First Keeper Walley of the Year Goes to Me

Since Dad always locks in first fish of the year, I'm starting a new catagory this year.  First keeper Walleye of the year.  It probably wouldn't have came to be, but since I caught the first keeper walleye of 2013 it's now the prestigous championship of early fishing.

We got out a little after sun up last Saturday.  Dad had been catching quite a few saugeye and walleye the last few weeks but had not caught a keeper. 

I started fishing for crappie under the dock when he hooked into his first walleye.  It was about 20 inches and rolled off the line right before Dad could get it to the dock.

I instantly tied a jighead and grub on my microlight and cast out reeling in slow lifting the jig off the bottom every few reels.  Dad had a couple more shorts in before I finally hooked into my first fish of 2013.  It was a short.  We caught several more shorts before I hooked into something that felt a little bigger.  It was quite a fight on the microlight with 4lb mono.  She was stripping drag and ran under the dock.  I finally got her to surface to see that she was indeed a keeper. 

It was 34 degrees with 15-25 mph winds so I was hesitant take my gloves off much less to bend over and put my hands in the water.  I should have.  I tried to heave her up onto the dock with my light line.  The line snapped and the jig fell out of her mouth on the dock.  She teetered on the edge half on the dock and half off.  One shake and she was gone.  In an instant Dad was flying onto the floor of the dock to grab her.  I was already on course when he dove in front of me.  Now Dad and the fish were in front of me teetering on the edge of the dock.  Somehow, I diverted the direction I was heading and crashed on the dock right beside them.  Dad had gotten the fish in his grip.  He had almost dove right off the dock himself.  Then about got shoved off by me diving.

The fish was over 20 inches and went on the stringer. 

We caught quite a few more short fish, then I caught another keeper.

The next morning we went out again.  This time it was in freezing fog and 29 degrees with wind.  The fog was getting in my reel and freezing it so I couldn't crank the handle.  I'd have to blow on my reel to thaw it out to reel in. 

We were out in that for several hours but Dad managed to catch his first keeper of 2013.

Finalized Bachelor Party Location and Date

We have finalized our location and date for the bachelor party we have been planning.  We wanted to go with a houseboat but the cost and distance was a little much for everybody to swing, so we decided to rent a house for the weekend instead.

This house sits on 30 acres of private land at Grand Lake of the Cherokee's in Oklahoma.  It has 1/2 a mile of shoreline and a boat dock.  We will be renting it in April and it sounds like most of our closest friends will be there. 

I'm taking off work Friday and taking the boat.  We'll take the soon to be groom out to a nice dinner one night and barbecue the rest of our meals.  We will have some finer details to work out but it will be a great time.

First Fish of 2013 Goes to Dad

It came late this year but Dad has caught the first fish of 2013 for our little family competition, as well as the first walleye of the year.  He caught several crappie and a couple saugeye at Norton lake.  I didn't get a chance to get out and try yet.  With him waiting so long I should have driven South and gave it an effort to beat him this year.;

This weekend is the Grand Lake BFL.  I will not be fishing it this year.  As bad as I want to, it's better that I stay home and save the money it would cost to drive there, enter the tournament and get a hotel room.  With my wife on maternity leave right now we are watching our spending. 

I also stayed home and did not go see the bassmaster classic.  I did watch some weigh in's on the internet.  While I was watching, I was picturing what it would be like to be at the weigh in.  It would have been fun.

This weekend is supposed to in the 60's and we are expecting rain.  It's only a matter of time until I start my fishing season.  The walleye are already spawning at Broken Bow which is about the same time they started last year, which in theory, means that they should be spawning at Canton around the same time they did last year.  I should be on the dam casting for them by the end of the month.

Canton lake is unusable for boating at this point.  They released a lot of water at the beginning of Febuary to fill Hefner Lake in Oklahoma City for drinking water.  Right now Canton is 15 foot low.  At 8 foot low I was hitting rocks with my prop trying to get in and out of the lake on the boat ramp at the dam.  I found a deeper boat ramp last year but they say it is unusable now. 

I kept my boat hoping that since we had some rain last fall that it would still be usable this spring.  Chances are, I may be going on my 3rd year of barely using my boat.  Nobody cares about any of the lakes around here.  We got rain that would have filled The Great Salt Plains Lake so it would be usable again and they opened the gates at the dam and let it flow on through.  I don't think they will let it become usable again.    All of the lakes and ponds around here are really low or dry. 

If I want to take the boat out it's going to have to be 2 hours or more away.  No quick trips to the lake to go boating.  With gas at 4.00 a gallon, I won't be making that trip every weekend.