 great report - and a beauty set of fish to reward you for your efforts.
splashhopper Posted April 27, 2011 Author Report Posted April 27, 2011 Did you get that rod at CT this year? I got a couple. Bought them both at CT... 10.5 footer a few years ago and the ultra light 5.5 ft last year.
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