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Friday, Dec. 03, 2004 - 9:51 p.m. I ended up using those last 2 hours of personal business this afternoon. I came to work prepared, too. I had my tackle pouch, bait, and rods with me when I left home this morning. My goal? Catch enough bluegill for a meal in the next few days. Since the high temperature today was in the mid 40�s (15� above normal for early December here in Mohall), I knew the odds were in my favor. I drove to the state route bridge crossing over the east border of the discharge (hot water) basin of N.P.P.Lake. As I parked my car, I counted the vehicles already there- 7. That meant that either many other people had the same idea as I, or that at least a few people were catching something. Two older gentlemen were standing by one of the cars on the other side of the road. One noticed me walking towards the lake and stopped me by saying,�Hey- aren�t you the guy who gave me the bluegill jigs last winter? Made from Mirage tinsel? I have something to show you!� He pulled a plastic box from his pocket. Inside was several jigs of different sizes and colors, all tied with the same Mirage material. He wanted to tell me that he had so much luck with the few jigs I gave him, he ordered some of the stuff from Cabela�s and tied his own! Pretty cool when a small tip I gave to another fisherman could bring them good fortune. And I never hesitate to let someone in on what�s working for me. As long as they aren�t rude , that is. Those folks are on their own. Anyway�. He told me that the bluegills were congregating in the same spot that he say me fishing in over a year ago. Either he has a good memory, or he started fishing there after he say me filling my bucket there that day. He walked back down to the spot with me, and told me that he wasn�t fishing for bluegills- his goal was channel catfish. And that he had done pretty well all day. I told him I wasn�t very good at that species. He then told me that they were hitting very good right at the bridge, and that he was headed back to see if he could catch a few more. Cool. I went to my bluegill honey hole, and had 6 nice keepers (along with another 20 smaller fish, released) in a matter of 30 minutes. He returned to his catfish spot where he rejoined 2 other older fishermen (who all knew each other well, as much as they were ragging on each other). They didn�t catch anything in the first 30 minutes I was there, and then� They all had a fish on their rods at the same time. As they landed them, two released their catfish to the water. The old-timer I was talking to before asked me if I wanted his fish. Now, I usually don�t take fish from others. I give them to others. But , like I said before, I am not much of a catfisherman. Sure, I�ll take it (a nice 2 pounder). In the next 15 minutes they landed another 4 fish between them. I took 2 more from the one man before I asked them if I could join them in their hot spot. They said sure. Since all I had to use as bait was nightcrawlers (they were using cut shad, strips of raw flesh from the sides of the most plentiful baitfish in local lakes), I caught nothing in the next 30 minutes. Finally, one of them asked me if I wanted one of their shad for bait. Feeling like a complete mooch, I took one. I had my first fish on in just a few minutes. I had bites almost every cast, but since I rarely fish with this technique (bottom fishing with tightline and a large chunk of lead), I missed most of my hits. I only ended up with 4 fish of my own. But since I was using ultralight tackle, these 2-3 pound fish were a blast to catch. The other guys managed to toss a few more fish into my bucket while I was occupied with my line. They left, and I thanked them for all of their advice and help. I made each of them take a few of my jigs as they were leaving. I thought that was the least I could do, after they let me hog into their hotspot and showed me what was working today. The first fisherman told me, �Hey, you showed me how you were catching all of those big bluegill last year. I�m glad I had the chance to pay you back!� Sometimes doing a simple good thing can pay you back in multiples� Photos? Oh course:
That�s all 9 of the fish that made it home with me today. The steel stockpot on the left is a 16 quart one, for size comparison. The strange colors on the fish? Not some editing trick- the next photo will be self-explanatory:
It was caused by our Christmas light reflecting on their shiny, scale-less skin. The fish in my hand was one of the larger ones. Might have been close to 3 pounds. Of the 9, 8 were between 1 � and 3 pounds. One was barely a pound. One of the other guys snuck him into the bucket, I guess. I devided the filets into three Ziploc� bags. Each is quite full. Codeman loves catfish, so I will save them for nights he can eat dinner with us� Weird link of the day: �Rainbow� was a 1970�s children�s television in England> Normally, they just entertained the youth of that fine country with wholesome fare. But I had heard about this double-entendre filled (dirty, in other words) skit in the past. Never saw it before tonight. It was the link of the day in the Top Five list today (hopefully, you have a high speed Internet connection- if not, give it a try anyway) I watched it 3 times in a row to get all of the inside jokes. Totally filthy, I�m telling you. And if you don�t think so, maybe you might want to play with my twanger. Or at least my balls�.
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