Last couple of days have been the pits

C
ChezJfrey
Went out for 12 hours on Saturday and skunked.

On my 5th cast, caught a small 6 incher. My spoon was 1/3 its length and the hook could have killed it! Not even sure how the whole hook got swallowed. But, the hook had actually slipped into a gill slit without piercing anything, so a lucky fish!

About 7:15 p.m., felt a slight hangup and if you remember my #1 rule this year (and it's served me well to this point), if I'm not sure, set the hook. I did so and my rod hit an overhanging branch above my head...snap! Sounded like a firecracker and I watched my broken rod end slide down my line, trailed by one of its line guides slipping along down with it. Of course, it wasn't a fish, but a rock and I ended up losing my terminal and broken rod half. Oh well, day was nearly over anyway...

Then, woke up this morning and my left armpit was irritated; like it had been rubbing a rough seam in my shirt. Took a look and I've got a flippin' tick! Took some super-precise tweezers and got it OFF cleanly (don't tell my wife about her nice brow tweezers ;) ). Now I've got to keep an eye out for Lyme disease symptoms in the coming days...great. Can't for the life of me, figure how it got there as I was wearing a long sleeve shirt AND a jacket over it. I usually suffer a bit in warm weather, but after an experience of my forearms getting brutalized by 'no seeums' last year, it's my usual getup these days.

Today...late afternoon, nothing going on, so I headed out for a couple hours. Got to the river at 6. Cast around...nothing. Then, a slightly different bit of water in my vicinity has always looked fishy, but all I've managed is a couple trout...never seen or witnessed a steelhead. I cast upstream into the nearby rocks and reel back...hangup...and in a dim moment, forgot my #1 rule. I just lifted my rod tip a bit to let the lure hopefully bounce up. My rod tip wiggles a slight bit. Hmmm, another trout? Wait, I see some big flashes practically at my feet in just two feet of water, 4 feet out from the bank I'm standing on...it's a steelhead. Um, hey idiot, you never set the hook. Of course we know how this story ends...I yank back, but for how long this scene has played out by now, that fish rid itself of the lure well before that. The spoon flips out of the water nearly straight up and lands on the ground behind me.

I fished another spot for about 5 minutes, then tried the hole again where I saw the fish swim back into, but no dice.

I'm enrolling myself in remedial steelheading tomorrow morning for that complete lapse...

The only redeeming thing about this was that at least I know that bit of water I've suspected for awhile, right near my recent haunts, does indeed hold fish.
 
R
rippin fish lips
ChezJfrey said:
The only redeeming thing about this was that at least I know that bit of water I've suspected for awhile, right near my recent haunts, does indeed hold fish.

I always seem to pass up water like that ever year. Every year it's a new hole, and every year or... other year i end up fishing it and pull a couple trout out. If it holds trout, it can and will hold steelhead at some point in time! And it can be any year, or back to back years. That is why i started fishing every hole i have seen/know at least a couple times a year. I switch it up and fish them once or twice a week. Twice if i have hooked/landed a steely in it recently. If i get skunked with steelhead in that hole, i will let it "sit" For a good week or 2 without even throwing a line in it, Then go back 2 weeks later and i manage to find steelhead in them. Always switch your steelhead holes up early in the season cuz the fish will be scattered. Never fish a hole if u have been skunked more then 3 times in it the last week or 2 weeks. (let it sit, and let the fish come in it.) then hit it hard.
 
Raincatcher
Raincatcher
Ugh! Not the way to spend your weekend, for sure. The good news is that it just has to get better from here...doesn't it? The only way it might get worse is if your wife finds out you tweezed a tick with her good tweezers...no bueno...:naughty: no bueno. :lol:
 
J
JeannaJigs
your wife better not find out about the tweezers, just sayin'...I would come unglued lol. There's just some things you don't do lol.

At least you got out in the nice weather! I'm on day four of a six day work week, and would have killed to spend some time on the water.
 
E
eugene1
LOL on the title.
 
C
ChezJfrey
JeannaJigs said:
your wife better not find out about the tweezers, just sayin'...I would come unglued lol. There's just some things you don't do lol.

Yeah...LOL. Even though I disinfected them after, I figured she probably would be peeved about it...so I just won't say anything. But, they were the best tool for the job!
 

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