January 2012

Managed to get out fishing on Saturday. It wasn't as warm as the last time, but it was still pretty nice out. Nick and I got out about 12:30 and on his first cast Nick had a nice smallie. As I glanced over to watch Nick pull in his fish, I noticed my bobber quickly disappeared, unfortunately I hadn't been paying close attention, and missed it. We were both pretty stoked though and thought we were in for a good day. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. We both struggled for a while so Nick moved further upstream. He managed to catch a few more ending with five for the day.

I hadn't gotten another bite and was getting pretty frustrated so, since no one was downstream from me, I just opened my bail and let my bait drift. About 75 yards down, my bobber plunged under the water so I flipped the bail and set the hook hard. It felt like I just set the hook into a stump. After pulling hard, I was finally able to get my line to start coming back upstream. As I was reeling hard against the current my mind started to race about what could be on the other end of my PowerPro braid. It felt heavy and was pulling hard and pictures of a monster smallie or big pike started running through my mind. I was ribcage deep in the water so I figured I'd better move in a bit shallower. I kept reeling and walking at the same time trying not to stumble on the rocks and fall on my ass in the water. I finally got to knee depth water and finished reeling in. My bobber was only 5 feet away but I still couldn't see the fish. I moved a little shallower, got a glimpse of the fish, and started laughing. The guy fishing next to me looks over and says "catfish huh." To which I replied, "yeah it is." He looks back over at me with a big smile on his face and said" thought it was a smallie didn't ya." Yeah, I did" I said and we both had a good laugh. It ended up being a 24" channel cat (about 6-8lbs). Honestly, I think it was the first catfish I've ever caught.

About an hour after that, Nick was out of bait and took off and many of the other fishermen left too. I moved upstream a little bit determined not to leave until I caught at least one smallie. Finally, almost an hour later, my feet and hands almost numb, I got a bite. The whole time I was reeling it in I was saying "please be a smallie, please be a smallie." I knew I had to get going and needed to get warmed up so as I reeled it up and finally saw the fish I was pretty happy. It wasn't a big one, but at least it was a smallie.

After I struggled to get the hook out, I knew I was done for the day. It was a grind of a day, but at least I was out fishing.

Smallie Fishing December 2011

I can't believe how nice the weather has been here in MN. Christmas was such a busy time for us this year with our 10 month old daughter. So, when my buddy Nick called to see it I wanted to get out fishing one more time in 2011, I said "hell ya, let's go." It was nice to find some open water and catch a few smallies. It was only the second time I've been able to fish like this with Nick (last time was February 2011 and I didn't own a pair of waders then). The last time we tried this, I was stuck casting from shore and had to endure watching him catch a dozen nice smalllies out in his waders before I finally said "screw it" and went home. So, I talked my wife into getting me a pair of waders (thanks, babe) for Christmas. By the time I got out there, Nick had been fishing for a few hours with quite a few caught already. I was only able to fish for a couple of hours and I only caught one, lost one, and missed two. They weren't biting like gangbusters while I was there, but Nick was able to catch three or four (and miss a few more). Even though fishing wasn't great, I was glad to get out on (or I guess I should say "in") the water for a couple of hours. If it stays nice, I hope to get out again this winter before everything freezes up.