Fishing Report 6/13/2014, Part 1

Late afternoon session. I coaxed the kids into going to the lake by bringing out our deceased tank residents (we had a weird die-off several months back before I tore down the tank - I froze all the dead fish). They were jumping up and down with excitement that they would get to chum the waters. Some of the fish got eaten by some big bluegill, but the majority got taken out by the turtles - of which there were tons tonight. I ended up hooking one of the turtles (barbless hook - it's not my fault the turtle didn't let go) and the kids got to play 'alien abduction' with the turtle. Poor guy. Wave two comes next...

Fishing Report 6/8/2014, Part 2

I told Marlon since all the spots were taken up, we should go to the dam to the spot I found where all the big pigs hang out. He reluctantly agreed. That all changed when I saw this young of the year turtle came swimming by. It stuck close by the rocks (smart - because there are some decent sized bucket mouths that would eat turtles this size), but it hasn't learned that humans aren't much better than bucket mouths. I actually caught this guy twice, Marlon having let it go once before. He ended up taking the turtle to the nearby dock to examine it more thoroughly. I used the Orvis Superfine Touch 7'6", 4 piece 1 weight lined with an Orvis Hydros Superfine WF1F. This is the lightest weight rod I have and it is a blast to cast and fish! The bend is from the bluegill in the last picture - I caught five of these guys and I let the rod fight them. They all pulled line off the reel - and got me stoked! Awesome fishing for not being even 1/4 mile from the house! Strong evidence for the argument that right sizing tackle to quarry makes everything better!

Saturday Morning Fishing at Lake Newport

I opted to just walk to the lake this morning to go fishing. I brought the 5wt flyrod and my St Croix Ultralight spinning setup. I walked up to the dam and did the rock dance first. I saw these two little turtles swimming around without a care in the world. I figured I'd give them a life lesson (don't forget to check your 6 periodically) then let the kids study them for a while. They got a free meal out of the ordeal so their plus one. Using the spinning rod, I hooked into another yellow perch, and again as I was pulling it up to hand, it came off the hook. I got a small bass the same way (spit the hook after a jump). I finally got one to hand - handsome devil too. I used the flyrod back around toward our side of the lake, I hooked into a decent sized bluegill (not big enough to make into an impressive gyotaku). I saw one of the old resident grass carps hovering close to shore - I suspect these ripening berries are one of the reasons - time to breakout the blueberry fly... Driving around to different spots is awesome, but I do appreciate the local waters (nearly in our backyard).

Look But No Touching - Turned Down By The Locals

Based on last week's carpocalypse, I figured going back to Lock 7 to fish on Saturday morning would be a surefire way to fill my stoke bank. The weather this week has been awesome - Fall temperatures and low humidity. Very comfortable for humans, but for cold blooded animals the lower temps slow things down. I saw five carp just hanging out in the canal - but they weren't interested in any of the flies I presented. I was looking for feeders grubbing around the bottom and I saw mudding plumes and bubble columns, but instead of feeding carp, I learned that turtles generate the same signs. This turtle was huge - hard to gain scale from the picture but it was about 24" in diameter. The heron in the picture did catch a fish. Just minutes before this picture it had caught and eaten a decent sized carp. Sometimes it's okay to not catch fish.

Wildlife Studied Today

Besides these nice Sunnies and several of their friends, I did bring a Small Mouth to hand (flopped away while I was trying to get the picture), several minnows were caught, crayfish a plenty, an aquatic stick bug, the one-eyed turtle, and this snake trying to cool off under a rock (underwater). Again, this park is a wonderful place to spend the day!

AAAARRRRRRRRHHHGGGGHHHHHHHHHH

I tend to get real quiet when I'm fishing - really great way to relax. I also get really still - crane still. So I thought I was being really stealthy while this turtle came wandering along. It got really close - so I picked it up and brought it over to the catch bucket. When I took a closer look, it wasn't my stealth or lightning reflexes - the dude is blind in one eye. We tried feeding it one of the minnows we caught, but it really just wanted to get back to the water. We said "ARRRRGGGHHHHH" to the one-eyed turtle and let it go on it's merry way.

Might Need An Infusion of Something New

We went fishing - again. We caught the same things - again. We did have a good time - again. We might need a change of scenery to keep everything fresh. It's not that we don't appreciate Lake Newport and all the awesomeness it holds - but it does seem we've mastered certain aspects (catching Bluegill and Turtles). I did catch 10 BGs and 3 LMBs - Marlon and Noe caught as many turtles. I think we were just wishing there was something else to catch.

World Record Turtle Rustling

After we got back from getting skunked by the carp, we had to go take out our aggressions on some form of aquatic lifeforms. Not really - paddling in its own right was fun - better than not spending time on the water (but it still isn't surfing). Anyways - back to the story. SO we got back, unpacked the truck and made our way down to the lake. We brought our two fishing hand nets in anticipation of landing a few of the resident turtles. Well - the kids did that and more - they caught 22 of those turtles! Good teamwork in motion here! Marlon would cast out with a piece of hotdog on the hook and lure the turtle in netting range when Noe would scoop them up. I was orbiting the northern leg of the lake - hooked into some bass and ten or so Bluegill - nothing spectacular since the spawning season is over (fish have moved out to deeper water). Fun day!

A Little Bit of Everything

So for the something-something details. We caught a few fish. Managed to land a turtle (they were everywhere). I lost my new titanium fly line. And Noe went zoom-zooming around the Lake on the Uli inflatable. Squeezing the maximum out of the weekends - that's our motto!

Turtle Parole

Time to set the turtle free!!!