Christina's First Time; Is it better to have hooked a monster and lost or to never have hooked it at all?

That's right boys, she caught her first crappie!

The day started early with a quick trip to Home Depot to rent an 3,500psi power-washer. We had a long day of scum removal ahead of us. Hopefully, this $100 investment would speed things up and get us on the fish soon! Fortunately, Christina and Rick decided to make the trip out.

The pontoons had not been cleaned since last winter, the scum was really starting to build-up and it totally destroyed the boats performance. Christina and Rick arrived just in time to go with dad to unmoar the boat and load it on the trailer. I hung back at the gated boat yard with Boomer until dad was under power and had given me a call. Boomer took off with his orange tractor and 5min latter, my slightly worse for wear boat was being parallel parked behind the dock store. The pontoons were trashed! I've seen it worse but the condition explains why we lost so much power! It is like having a 20ft rug glued on each pontoon.

The power-washer was fantastic! We should have rented one years ago! Dad started at a lower pressure but quickly jumped to 3,500psi, it was awesome! That crap got sliced off like a French ladies leg stubble before a date with a rich American guy! Kinda looked like it too, just as thick but a bit greener! Dad handed the washer off to Rich and he jumped in head first. Rich was able to blast ALL the biological growth off, getting right down to the calcium/lime scum that has bonded with the aluminum. For the first time in years we could actually see the aluminum. On a side note, I really wish we could remove ALL the calcium build-up. Rich did a fantastic job, getting every possible inch and then some. Dad was top-side vacuuming and picking up the general crude that accumulates over years of fishing. Christina and I had an exciting day trying to avoid the sun and the occasional blast from Ricks zealous spraying, it was a very strenuous day all around. lol The whole process with Christina's and Ricks help took just over an hour! Normally it takes 4hours with Dad and me alone, w/ NO 3,500psi power-washer. We are going to have to rent the power-washer and trick Rick into coming out each year to do our spring cleaning.

Before starting to clean up our mess, dad removed four plugs used to drain water that accumulates in the pontoons over the years. You might ask, "How does water get into a air-tight welded pontoon?" Good question, we really don't know! At first we thought it was getting through the plugs (they are sheet metal screws, not true `plugs`) so, we sealed the plugs with marine grade silicon. Apparently, it didn't work or wasn't the issue because the rear starboard side pontoon section had a few gallons of water and the front port side pontoon section was CRAZY full of water. It ran steady (drained) for an hour and was still flowing when we left. I guessing there was a good 10 gallons of water in the front port pontoon. No wonder the boat was leaning to port! Dad and I are starting to think the weld job the prior owner had done (apparently he damaged the pontoons) left some micro fractures in the hull that pulls in water as the pontoon contract and expand in the hot Arizona days and cool nights. We left the boat in the yard with the plugs out to drain, hopefully no one will try to put the boat back into the water without asking us. That would be VERY unfortunate!

The crappies weren't quite as veracious as the last trip but we were able to catch a few and even get Christina her very first Arizona black crappie! I think we got in a bit late, the bite was very slow. We were back in our old spot, all fishing in a tiny area, it's almost like ice fishing. Dad and I were on the wood deck and Rick was off to the side, fishing in our bay and the bays to the right and left. Almost immediately, I got a heavy weight on my line (the crappie sometimes hold the minnow in this mouth w/o slurping it in or swimming off) and started yelling for dad to set the hook! Dad had his little 3ft jigging pole in his left hand and in an effort to not lose it hesitated setting my hook to secure the jigging pole. We didn't catch the fish... I was a bit annoyed and let my frustration show. I can get a bit OVERLY aggressive when it comes to fishing! We really did miss a lot of fish, this day. Mostly because we forgot our net but also the crappie just weren't eating the bloody minnows. They were sucking the minnows heads like an old toothless Finland-er enjoying a bowl of fish-head stew! We'd set the hooks and pull up a smashed totally dead minnow, very frustrating!

Christina was off reading her book but we were able to pear-pressure her into doing a bit of fishing. She sat down on the deck and put her feet up on the running-board of our neighbors cabin cruiser. Fairly quickly, she hooked into her first crappie but do to her excitement or the crappies paper like mouth, it quickly pulled off! She was a bit dejected, quickly expressed her discontent and gave up fishing. 45sec. later she was back holding the pole, it didn't take long for the second crappie to bite! She set the hook and started reeling feverishly, determined to NOT let this one get away! We were all yelling instructions (I was probably doing most the yelling); SET THE HOOK!, KEEP THE TIP OF YOUR POLE UP!, DAD GET THE NET!, EASY EASY DON'T FORCE IT, KEEP ITS HEAD DOWN!, DON'T LIFT IT OUTA THE WATER!, GET IT GET IT DAD! Just like that, Christina landed her first crappie! It was a beautiful specimen, a pregnant 3/4lb female Arizona Black Crappie. After admiring her catch and throwing it into the fish basket, Christina was fired up and ready for another! This time she hooked into something BIG! Dad grabbed the net and was guiding her when the fish took a hard run under the dock. It was a large fish on a bluegill spin-casting pole, Christina just wasn't able to control it. The line brushed against something sharp (we are guessing the out-drive or the trim-fin) and the fish was gone in a loud pop! Dad gave Christina one hell of a look of exasperation, like a man that just missed the winning shot with no time left in the championship game after two overtimes! He says he was joking but i'm not sure, it looked like true emotion to me. Dad said it was a large bass, he saw the green body and torpedo shape. I didn't see anything but if it was a crappie it would have been a huge one! Christina had a few more more bites and hook one more crappie that pulled off before giving up for the night. She only fished for 20 minutes but it was an very exciting 20 minutes.

Rick was in the next bay over, fishing around a tangle of hoses and mechanical parts used to lift wake board boats out of the lake. It's tough fishing but usually worth the effort. Rick was getting hit regularly but just wasn't able to connect. Toward the end of the trip, Rick put on a Banjo Minnow that he pick-up on sale but had never used til this day. I think he was grasping for anything to land a fish and it almost worked, almost! He was jigging that Banjo minnow when SOMETHING BIG ate it! He set the hook and was immediately broke off. The craziest part, Rick was using a 20lb test braid, the line shouldn't have broke. I don't know if the line hit something or the knot failed but regardless, the fish was gone, whatever it was. To add insult, it was his only rainbow trout colored Banjo minnow, now a decoration on a very styling fish. Rick ended up with one crappie for the day but I still think he had a good time.

One funny thing did happen! I was watching my minnow twitching away when my pole started to dip. Dad quickly set the hook and began pulling it in and it was HUGE! We were fighting it like real champs when we heard Rick yell out, "I have one too!" Unbeknownst to us, Ricks fat minnow had swam 15ft under the dock and tangled in my line. It seemed, Rick and I were playing tug-of-war but we didn't know this. Rick figured this out before dad and I did, at one point he slacked his line causing my side to look like we lost it. My heart almost stopped! We ended up reeling in Ricks fat minnow and had a good laugh! Is it better to have hooked a monster and lost or to never have hooked at all?

We didn't stay late, packing up well before sunset. On the way out we got the skinny on a few other fishing parties. Most everyone was catching 30+. Mike (the landscaper) was in the 200's catching some beauties, a few over two pounds and around 60 for the day. A pair of kids in our 2nd favorite spot had 20 but lost half to the otter. They heard some splashing around their stringer, went to investigate and actually lifted the otter out of the water WITH the fish! That little bugger just wouldn't let go! I had heard some high pitch squeaking an hour earlier, it crossed my mind that it might be the otter but he hadn't been around so I figured it was just some birds. My first instinct was right, not only did the otter hit the kids but he got Mike later that night. The little bugger put an 2inch hole in his fish basket causing Mike to move his fish into a cooler. My friends Denver, Sarah & company had 15ish for the day. I think we could have done better if we started earlier AND we had remembered our bloody net! The two crappie Christina lost and the 2 or 3 I lost could have easily been netted. Normally, all our tackle and equipment is waiting for us in my boat but this time the boat was 1000yards away in dry storage. Hell, we didn't even have our fish basket, Dad had to buy a rope stringer! We could have done better fishing but on-total, it was a very productive day!

Fish count: 6 crappie

Bartlett Lake Crappie Fishing - Rick's Success

Fish Count: 29 Crappie, 2 Bluegill Total: 31

Rick caught the very first crappie of his entire life and it was a monster! 2lb'er! Congratulations!

The morning started off cold, breezy and slow! I had gotten word from RC and Kyle that the crappie were hitting around the dock, to the tune of 40-50 crappie a person every day! The problem was, dad did not want to leave our old spot to fish in the public location with a bunch of Ridge Runners! After sitting in our old spot for 30 minutes without so much as a nibble, it became apparent that the fish were not biting there. Rick had put out four catfish polls with some stinky bait he made with fish guts and a play-do formula, Christina was reading a book in the sun and I was trying to talk dad into moving to the new spot. It was very cold! Dad and I took the bare essentials and walked over to the new spot where five other people were fishing. They had been catching crappie all morning (actually, they had been catching Crappie in that location for two weeks). Dad was very nervous around that many people. I had him place my pole in the water with a minnow. The ridge runners were using different colored jigs. The most productive of all the colors was light green and dark green. Oddly enough, the bigger jigs were producing more fish. Dad and I could not even get a nibble! We moved all over that dock, at one point we were fishing only inches from where they had their lines. Regardless, we could not get one bite. In the hour that we stood there freezing our butts off, they had pulled up at least one dozen crappie! With a final attempt, I had a heart-felt talk with a fat minnow that heroic volunteered to be sacrificed for this endeavor, he assured me his distressed wiggling would guaranty a crappie would eat him! He gave his life in vain. Dad and I walked back to our boat dejected, just hoping our spot would turn on. Rick had caught one small bluegill while we were gone. Dad opened up an MRE for us to eat, it was pretty good, something I haven't had before, chicken noodle soup. Fortunately, before I was finished eating the crappie started biting! For the next three hours we pulled in one crappie after the next.

Rick caught the very first crappie of his life! It was a monster, 2lb'er+! I had told him how the Ridge Runners were catching crappie on green jigs, apparently he had a few green jigs that came with his fishing pole (you know, the type that comes in the little box when you buy with your Kmart child's fishing pole combo pack). I had been catching 1/2lb+ crappie, one after the next. He walked over and dropped his Kmart jig next to my line and was immediately hit by something very large! Dad and I thought it was a large bass, the way it jumped out of the water. We did not realize it was a crappie until after dad had netted and hauled it onto the dock. That fish was huge! A real trophy by anyone's standards! Rick preceded to catch many many additional crappie with that jig over the next two and a half hours. He caught another two pound-er in the same spot on a minnow! Rick was just plain hot! The crappies took everything he put in the water! Seriously, he was having a day every fisherman dreams of!

Dad tried a few different types of jigs but settled on one similar to Ricks Kmart special. It worked, he was getting hit and catching crappie right and left. I was doing pretty good with my minnows but not near a good as the jigs. The jigs were getting hit 5 to 1 over a minnow! We were shocked!

This was a day of firsts! Ricks first crappie, the first time a Kmart jig caught anything over 3oz and the first time in my LIFE we caught a crappie with a jig! Two years ago I decided to become a crappie fisherman with an emphasis on trolling. With research in hand, I headed to Cabala's with my trusty large New York City African-American aide, who has zero interest in fishing and even less interest in crappie fishing, in tow. I proceeded to buy every color, type and style jig head, hook and grub body I had ever read about, enough to fill four tackle boxes. Simon (my aide) was bored as hell, I on the other hand, I was as happy as Scrap-booking fanatic with a 50% discount to Michael's. We trolled for a full season, caught numerous little bass including an 5lb'er and one 5lb catfish but NO damn crappie! Until today! With this great success and new found confidence, dad and I are going to give these jigs another try! Hopefully they'll pay off during the spring spawn and trolling this summer!

We only brought home 27 Crappie (19 for me and 8 for Rick, including his two 2lb'er), one gill was to small and the other was fortunate the basket was full of crappie! The remaining two crappie were give back to the lake Gods. Hopefully our offering will be remembered and looked on favorably during our next fishing trip.

Most of the crappie were pregnant females (2/3 were female) with their eggs developed about 90%. If the weather holds, they will begin spawning in 2 to 3 weeks at the north side of the lake & in the southern end, 3 to 4 weeks later.

Bartlett Lake Fishing Trip w/ David J.

It was another brisk early spring day in Arizona. The sky was clear and sunny but the wind was very cold. The lake was not near as bad as the last trip out but was still covered by debris. Dave and I fished around the dock while Dad readied the boat for our trip up the lake. Normally, I would man the trolling motor but I was not feeling confident in my abilities this morning. Between our visitor and the cold weather my hands were just not working correctly. We had a fantastic trip, all be it cold, up the lake. I decided to have a shoreline lunch in a bay around the buoy lines. Fortunately, dad was able to anchor the boat in a small cove where we could lower our lines and begin fishing. I was not trying to fish hard, the cold weather it makes bluegill fishing very difficult. My main interested was getting dad to relax (a near impossible endeavor) and keep David occupied. To my surprise, David caught a small 6in bass! He had lowered his line down to a structure (not quite sure if it was an artificial fish-house or just some debre), allowing his bait to drifted around under the boat and to my surprise, started getting hit. Dave wouldn't let me take a picture of his little bass, worried that this would be the only fish he caught and his fisherman's bravo would be damaged if anyone saw it. Shortly there after, he caught a very nice 1/2lb bluegill hybrid. I made sure to get a picture this time!

I was feeling better about my trolling motor captaining skills, after practising during our MRE lunch. We up-anchored and headed down the shore. Before heading back to the marina, I trolled crank baits up the north side of the bay to a hot spot from years earlier, it didn't forgo us! Dave didn't catch anything but did miss a few good hits and dad caught a very yellow 1lb channel catfish. Our trip back to the marina was relaxing, I wanted to go up to the Yellow Cliffs but dad wasn't comfortable with the motors water cooling system. We headed straight back to the marina. One tiny issue, I forgot to pull in the fish basket w/ Dave's 1/2lb bluegill BEFORE the 5 mile trip back to the marina. The fish got scaled alive! We had to dispose of the little guy, his guts got busted up during the trip causing him to rot! Oops!

The marina was still completely trashed from the numerous dilusies and the air and water temperatures were still low, all leading me to believe the crappie fishing would totally suck! To my everlasting delight, I was wrong! I wasn't able to fish (forgot my pole holder), dad was fishing in our current favorite spot and David was chilling in the back of my boat. That was until dad pulled the second crappie from that hole, I bet Dave hadn't moved that quickly in years! We all fished that 2ft by 8ft hole for the next 3 hours, catching 16 crappie and a few bluegill. David had a hot finger for crappie, this day! I was also watching his line & pole, cheering him on and directing the action every time he got bit. It was a good time! The only difficulty we were having was the 1in thick of scum and branches jammed until the bay. Literally, the fishing line could not penetrate the muck and every 1/2lb netted fish also came with 5lbs of debre! It was a mess but made it interesting. We had a great day fishing! I could not have asked for a better day for David, cool and easy going...

David was still craving a pizza, so I ordered a pair from the road. It was waiting for us when we arrived!

Fish Count: 16 Crappie, 2 Bluegill, 1 Catfish Total: 19

Bartlett Lake Biblical Flood Update

The lake is up 35ft to 85% full, not the 100% we were hoping. SRP is trying to hold the lake 8ft low at 92%. I personally like the lake full!

Those days and nights were rough, they ran three 2 man teams continually. The other six employees didn't make it in before the washes ran over and closed the road. There was no going OR coming for 72 hours. The six remaining trapped employees ran in two man two hour shifts, cranking 40 1 inch thick cable wenches spred over the entire dock before getting a four hour break. This went on 24/7, day and night! If they failed, the marina would be submigged within the hour OR even worse, a 12,000lbs anchor line breaks! During the biggest storm of the last 12 months, the marina would be pushed off its morings, buckle, smashing the dock w/ millions in boats being compremised. Those six guys had a VERY rough 72 hours!

My boat made it through unscathed!

Pea Soup Andersen's Restaurant - Buellton, CA has the best split pea soup in the world, it's rich, thick and wonderful w/ sourcream & bacon bits, plus it's All-You-Can-Eat. Sounds wonderful but I wouldn't know because I've never eaten there. Despite that unfortunate fact, I doubt it's thicker or more baby-shit green like then Bartlett Lake. The lake is completely trashed! A mud flow 100 yards wide that stretchs the length of the lake PLUS floating masses of reeds, branches and whole trees make a trip down the lake trechorous. I'm praying the debre will settle soon, my uncle is visiting us the end of feburary.

Lack of Fishing Trip to Bartlett

Went out to the lake w/ little hope of catching anything and we were right to be discuraged. Not a damn thing, not even a bite. The lake is as silted over as i've ever seen it! The water is thick w/ mud. There are rivers of mud w/ reeds, branches and whole trees floating down the lake. Trying to navigate the lake is like trying to navagate a mine field. Regardless, we gave it our best for 3 hours. Walked a 6th of the marina trying to find those bloody fish, nothing! (BTW the minnows were really nice, it was a shame no fish would eat them!) We gave up....TOTALLY SKUNKED!

Before leaving we always run the boat motor for 15min to keep it properly lubbed and to keep any moister in the gas from settling in the engine. Unfortunately, the storm pushed crap into the motors water intake empellor (for cooling). The engine wouldn't circulate water, that's bad! Dad got down and cleaned it out but it still dribbled worse then an old man with prostrate cancer. We decided dad should take the boat out and give it a good run. We lucked out, the engine started peeing properly! Ya! Saved me a few hundred in proctalagy fees! Now all we have left to do is clean an inch of scum off the pontoons, fun.

Anyone interest, the lake is 15ft down (85% full) and coming up at irregular intervals. It's fluctuating 2ft up and down every day.

I did take a few nice pictures, hopefully they'll come out well.

Bartlett Lake Biblical Flood 112,000 cfs

Bartlett Lake is currently at 39% (as of 01-21-10) and going up one foot an hour! By Sunday both Bartlett & Horseshoe will be 100% full. That is crazy! 112,000 cubic feet per second of water is flowing into Horseshoe & Bartlett Lake causing the water to rise one foot an hour! Crazy! The normal flow rate is 150 cfs in the winter and 1000 cfs in the spring. 112,000 cfs is an 100X increase in water flow every second! That is an Awsome amount of water!

We are in the mists of a torrent from California to New Mexico & Mexico to Nevada. Some areas are getting 5+ inches a day with 3ft of snow above 5000ft. We even had a tornado warning (some reports of a funnel) over Scottsdale & Carefree. The marinas walkway was damage in this wind storm. Bryan has `all hands on deck` endlessly cranking loose mooring lines. 40+ lines, 10 people, every hour for the next 4 days! Those folks are going to have CRAZY sore arms! Additionally, Mike & Cindy have to continually adjust the gas, water & sewer lines and add new dock links before the rising waters literally rip everything apart. Let's hope my boat weathered the storm!

I'm hoping the cold water will put off the spring spawn for a month and allow the fish (specially the shad) to feed on the tons of nutrience being pumped into both lakes. The higher waters, increased shore-lines and abundance of food should make for a fantastic & successful spawn. On a downside; the lake is going to be very hard to fish w/ all the extra feed. The debris fields will make the lake completely unnavigable (but will provide great cover for the spawning fish and fry) with WHOLE trees floating down the center of the lake. One medium water-logged stump will completely destroy your boats lower unit, out-drive and fiberglass. Not to mention the gel-coat and impeller damage even the smallest debris will cause. The lake will be a mine field for the next month. It will take an army of Mexicans to clear that lake and the responsibility will fall on Bryan. It's a good thing the Army Core of Engineers got the dam repairs done and spill-way debris removed before this flood hit! Completed Dec. 1st 2009 The nutrience will cause a CRAZY algae bloom this spring. There will be 10 foot algae beards flowing from every boat & dock until the water warms and the carp come back. All things considered, this biblical flood should really benefit the health of the lake and Bartlett Lake Marina once the debris has been removed. Now, if only we could get APS to leave Horseshoe full and leave Bartlett alone! Not Likely!

01-16-2010 Bartlett Lake Crappie - Can fishing get any better?

Fish Count: 23 Crappie, 5 Catfish Total: 28

We got to the lake around 1:30PM, it was definitely cold and over cast. I had a 1hr meeting with Bryan (the marina owner) to discuss his two websites, spring marketing w/ Jon and the progress of Boat Club Manager before I could start fishing. Dad was already in our spot and had one huge bite right before I showed up but missed the hook-set because he was trying to Marine open an MRE. I went straight to our second spot, hooked up my new fish pole holder and my newest invention, The ACME Fishing Pole Potentiometer Hook-Setter w/ Mouth Release. The name seems a bit long, I'll work on that! I'd like to report that the rig worked like intended but it didn't. The string got knotted up, the release line wasn't long enough and the bloody thing wouldn't release! (That and the line tasted terrible!) Otherwise, I think with some refinements the idea is sound. Mean while, dad was getting hit like crazy and pulled up one nice slab crappie. I quickly packed-up the TAFPHS w/ MR and moved my butt to the honey hole. The next 30min were frantic! Dad was trying to get a MRE going but that would have to wait! The fish were coming fast and furious, the minnow wouldn't even make it 10ft before we'd get hit! Literally, every time a minnow hit the water we would hook up (w/ only a few misses). Dad didn't even have enough time to get his pole in the water. If we had two or three poles going I guarantee we'd have caught 30+ fish in 30mins. All the fish were around 3/4 pound, just lite enough to heave out of the water w/o ripping the hook out. We did loose one that way but ended up catching him the ever next cast. The lake gods were looking favourably on us this day! That's right, we caught the one that got away! At least, dad and I would like to think so. He did have two fresh wounds in his mouth, greedy little bugger! For the 2nd trip in a row, dad banged one little bugger on the underside of the marina, ripped the hook out and knocked that crappie OUT! Those little crappie really have a weak noodle! This time the hook impaled on the underside of a boats running board, the fish banged off the board, flipped back into the water but luckily he slowly floated back to the surface. I saw him just floating there, dad had more then enough time to scoop him up with the net. That crappie was out for a good 45sec! A few minutes later, I hook into a Line Zinger! I was staring at my limp line and rod tip, watching for the slightest movement, when the line went less limp (there was no `bite`, just a sense). I yelled for dad to set the hook and just held on! We both thought it was a bass but to our complete astonishment, it was a GIANT 2.52LBS female crappie (weighed by an official G&F scale at Bartlett Lake Marina). She was a beautiful 15 inch Black Crappie, 2 inches across her back and very full bodied (thick)! She was half full of eggs, not really showing yet. The `fattening` up season must have just started (cold water but warm days). I did feel a bit bad for not releasing her but that pasted after a few moments. Don't fret, she'll make a fine meal! We were really lucky to land her, she tangled in dads line and banged into the out-drive twice. She even pulled drag twice! Dad thinks his jigging attracted the big girl. Dad also hooked into something BIG (we think it was a big crappie). His pole doubled over, the fish rocked to the left straight under the marina and pulled off! Dad was disgusted!! Damn near threw his pole down. After the first 30min., the crappie came slow and steady with just a few moments of craziness. I had just enough time between the action to take a few bites of my macaroni w/ cheese & BBQ beef patty MRE. (Side Note: The Gov't is getting chincy w/ the 2010 MRE's! They barely had enough for one person and the portions are smaller. 2003-2009 MRE's were over full with snacks, mixed drinks and entrees. Damn you B.O.! ;-p) The crappie really started messing with us! They were hitting the minnows w/ their gill plates, sucking on them and carrying the minnows around in their lips. The little buggers wouldn't EAT IT! I even managed to hook one in the back behind the gill plate. We caught an additional 5 catfish (none of any size, the biggest 1lb'er came right as we were packing up to leave at 5:30PM), no bluegill or bass. We ended up burning through five dozen minnows and caught 23 crappie. This trip was by-far the earliest we've ever got off the water after night fishing. It's good we came in early, as it was, Dad was out filleting them for 1.5hrs. If we brought home any more he would have been stuck cleaning'em for hours. Plus, it was crazy cold and we are out of hand-warmers.

The earth almost shot up and collided with my brand new pocket camera but fortunately I was able to summon `The Force` to advert tragedy! Dad was showing me the pictures he had just taken, as he turned the earth made it's move! Fortunately, I was able to use my innate midichlorians to catch the wrist strap on my rode holder, causing it to flip 360 degrees twice around my stand w/o hitting anything. At the same time, I restrained the earth and adverted disaster! Now, someone might say, the wrist strap snagged my pole holder as dad turn away from me, pulling the camera from his hand, flipped twice and by sheer dumb luck the camera didn't fall to it's untimely demise. That `someone` isn't me. If only I could figure out how to use The Force to fly my wheelchair around or even just hold up my whiskey flask! :-\ Cheers!

Location: Bartlett Lake

01-02-2010 First fishing day of 2010, Killed the Crappie, 21 (5lb of fillets) a new Record!

I did not think a day at the lake could have been any better then our last trip (12-20-2009), I was wrong! I've filled a cooler with fish three times in my life, this made a forth. The weather was outstanding! The air was a crisp, fresh 65 degrees w/ no clouds or even the slightest breeze. I didn't even put my jacket or poncho till 4:30PM. We started chumming corn around 2:30PM but didn't do very well. Catfish just aren't our thing! Rick is the Catfish Hunter! I did catch an 1lb'er and we got another bite on a water-dog (I didn't have to wait another 25yrs, Yay!) but we didn't catch that one, either. BTW; Mr. Dog Jr. did survive that attack! We had placed the pole in a holder on the boat, so when it got hit, dad had to run all the way around the boat to set the hook. I was hoping a big cat would suck Mr. Dog in and run off with it but I guess they just like playing with the mud puppies! Dad gave up and went after crappie, he started slow but found the little buggers. After pulling up two 3/4lb crappie in 5min I gave up my hunt for cats and switched to crappie. It was the right move! Over the next three hours we caught twenty-one (21) 3/4lb to 1lb crappie and three big bluegill. It was like ice fishing, all 24 fish were caught in an area 18inches by 72inches. We had to keep the fish out of the docks, buoys and the boats out-drive. We managed to not loose one fish but one did fall back into the lake. Sounds like a contradiction, doesn't it? I hooked a smaller crappie in a little 18inch hole, dad grabbed the line and pulled the fish from the lake. To our surprise, the hook was bare! Dad looked at me with the puzzled expression, "Where did the crappie go!?" Dad glanced at the bare hook then down at the water and dashed for the net. Apparently, the crappie banged it's head on the underside of the dock, got knocked silly and pulled off the hook! When dad looked back into the water he saw the crappie just floating on the surface gulping water. Luckily, dad netted him before he woke up and escaped! By the time dad threw him in the fish-basket he was fully recovered and flipping out. The bite was steady for three hours, not insanely fast but fast enough to keep dad jumping. We used up 4 dozen minnows (dad had to run back to the store for the second 2 dozen). At one point (about 45mins) the crappie quit biting and started hitting and killing our minnows with their gills. Dirty little buggers! Normally after killing the minnow they'd circle back and we'd catch them but this time they just killed it and swam off! Fortunately, the bite picked back up for the last hour before the sun was completely down behind the mountains. The stars were out bright (and only a few UFO's)! We got off the water before 7:30PM and back home eating a Macho Beef Burrito by 9!

Fish Count: 21 Crappie, 3 Bluegill and 2 small catfish...Total 26

12-20-2009 Bartlett Lake fishing trip with Rick - The first trip of the new 2010 season

It was a fantastic day out on the lake , especially for winter's day. We had a bit of everything, excitement, triumph, loss, intrigue, offerings to the lake gods and even an alien spaceship! Where do we start? Awe yes, the beginning!

Rick beat us to the lake and started chumming with corn, we arrived a little after 1PM. It was cool with a steady cold breeze coming from the west. The sky was perfectly clear, not one cloud but the sun was warm. It did get a bit colder as the wind picked up. Luckily the wind died at 3PM and it didn't get much below 40 degrees that night (Jacket, poncho and hand-warmer (I did burn the piss out of my wrist w/ those damn chemical warmers) weather but no need for the electric heater or Gortex poncho). Rick got into some Beautiful pale channel cats. The first was a 3lb'er+ and he hooked into another 6 cats in the next hour and a half. Dad and I weren't as lucky with the cats. Dad did catch a nice 1lb bass on a worm and a very small cat. I was having no luck! I kept getting nibbles but couldn't hook the little buggers. I did have a first, not totally successful but a first. The dock store gave us one tiny waterdog, the smallest mud puppie I've ever seen, with our two dozen minnows. I had dad hook Mr. Dog through the mouth and lowered him to the bottom in hopes that one big whiskered friend would put an end to Mr. Dog and in the process get a hook stuck in his face. I've been fishing with water dogs for 25 years without a single nibble! This day that ended! My line started slowly moving to the left and my pole got heavy! I waited til the tip dipped and yelled for dad to set the hook. Dad grabbed the line and gave it a quick jerk. The problem was, I wasn't using my pole holder (the pole was resting on my laptop/rig) so when dad jerked the line my pole flew off its rest! I felt his weight for the split second before my pole-tip fell and my line went slack. UGGGGG! 25 years of waiting and I missed my chance! Let's hope I don't have to wait until I'm 57 before the next bite on a mud puppie! In case your interested, Mr. Dog didn't make it! He gave his life valiantly to pursuit of a big wile catfish! Mean while, Rick was catching catfish after catfish! He caught seven in the first two hours; three over 3lb's, two 1.5lb'ers and the rest weren't keepers. The cats were being caught 50ft down, as Rick pulled them up quickly they got the Bends! No joke! As soon as we netted them there would be a large pop followed by a growling wusssh of air. Apparently, the catfishes swim bladder was quickly decompressing with a big puff of air out the fishes mouth. Two catfish had such a drive to live they found a way to break free their chains of bondage and excepted (physically and metaphorically)! The first to make a run for it (quite literally) was a 1.5lb'er. After landing the the little bugger, he actually started walking way using his bony dorsal fins! We caught him before he could make it to the water, seeing his effort, Rick had pity for him and let him go. Saying, "Any fish that actually walks deserves to be set free! Hell, he maybe the next evolution of walking channel catfish!" But wait, we hadn't seen anything yet! We had placed the three big 3lb'ers+ on a steel fishing stringer (you've seen the type, solid steel chain with big steel "safety" clips that you latch through the fishes jaw). Apparently, they devised a plan of escape! Through sheer tenacity and strength of will, they managed to twist and pull until one actually broke the steel clip and escaped! He didn't just unclasp and slip off, he twisted so hard the metal actually snapped! Now that's a true desire to live! Unfortunately for his co-conspirators, they were immediately placed in the fish baskets once the plot was unearthed. They met an unfortunate but, all be it, a very tasty end! Rick was all over the catfish, he even managed to catch a 1.5lber while he was away from his pole out getting us more minnows! Dad caught one tiny cat an I only got the one water dog bite but don't fret, we made up for the slow start with later crappie! Seeing as we couldn't catch a cat, dad moved on to crappie (around 4PM) and immediately hooked into a 1lb slab crappie. The lake Gods must have looked favourably on Ricks sacrifice because soon there-after we got into the crappie! He managed to catch 5 more crappie and big bluegils in the next ten minutes. I switched over to crappie and got into them pretty quick. Over the next 2 hours dad and I caught 9 crappie and 5 big bluegils. Rick still hasn't been able to get the crappie bite going but did land a few big bluegils and got hit by a few crappie. We tried our new green sinking crappie light (in conjunction w/ our old floating light) but didn't have much luck drawing in fish. I was able to land one additional crappie. Rick and I both saw a large crappie lurking around the lights. It chased my minnow and hit Ricks minnow but we didn't hook him, bummer! The night was perfectly clear, the stars were extremely bright and I saw a UFO! Rick said it was just an airplane on approach with its red blinking lights on like the five other blinking red lights flying behind it. I don't know, it was Flying, totally Unidentifiable (as it was dark) and for sure an Object! :-p

I think we had a great night, one of the best of 2009! Fish Count: 9 crappie, 7 bluegill, 2 large mouth bass and 9 catfish (5 keepers & 3 brought home by Rick) Total: 27