Post by coheasion on Mar 28, 2016 8:23:45 GMT -5
Left work in Raleigh at noon on Friday and headed on up to the lake to do some fishing over the weekend. My daughter was with friends on a Spring Break trip and my wife was working this weekend so what else was I supposed to do? Yard work....I think not!
On the lake about 4PM to start catching bait for the weekend. Quickly learned catching bait by yourself in shallow water in high winds is not as easy as it sounds. Lots of throwing later (until dark) and I had 4 mongos 6 or 7 dollar bills and an assortment of peanuts ready to go for the morning. This bait catching thing can be hard on the hands and shoulders.....but is also surprisingly rewarding.....each throw is like pulling the handle on a slot machine.
Got an early start Saturday morning and was pulling baits by 7:00 AM in a major BW creek.
Pulled that creek until about 11:00 and caught 1 28"fish on a freeline with a peanut alewive. Had a few follows on my bank-side boards but no hard hits. At this time I was frustrated with my planer boards and trying to keep my mongos in order so I decided on a quick run to Captains Quarters for some redneck boards. Quick run - meaning 30 minute boat ride of course. Got to CQ, met Dewayne and chatted for a minute or two, grabbed 2 planer boards and some gas and then went and got a couple of slices of pizza and a coke and decided you Roanoke guys are spoiled...
with your multitude of restaraunts, ice cream boats, and on the water bait shops.
Since I was already this far up the lake I decided to try a couple of the Roanoke creeks and boy I was glad I did. Pulled into Indian and put some boards out and one way out caught my new SML personal best, a 32" super fat pig. Happened right in front of a group of folks on the shore and while I was chatting with them I forgot to snap a picture
. I continued pulling and caught 3 more fish the rest of the afternoon all in the 26 to 28 inch range. Was starting to get late and I knew I needed to re-stock bait for Sunday so I started the 45 minute boat ride back to my place on the BW. About 4 minutes into this ride I am flagged down by a couple of gentlemen obviously having boat problems.
So I do my good deed for the day and give them a tow back to their place. This slows me down a bit and means I didn't really have time to catch bait that evening.
I did grab a quick ninja over the shoulder shot of them while under tow....I didn't know if a full "hey smile for the camera in your time of distress" pic would be appropriate
Flash forward to Sunday morning...about 4:00 AM...I am tossing and turning in bed cuz I know I don't have bait....so I get out of bed at 4:15 AM get my gear and head to the boat and am on the water at 4:30 AM to catch bait.....and that's when I know I have the dreaded Yam disease
. Bait is still hard to come by, but I found a few new lights and places to throw and load the tank back up with mostly dollar bill size and peanuts.
Start the morning the same as the morning before and pull a major BW creek until about 10 AM with one bite and no fish to show for it. Move a bit further downriver to a smaller creek and boy am I glad I did. First fish is on before I even get all my lines in the water! Smaller 26" fish followed quickly by another. As I pull deeper into the creek the water gets shallower and I catch a nice size greenfish and make the tight turn to pull back out when my 12" mongo right up against the bank gets absolutely destroyed by something huge.....it takes the board and line into 2 others before I can even get the rod in my hand....I set the hook and feel the fish for a second and he is gone
Get my gear straightened back out and continue to pull out the creek and one of my freelines starts screaming out the back pulling drag. The fight is on and this is a BIG fish. I get the fish about 6 feet from the boat and can tell this will be my new PB - a 36-37" range fish. I grab my net and think to myself I need to get a bigger net....reach down to scoop him up and the hook pops out with the fish about 4 feet away from the boat.....time slows down and the fish just hangs there for what seems to be minutes and I am trying to figure out what to do....jump in....wish for a harpoon like the Wicked Tuna guys have,,,,then a flick of the tail and he is gone
I drop to my knees....utter a few choice 4 letter words and get back at it.
Get everything re-deployed and call my dad to tell him about the one that got away and while I am on the phone with him another freeline starts zipping out the back....I put the phone on speaker and give him a blow by blow account of fighting the fish and I do get this one aboard the boat. Was almost like having him there with me.
Great weekend of fishing!
On the lake about 4PM to start catching bait for the weekend. Quickly learned catching bait by yourself in shallow water in high winds is not as easy as it sounds. Lots of throwing later (until dark) and I had 4 mongos 6 or 7 dollar bills and an assortment of peanuts ready to go for the morning. This bait catching thing can be hard on the hands and shoulders.....but is also surprisingly rewarding.....each throw is like pulling the handle on a slot machine.
Got an early start Saturday morning and was pulling baits by 7:00 AM in a major BW creek.
Pulled that creek until about 11:00 and caught 1 28"fish on a freeline with a peanut alewive. Had a few follows on my bank-side boards but no hard hits. At this time I was frustrated with my planer boards and trying to keep my mongos in order so I decided on a quick run to Captains Quarters for some redneck boards. Quick run - meaning 30 minute boat ride of course. Got to CQ, met Dewayne and chatted for a minute or two, grabbed 2 planer boards and some gas and then went and got a couple of slices of pizza and a coke and decided you Roanoke guys are spoiled...
with your multitude of restaraunts, ice cream boats, and on the water bait shops. Since I was already this far up the lake I decided to try a couple of the Roanoke creeks and boy I was glad I did. Pulled into Indian and put some boards out and one way out caught my new SML personal best, a 32" super fat pig. Happened right in front of a group of folks on the shore and while I was chatting with them I forgot to snap a picture
. I continued pulling and caught 3 more fish the rest of the afternoon all in the 26 to 28 inch range. Was starting to get late and I knew I needed to re-stock bait for Sunday so I started the 45 minute boat ride back to my place on the BW. About 4 minutes into this ride I am flagged down by a couple of gentlemen obviously having boat problems.So I do my good deed for the day and give them a tow back to their place. This slows me down a bit and means I didn't really have time to catch bait that evening.
I did grab a quick ninja over the shoulder shot of them while under tow....I didn't know if a full "hey smile for the camera in your time of distress" pic would be appropriate
Flash forward to Sunday morning...about 4:00 AM...I am tossing and turning in bed cuz I know I don't have bait....so I get out of bed at 4:15 AM get my gear and head to the boat and am on the water at 4:30 AM to catch bait.....and that's when I know I have the dreaded Yam disease
. Bait is still hard to come by, but I found a few new lights and places to throw and load the tank back up with mostly dollar bill size and peanuts.Start the morning the same as the morning before and pull a major BW creek until about 10 AM with one bite and no fish to show for it. Move a bit further downriver to a smaller creek and boy am I glad I did. First fish is on before I even get all my lines in the water! Smaller 26" fish followed quickly by another. As I pull deeper into the creek the water gets shallower and I catch a nice size greenfish and make the tight turn to pull back out when my 12" mongo right up against the bank gets absolutely destroyed by something huge.....it takes the board and line into 2 others before I can even get the rod in my hand....I set the hook and feel the fish for a second and he is gone
Get my gear straightened back out and continue to pull out the creek and one of my freelines starts screaming out the back pulling drag. The fight is on and this is a BIG fish. I get the fish about 6 feet from the boat and can tell this will be my new PB - a 36-37" range fish. I grab my net and think to myself I need to get a bigger net....reach down to scoop him up and the hook pops out with the fish about 4 feet away from the boat.....time slows down and the fish just hangs there for what seems to be minutes and I am trying to figure out what to do....jump in....wish for a harpoon like the Wicked Tuna guys have,,,,then a flick of the tail and he is gone
I drop to my knees....utter a few choice 4 letter words and get back at it.Get everything re-deployed and call my dad to tell him about the one that got away and while I am on the phone with him another freeline starts zipping out the back....I put the phone on speaker and give him a blow by blow account of fighting the fish and I do get this one aboard the boat. Was almost like having him there with me.
Great weekend of fishing!
