The Joys Of A Car-Topper

Buying a little 12-foot aluminum boat is one of the best decisions Darrell and I have made. The process was not without frustration, but the end result was worth it. It took a lot of searching on Kijiji and other classifieds, a sale that fell through, several phone calls, and eventually a two-hour drive before we found it – our perfect boat – a 12ft Alumacraft with a 9.9hp Johnson motor.

I thought the lack of a trailer would be a major inconvenience but it turns out that having a boat we can throw in the back of the truck and drop into any body of water, regardless of the existence of a launch, is awesome!

Sure it sticks out a little, but it takes up less room than a trailer! The boat is surprisingly easy to load.

It took a bit of trial-and-error but eventually we figured out that propping the boat up with an oar was the easiest way to load and unload equipment.

Here's the best part of the boat. See that bracket...

...that bracket is for the wheels! That's right, our boat has detachable wheels It's a simple matter of inserting two pins and then you can wheel the boat around wherever you like.

We get a lot of comments about the wheels. Usually from people having to lug their boat here and there while we happily roll ours around. I can tell you these wheels make Darrell's life easier because they make me less likely to whine and complain about moving the boat around

Ready to hit the water...

Having a little aluminum boat is really handy when putting the boat in at spots like this.

Once the boat is in the water you can take off the wheels, or leave them on and just raise them up.

This awesome little boat goes in easily anywhere we choose to fish. It braved the big water in Owen Sound during the salmon derby and yesterday it got us into some nice crappie on Guelph Lake.

A nice little crappie from Guelph Lake

Catching crappie on the drop-shot.

I love having this boat and look forward to taking it out each weekend. There’s no shortage of places we can put in at and there are many lakes yet to explore…

2011 Salmon Spectacular Recap

The weather was much more cooperative for this year’s Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular and as a result I was able to get out on the water far more than last year. Unfortunately, that didn’t result in catching any more fish. In fact, after hitting the water for three of the ten days of the derby, I got royally skunked!

A beautiful sunset on the water.

Darrell and I ended up running dipsy divers in an effort to get our baits down where the fish might bite. We don’t have downriggers on the new boat (it’s meant to be a car-topper after all) but after running long lines that were a little difficult to manage in the heavy boat traffic, maxing out at a depth of 70-feet and getting no bites, I think we may have to invest in riggers in the future. We tried a variety of lures and combinations, running the standby Lymans quite often but nothing seemed interested.

I never tire of seeing the rods all set up.

Even without catching a fish, participating in the Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular is a lot of fun. The whole city is immersed in the event and it seems like there are anglers everywhere you go. There is entertainment daily in the big tent and it becomes one huge party. Many anglers line the pier, hoping to fish starting their run up the river. But for me, the real action is out on the water where so many boats troll by, attempting to land the big one.

My camera was having major issues capturing the number of boats out on the water. Picture about 20 boats in this view...it was incredible. I loved being out at night especially - with all the lights it makes the bay look like a village.

The derby ended at noon on Sunday. The awards ceremony was set for three o’clock that afternoon and Darrell had bought quite a few draw tickets for the 17ft G3 boat that was being given away, so we were in for the long haul. And what a long haul it was…we didn’t leave there until 6:30 or so. But it was truly a sight to see, the amount of prizes being given away was amazing. There were prizes awarded for the top ten salmon from each day and the top five trout from each day. It’s worth entering a fish in this derby because you stand a great chance at walking away with some fantastic prizes.

The winning trout was an 11.97 lb lake trout caught by Ken MacKay of Owen Sound. It was Ken’s first ever time downrigging and he wasn’t sure what depth he caught the fish at because he was too busy playing with the button on the rigger! For his catch Ken walked away with a 14ft G3 boat, 15hp Yamaha outboard and two manual Scotty downriggers.

The winning salmon weighed in at 21.16 lbs and was caught by Rudy Hachey of Owen Sound. Rudy caught his fish in the early hours of the morning, 80ft down in 90ft of water, on a white Lyman black ladderback. It would have been impossible to not be happy for Rudy – he was so thrilled with the win and always smiling.

When the awards ceremony ended, and Darrell’s draw tickets proved to be unlucky, we climbed into the truck for the long drive home. Both of us were exhausted but, despite being skunked, we had a great time and will look forward to the event again next year.

For complete Salmon Spectacular results click here.

For more on Rudy’s win click here.

 

No Go At The Salmon Spectacular

This morning started early with a wakeup of 3:45am. We’d actually meant to get up earlier but one of our darling pets seemed reluctant to let us go and turned off the power to the alarm clock.

On the road shortly after 4, Darrell and I headed to Owen Sound to participate in the opening weekend of the Salmon Spectacular. We knew the wind was likely to pick up but hoped that the water would be somewhat calm if we got there early enough.

Unfortunately, the first sound we heard upon reaching the launch was that of waves crashing into the rocks. It didn’t take long to confirm that we weren’t launching the boat today! A few brave souls were out there, being tossed around by the waves. I think I’ll pass on that today – no sense sinking our little boat the weekend after we bought it!

Hopefully we’ll find some calmer water to throw into on the way home.

Don’t Forget To Check The Knot, Especially On Vacation

With the first half of our vacation drifting into the memory banks, Darrell turned the truck towards Killarney and our last stop, Tyson Lake.

While Sturgeon Bay is full of campsites and cottages, there are relatively few cottages at Tyson Lake and the feeling of being in the wilderness cannot be avoided. At Tyson, and its adjoining lake, Spoon Lake, it is quite normal to spend an entire day on the water without seeing anyone. And that is how we spent the last two days of our vacation – seeing only a handful of people and boats, having much of that wild beauty to ourselves.

Rock faces and trees - the predominant sight up north. My pictures fail to do the scenery justice as it was absolutely breathtaking.

The launch at Tyson is actually quite nice and easy to use. The main problem is that the parking lot is not big enough to turn around in if there are other vehicles parked there. It was easy to tell first-timers from those that had launched there before by the tight spots they got themselves into.

Once again we used drop-shotting as our go-to technique. On Tyson it worked well close to shore to land us some decent smallies during the day. The numbers weren’t there and neither were the trophy fish, but with such a relaxing setting it was hard to be upset.

The night bite proved to be best as the smallies hit frequently on top water lures. Again I used my Rapala DT Fat 1 and boated quite a few smallmouth. I don’t do much night fishing and found it difficult to remove trebles with limited light without hooking myself!

I think we finally managed to make Jack tired. He insisted on crawling into Darrell's lap and refused to get back down.

We ran through the narrow and obstacle-ridden channel that joins Tyson to Spoon and spent some time fishing there. In Tyson we targeted smallies but in Spoon it was all about largemouth bass.

Look at all the wonderful weeds and slop! Prime location for largies.

Again, Scum Frogs ruled the day and the fish had fun teasing us before finally biting. It took some work and we had to get through a lot of small fish, but we finally caught a few decent ones.

There is something about the air up that way – it’s so much cleaner and refreshing, with just the right scents mixed in to make me want to bottle it up and bring it home. It’s no wonder that sleep comes easily after spending the day enjoying the beauty of the wilderness and inhaling that air. Eventually you drift into a world where only you exist, almost like it’s a separate planet. It really is amazing up there.

Of course, our trip would not have been complete without another ‘mishap’ and this caused us to reconsider moving on to another lake. We pulled into a bay to anchor and have some lunch. Darrell lifted up the anchor and was about to toss it over when the knot came undone and the anchor fell to the bottom of the lake. *sigh* Now we had to spend more money on the way home to pick up another anchor. But more than that, the incident left us feeling a little snake-bit. On this trip we had already enountered:

• a bent-up boat trailer,
• a broken fishing rod,
• a burnt up bilge pump,
• and now we had lost an anchor.

Our original plans called for moving on to a more remote lake with a difficult launch but after the latest incident we felt something more dire may happen if we tried that launch. Images of a sinking boat and a very stuck truck came to mind and we both agreed that we did not need to tempt fate. We spent a little more time at Tyson before packing up for the drive home.

An early morning on Spoon

Our last morning enjoying both Tyson and Spoon. It was a beautiful way to end our vacation.

It was an amazing trip and only strengthened my desire to move north. I know it’s a longer winter but to be surrounded by something this special would make it all worthwhile.  And despite all the mishaps I can’t help but think our week away was perfect – I got to spend it with my family, in the boat, catching fish, in a beautiful setting.  I could not have asked for more.

 

Sturgeon Bay Delights – The Fish And The Sights

As I mentioned in my last post, day two of our vacation began with pouring rain. We spent the morning at our campsite in Sturgeon Bay Provincial Park and did our best to stay dry, a very difficult task considering that Jack had gotten soaked between the tent and the truck and, like any good dog, felt the need to share the dampness with Darrell and I.

Darrell's pike from day one. I was eager to get back on the water and catch one for myself.

When the rain slowed to a drizzle we packed up camp and headed for the boat – with all fourteen fishing rods and an uncounted number of tackle boxes. I think the other campers wondered about the sheer amount of equipment we took with us, but most of them were fellow anglers and understood our reasons.

The launch at Sturgeon Bay. While our boat took on a fair bit of water during the morning rains, Darrell was quick to run the bilge pump and empty it out. Other boats weren't so lucky. One boat in particular had quite a tilt to it for the next day as it waited for its owner to remove over 6 inches of water.

Out on the water once more I was all ready to find another musky. Watching Darrell reel his musky in the day before made me even more anxious to hook into one of those monsters and I started the day tossing big lures on my heavy rod. Of course, they’re not called ‘the fish of a thousand casts’ for nothing and I didn’t so much as get a follow.

Fellow anglers know what happens then – you spend time targeting a fish only to have absolutely no luck finding one. You start to feel a little blue and wonder why the heck you can’t catch anything. I started to let it get me down – as down as a person can get when out on Georgian Bay on a beautiful day with spectacular surroundings and great company. I needed a change and got out the bass gear.

We pulled into a sheltered bay with slop patches around the edges and started casting scum frogs. Since our regular go-to color wasn’t getting a bite Darrell switched it up and tossed out a black frog with some yellow in the tail…fish on!

A bucket-mouth pulled from the slop.

The first largemouth I had managed to land on the Rapala DT Fat 1 - I love that lure! I used it to fish the edges of the slop.

It wasn’t a strong bite but landing a few largemouth made for a great afternoon. There was plenty of activity in that slop but we couldn’t key on exactly what was causing the ruckus. We counted at least four different species of fish in there.

Sturgeon Bay takes you into the Pointe-Au-Baril inlet, which leads you out into the open water of Georgian Bay. It’s absolutely breathtaking out there. And rocky…very, very rocky. There are islands everywhere – some big enough to host a few cottages, some big enough for a bird to take a rest and little else. Be careful where you drive your boat because there are rock shoals everywhere – one minute you are over 40 feet of water, the next it’s only 3 feet of water.

And the sights! Aside from the wonderful fishing, incredible cottages and awesome boats to drool over, there is no shortage of places to visit and observe.

This boiler belonged to a ship seeking refuge from a storm. It ran onto one of the many rock shoals in the area. There is excellent smallie fishing in the area though, thanks to that very rock shoal (and the additional structure). We caught quite a few smallies on the drop-shot here.

This barrel is on the site of the original barrel that welcomed sailors and signified 'a safe passage through turbulent waters.'

The lighthouse, with the barrel just visible on the point in the background.

At the Hole in the Wall. Big expanse of water on either side, one little opening through the rocks.

Going through the Hole in the Wall.

Of course, the main attraction was the fishing and we certainly had our share of fun in that respect. The smallmouth bass were wonderful little performers, leaping in the air and then diving deep, only to leap out of the water once more. Drop-shotting was the most productive technique, especially with Gulp minnows on the hook. Crankbaits around rocky points also proved quite effective.

One of Darrell's catches. Notice Jack in the background, keeping an eye on the fish. He loves to be in on the action when we're bringing in a fish.

Not the biggest one I've caught, but every single fish is a thrill!

Not everything went as smoothly as we had hoped. On our way back to the dock for a quick break, we both noticed a burning smell. It wasn’t a pleasant, campfire burning smell, it was more of an electrical and plastic burning smell. It was a few moments before Darrell realized the smell was coming from the bilge pump. I had left the boat for a moment and returned to find Darrell’s feet up in the air as he wrestled to get the connectors loose and free the bilge pump before the whole boat went up in flames. It was fortunate he got it out so quickly. When he dunked it in the lake it was pretty obvious the inside of the pump was on fire! *sigh* First stop the next morning was to a marina for a new bilge pump.

Leaving Sturgeon Bay after a morning of fishing on day three was surprisingly sad. I was really going to miss the bathrooms – real plumbing and soap for me to wash my hands! Such luxury I am not used to when camping!

But more so, I was going to miss the water and the fish living within it. All I could do was promise myself we would return at some point. Then I climbed into the truck and we hit the road once more, heading further north for the next lake.

Sitting In The Rain

Thanks to a tremendous amount of rain, I am currently sitting in the truck in an attempt to sit on something more comfortable than the ground inside the very damp tent. And since I actually have reception on my phone out this way, why not write a blog post?

Our first day of vacation yesterday, did not start exactly as planned. While hoping to leave the house by 6AM, the boat and our housesitter were still MIA at 5! Darrell is the organized sort when it comes to fishing trips and was hoping to have the boat back on Monday – to give it a once over and have it ready for to go. Instead, he picked it up at 6:30 Tuesday morning and we crossed our fingers.

Finally on the road, I could not help but get excited. It’s been a long year since our last vacation and I was ready to leave everything behind and get busy fishing! With Jack (our dog) sleeping between us in truck, we cranked the music and headed north.

It was only a few short hours before we reached our destination at Sturgeon Bay Provincial Park. After a quick tour of the open campsites we selected a location, setup camp and launched the boat.

It was while launching the boat that we realized something was seriously wrong with the boat trailer. The inside treads in both tires are almost bald. Further investigation revealed the axle has a huge bend in it. *sigh* Guess Darrell was right to want the boat back early.

Leaving that behind we decided to rig the rods while having lunch and drive them back to the boat. When you take as many rods as we do, walking them to the boat is not an option. It was when we arrived back at the boat that I was greeted with a horrific sight – something had fallen on my G. Loomis GLX drop-shot rod and broke the tip off! *sigh* I had really been looking forward to using that on this trip.

With the day starting to feel like it was jinxed we climbed into the boat and set off. I got a nice tour of an absolutely beautiful area – Sturgeon Bay and further out into Georgian Bay are stunning – before we settled down to start casting.

We had decided to come here to fish because both of us were hopeful to catch our first musky. We had bought some heavier gear and lures before leaving and spent a long time tossing them to no avail before giving our slightly tired arms a break and switching over to bass gear.

It was while drop-shotting off a rock point that Darrell landed the first fish – a beautiful 4lb pike. It was more than a little angry and proceeded to splash the boat as I kept the net in the water for a minute.

After getting rid to the skunk we managed to come across a nice school of crazy smallies. I’ve caught a lot of smallies but these things were even more torpedo-like than normal. What a blast. The drop-shot was nailing them.

After crossing the ‘highway’, which is what this waterway often resembles, we drifted into a channel between two islands and found another school of smallies that were eager to smash the drop-shot and crankbaits. Already having had an awesome day of fishing, we drifted into the little bay behind the islands and there we had our greatest moment.

Still tossing for smallies, Darrell was reeling in a chartreuse and white Booyah bait and as he pulled it into the boat there was an explosion of water followed by the yell, ‘I’ve got a musky!’ I threw my rod down and ran for the nets. Darrell played in the absolutely beautiful 6lb musky and I got it into the smaller of our two nets. Then as Darrell turned to get the pliers, the musky jumped, got out of the net, shook the hook, and was gone. I felt awful for not getting Darrell a picture with that fish!

However, we were both on a high after that fish, and although we had to pack it in for the night (both Jack and I were wanting dinner), we had an incredible day.

Despite the rain that has been falling since nine last night, we have decided to spend another night here before moving on, in hopes of landing another musky, and this time snapping a picture.

Island Lake Hawgs

Last weekend, to reward ourselves after a day of building new fencing for the horses, we decided to head to Island Lake Conservation Area in Orangeville to hunt for some bass.

This was my first trip to Island Lake in the summer and I was pleased to find a nice boat launch and reasonable admittance fees. While we took our own boat, many people chose to rent one of the conservation area’s many aluminum boats and canoes. Since there are no gas motors allowed we made sure to throw an electric motor on the back to help the trolling motor pull us around.

The sun was already inching high in the sky as we launched and there were many other people on the lake taking advantage of the beautiful weather.

Cody got the first bite of the day when he pulled in a hungry little sunfish that wanted his white mini-king, and as we moved along it was more of the same. No big bites, just a few sunfish and rock bass. I had been promised big fish and I was getting impatient.

A couple of hours passed and we threw a variety of different baits with little luck. I finally decided to tie on the go-to bait – a Rapala Husky Jerk in Tennessee Shad. Jerk, jerk, jerk…wham! Before I knew it I was reeling in a decent largemouth. It wasn’t a hawg but it made the day much happier all of a sudden. After releasing my first bass of the day I took a couple more casts and then again…wham!…another nice bass.

I was thrilled to finally have caught some bass and was in a much better state of mind when I once again tossed out my lure and hooked a tiny pike.

My little pike that Darrell had to unhook.

We eventually drifted out of this productive area into one that looked like it had to be a hawg factory. There were underwater stumps everywhere and promising looking weed patches. Talk about structure!

We all took turns tossing small jigs in amongst the stumps and ended up with a rock bass bonanza.

A nice rock bass double-header for Cody and Darrell.

It was great fun yet, still not what I was looking for. But then we moved on to the weed patches and lily pads over by the shore and I decided to tie on my absolute favorite lure – a Scum Frog.

There are a lot of frogs available on the market, but in my opinion you just can’t beat a Scum Frog. The bass love them and my wallet appreciates them. My biggest bass have all come on a Scum Frog.

I decided to take a long cast and worked the frog back to the boat slowly. I was just looking at the frog when there was a splash of water and my frog disappeared. Woohoo!!! Anyone who spends time tossing a frog understands the adrenaline rushing through my system at that moment. I set the hook as hard as I could and started reeling. He put up a great fight before ending up in the net.

My hawg for the day, and he sure wasn't the biggest one in there!

I let this guy go and two casts later another bass decided my frog looked tasty. He was smaller than the first but another great fight. After releasing him I really had to concentrate on slowing down my retrieve…the adrenaline was running!

We moved along the shoreline, I took the boat into spots so that I could cast exactly where I wanted, I’ll admit I wasn’t really thinking about whether or not it meant Darrell or Cody got a good cast

Both Darrell and I managed to lose even bigger fish. I had one just sip up the frog and the moment he felt the hooks, dived for the weeds. I couldn’t make any ground and eventually this monster got off. I was definitely cursing for a few minutes!

In the end we had a fantastic day. The only blip was the 3 canoes that managed to run into the boat because the people in them had no idea what they were doing. I’m all for people getting out and trying new things, but how hard is it to figure out that sitting still and shrieking will not steer your canoe?

I got over that momentary frustration by remembering the incredible fish we caught that day. I can’t wait to go back and get some more!

The Ultimate Skinny Water Boat

Earlier this week my attention was drawn to a blog post on Craig Ritchie’s blog about a 4×4 boat. I had to have a look and what I found was a boat I absolutely must have.

The boats are Jet Boats made by Harbercraft, incredible welded boats made right here in Canada. While Harbercraft makes a variety of boats to suite all sorts of uses, it is the jet boats that get my attention.

I enjoy river fishing but I often wish I could have a boat with me for such fishing – easier access to good fishing holes and no long walks (even though they’re good for me). The canoe works well but it’s not the same. This boat would make it possible to fish some of my favorite rivers, without having to worry about damaging it. With full bottom armor there’s not much this boat can’t handle. Only a trickle of water? No problem for this boat! Just check out these videos for proof:

For more history on Harbercraft:

 

These boats are awesome! I would absolutely love to get the chance to drive one. Although I am in no position to buy a boat these days, I’ll be dreaming about this one until I can afford it. In the meantime, I’ll keep watching videos of all the great stuff you can do with these boats

Bitsy Bounty On Bass Opener

Happy Southern Ontario bass opener! I hope everyone was able to get out fishing this weekend, at least for a little bit.

With bass now open we couldn’t help but take all our new toys collected over the winter as we got ready to hit the water. The boat was looking pretty full with 12 rods and many flat boxes packed inside as we headed out today on the Grand River.

Instead of hitting an area we knew, we decided to hit a stretch of the river neither of us had done much fishing in before. The water was murky and very slow, with a water temp of about 66F (which rose to 69F before the end of the day).

We started by trolling crankbaits as we made our way up river and quickly found that to be a problem with all the ground weed and clumps of floating weed that left us picking salad off our lures.

When I finally got tired of the salad bar, I tossed out a white Mini-King and continued to troll along.  I was busy watching a family in another boat – the father was tying a hook on for his son – when I felt my rod bend.

I went fishing for bass and ended up with a crappie

It turned out to be a nice-sized crappie that put up quite the fight. The Mini-King was tied on to my least favorite of our fishing rods, but the rod and I made up our differences after I caught another couple of crappie, a bass and some sunfish on it. It was a pretty hot combo today.

We finally hooked into some bass a little further up river. The first one I saw turned out to be just a follow but I had to admire it’s spunk – it was only a little bigger then my lure.

For the next couple of hours, Darrell and I drifted along the river, casting a variety of lures and trying a mix of techniques. This section of river did not contain a lot of great structure, so when we came to rocky sections along shore, areas where cooler water was trickling in, we made sure to slow down and work the area thoroughly.

Lots of itsy-bitsy bass today

We ended up reeling in a good number of bass, but none of them were a great size. There was a stretch where it felt like I was reeling in a bass on every other cast, but, fight as they did, they were tiny. It never fails to amaze me just how ambitious smallmouth bass are. They don’t care if the lure is the same size as them, they’re still going to try and bite it!

I did get a chance to use my new G. Loomis GLX drop-shot rod, paired with a Shimano Stradic CI4. Wow! What a great combo! Have you ever heard the phrase “so sensitive you could feel a minnow fart’? Well it certainly applies in this case! I felt every little piece of weed the weight ripped through and even the tiniest nibble from the smallest sunfish came through loud and clear. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the best place to use the combo today and my only catch on it was a very tiny crappie.

Eventually the bite shut down and we packed up and headed for shore. Despite the lack of a big fish it was a wonderful day on the water and great way to open bass season!

A Bow And A Queasy Stomach

Since my first experience fishing on Lake Ontario a few weeks ago I’ve been dying to go back and get a shot at even bigger fish.

This weekend there was finally enough time for Darrell and I to escape to the lake in hopes of giant salmon.

I couldn’t possibly have asked for a more beautiful day. The sun was out, the temperature was perfect and the marine forecast looked promising. The only hiccup in our plans was that the wind was shifting to an east wind, meaning the waves had a chance to build up over the whole lake before reaching us. I was told it would be fine and, trusting soul that I am, I climbed into the truck and off we went.

We ran into a slight problem on the way because we had yet to decide which launch to use. We ruled out Bronte right away – it costs far too much to launch and chances are pretty good someone will have a little fun with your truck and trailer while you’re out. The decision was made to head to Port Credit since it’s cheaper and a nice launch. However, when we reached the launch we found it was host to a 5km run/walk and there were more people there than we wanted to deal with.

Finally we ended up at the Promenade in Mississauga, a beautiful place to launch…and it’s free (unless the Salmon Derby is on).

Eager to get out on the water and get a bite, I helped Darrell, as much as I could, to set up the boat and get it in. Only once we were in the water did I look out and see the boats battling some waves. For the first time I started to feel doubtful about the trip.

For people used to the big water I am sure it’s not the least bit intimidating to head out in the swells we faced today. For me, someone that had almost no experience in a boat before last year, it’s a little intimidating to see all that water, big swells and some whitecaps, and feel your little 15ft aluminum boat rolling with each wave. I immediately longed for a bigger boat.

I got over the intimidation factor soon enough as I saw even smaller boats out there braving the conditions and turned my focus to guiding the boat through the waves as Darrell got the lines out.

I managed quite well for a while before I noticed an unfamiliar feeling, my stomach was starting to get queasy. I looked for a fixed object to focus on and eventually found a cloud above the horizon that seemed to help keep the queasiness at bay. I began to realize that I wouldn’t be standing up to reel in any fish today…I didn’t trust that I would stay in the boat!

We trolled along, marking very little on the fish finder, keeping pace with another Sylvan boat as we both rose and fell at the whim of the waves. By this point I was really working hard to keep my nausea in check. And then it happened…fish on!

I jumped up to grab the rod, knocked my chair-back down and ended up sitting on the folded up chair, bracing myself as best I could and started reeling. I wasn’t feeling sick at that point. It was apparent pretty quickly that we had hooked onto a rainbow trout but this one had much more fight in it than the ones I caught a few weeks ago. He made a few short runs before being scooped into the net and was an absolute handful as I tried to hold on for a picture.

Can you see on my face how hard I am trying to stay upright? This bow was in much better shape than the ones I caught only a few weeks ago.

After releasing the fish I went back to steering the boat and Darrell got the lines back out. It wasn’t much longer before I was having troubles battling back the nausea again and I made Darrell get behind the wheel so I could sit back and close my eyes. I lasted a little while longer but we had no more hits and I knew I was going to start chumming the water if the boat continued rolling through waves like it was. Even now I can feel it….going up, falling down, going up, falling down…my head and my stomach did not handle it well.

I finally had to call it quits, much earlier than I would have liked to, and get Darrell to take us back in. It wasn’t our most productive day on the water.

Back at the launch we came across this situation:

That's right, two boats at the launch, not going anywhere but preventing anyone from getting in or out.

I know I already ranted about boat launch etiquette but seriously, if you have a boat, please abide by the rules. If there are two ramps and multiple boats, then one ramp is for those going in and the other is for those going out. Do not block the ramp. Set up your boat ahead of time and only head to the ramp when you are fully ready to launch. Get in and get out. When you take your boat out, do not stop at the top on the ramp and block other trailers from getting in or out. I wasn’t thrilled about these winners at the ramp today but I did have the pleasure of seeing the one boat go out and encounter waves they didn’t know how to get through. They weren’t out for long. Of course, they blocked the ramp again when they came back. Some people…

I wish my sea legs were a little better because I would have loved to have stayed out there for a lot longer. Getting a fish was nice but I wanted something much bigger! There’s always next time.