Wakonda Lake Vacation

After the Deer Creek on Sunday I got home and finished mowing, packed the van with camping and fishing gear and we were finally on the road late that evening.

The next day around 2:00 P.M we arrived at Waconda Lake. We spent some time in the campground as the wind was blowing around 30 m.p.h. In the evening Dad, Mom, Leo and I drove over to the marina to fish for some crappie.

It was excellent fishing and we got a half a bucket of 12-14 inchers for a meal. We threw a lot of fish back due to not having freezer room to freeze fish yet.




We were going to celebrate Gavin's 2nd birthday but he fell asleep so we had to wait until Tuesday to celebrate.



That night I did not put up my tent due to the storm that was blowing in. A little before dark it finally reached us. We had been watching the lightning and the wall cloud as it approached. It blew in with some fury and we were scrambling to finish getting everything tied down. The wind kicked up to about 60 mph. June bugs were getting blown out of the trees and they kept whacking me upside the face over and over again along with the blowing sand until I finally made it into Mom and Dad's 5th wheel.



The next morning the wind had died down and we eventually made it out to the lake. We caught a ton of crappie and a few short walleye trolling. We came back into camp when it got hot then that evening went out for another hour before dark.



Again at dark a storm was rolling in. This one had produced a tornado a ways away at a town named Gove. We decided that since the wind was not blowing as hard the storms wind would not be too strong. Wrong! We woke up with the tent slapping us in the face due to broken poles and lightning striking all around us. We grabbed the kids and scrambled to the camper. I grabbed some bedding and dropped the tent so the poles that were not broken would stay that way.

The next morning the camp was waterlogged. I put the tent back up and drained the massive amounts of water out of it. There was also a lot of bedding and air beds to dry out.

We went out fishing again and Mom caught a nice 21" walleye and her and Dad both caught a crappie that were almost 16". We kept several other crappie since we had the walleye to clean. Dad caught a 4 pound drum and I caught a 4 1/2 pound drum in the same spot a while later. I also got a 2 1/2 pound catfish casting a bomber with a spiderman pole for bass along a shoreline in the creek. I had a good cast between a couple bushes in the water. There was a wake as the fish took off toward the crank. That was quite a fight as he kept diving under the boat and stripping line off the little reel. There was a funny moment later when Dad had a hard time getting back in the boat after we stopped on bank for a break. Mom was laughing so hard she couldn't breath and Dad was stuck in quite an uncomfortable position. I had to get a picture instead of helping him in.





Christina drove to her Mother's house to do some laundry since her and the kids bag of cloths had been left in the tent the night before.

She brought back my nephew Peyton to do some fishing with us. I got into some white bass off the bank along with some crappie, walleye, and smallmouth before dark. I took Peyton back down there just after dark and did not have any luck.

The next morning we went back to the point and I hooked into a large gar that I fought for almost an hour with my microlight crappie pole with 6 lb test. I would get her close to shore then he would go on a run and strip most of my line off. Peyton had time to walk back to camp to get the net. I finally got him into the rocks and Peyton went to net him but the net was way to small and she would slide right out of it. The group of boats that had gathered to watch the fight were a little disappointed when my line finally broke on the last attempt to get the fish onto the rocks to get ahold of it. I have to say I was a little disappointed too. It was one of the larger gar I had seen all week and would have loved to have gotten my picture taken with her.

Peyton was able to net a few of the other gar that swimming around the area and I had a few more bite my tiny dancer but couldn't get a good hook into their toothy snout.



We didn't make it out in the boat since my Grandparents came out to stay with us. Peyton and I tried the Marina again, this time with less luck. The east wind was changing the fishing.



The next day we got out in the boat and caught a lot of fish again. Peyton caught a nice 18 1/2" walleye. We all caught a lot of shorts and tons or crappie and white bass.



The following day we did a lot of catching fish to keep as it was my last day. It was hot and windy but we still caught a lot of fish trolling and drifting.

The last morning we awoke to a strong North wind blowing in a storm. The tent was slapping us in the face again. This time was leaking water and the poles were not holding any more. We quickly packed up all of our stuff and got in the camper while the storm passed through. I rolled up the tent we have had forever and got it ready for the trash bin. It was leaking water and the poles were annihilated. It battled with the Kansas winds and the Kansas winds gave it a whoopin.

We left the lake around 10:00. There were a lot of stops made on the way home. The drive back is just so long. We visited Bass Pro and picked out another tent. We stopped in Terra Haute and got a motel for the night then continued our drive the rest of the way home on Monday.

TNT 4 5 and Kansas trip

We fished O'Shaughnessy for tournament number 4. We had moved into the top 60% of the field with our 1 catch of the year due to making all of the tournaments and getting points for showing. We didn't have any luck. I had 2 keepers on but lost them both at the boat. The first I pulled in from bank. The other I had hit at the boat and flopped off when I went to lift it in.

Tournament number 5 was at Alum Creek. I was not here so Mizike and our alternate fished the tournament. They caught a 1.88 pound smallmouth that was setting up next to a rock. It was raining hard and the rest of the field struggled as well. We still did not place.

Kansas fishing was awesome! I got to the lake last Monday. I set up the tent and blew up the air beds and set up the rest of camp then went to unload Dad's Lund to go after some fish. It was afternoon by the time I had gotten my fishing liscence and made it to the lake from the in-laws. We had a few hours to fish in the evening. We caught some wiper, white bass, and a couple walleye trolling. Then a few more walleye drifting over the spot we had just trolled and caught the first walleye.

The next morning I woke up at 3:30 A.M. anxious to get back out to catch more fish. I sat around the campfire ring until about 5:00 A.M. and decided it was almost light enough to see the shore from the water. I grabbed my pole and walked down to the bank of the cove we were camping next to. I cast out a white 1.5 inch grub with a pink 1/16th oz head and caught a small crappie on the first cast. For the next hour I caught a fish every cast. In that mix I had 5 keeper smallmouths and 8 cleaning size crappie. I usually only keep crappie 9 inches or longer. I threw the bass back of course. I still have never tried eating a bass.

I woke up Dad as soon as it was light and told him he better get down there the bite is on. He got a cup of coffee and ended up coming down as well. He caught 3 crappie and the sun popped up. The bite turned off almost instantly. I think the fish moved to deeper water or had fed well on the small fry that were in the area and moved to cover to sit out the sun. A crappie guy at work thinks that they were still feeding and I needed to try a different color. I will try that next time. The water was extreemly clear there though so I still think they moved.

The rest of the day we had a white bass and wiper fest. There were times Mom Dad and I would all have fish on at once. My oldest son had fun sitting in the boat all day. I took a couple toys and he played with them and played in the livewell. He also liked reeling in a fish every once in a while. I ended up with a decent looking 4 pound Wiper and Dad caught a 3 pound 21 inch walleye. We got some pictures with them.

My son lost his scooby doo pole over the side of the boat at some point while we were drifting for walleye. He might have snagged or had a fish hit. I wasn't watching at the time. He was pretty upset about it. He ended up crying himself to sleep. He did tell me that Wal-mart has a spiderman pole and that we needed to go get it. He points it out to me every time we are there.

We found a walleye spot on the last day I was there right before I had to go pick up my youngest son. We went across the hump 3 times and every time picked up a walleye. They were definately schooled there. I would have like to had some more time to hit that spot. It was a good thing I had to go though. It was over 90 degrees and I was burning fast. By the time I made the trip to meet my mother in law I was red as a lobster. We had only had 2 80 degree days so far in Ohio. I think I got a little sick from the sun or the heat that evening.

On our way back to Ohio we stopped at the Kansas City Bass Pro to pick up some fishing supplies. That is a really nice store. After we crossed through Indianapolis on I70 there was a deer in the slow lane. I saw it a little to late to get to a stop and merged to the fast lane to get around it. It ran at the same time and I got it with the passenger front of the mini-van. It did some pretty good damage as it got the light, the bumper, hood, front quarter panel, and the passenger side door. It took an hour for the highway patrol to arrive and make a report after I called them. He said this was his third deer strike report of the night.

We were able to drive the rest of the way home and made it around 4 AM. The next day I layed around all day watching TV. I was drained from the long week and the late and stressful night. We took the van to the insurance place for an estimate last night. They said 3000.00 worth of damage. Thank goodness for insurance.

We have our tournament Thursday evening then I think we will go to Lake Erie on Friday for the weekend. We're going to camp near Port Clinton and take a head boat out on Saturday. For 35.00 they take you out for a 7 hour trip and drift you across some walleye hot spots. I have gotten my limit almost every time I have been out on the headboats. I have only been out on Fisherman's Wharf Headboats. They are very good.

TNT # 2

Today's the day for our second TNT series tournament at O'Shaughnessy lake. I haven't been back since Sunday to see if the water has cleared up any. We haven't had a lot of rain so I bet it has cleared up a little toward the South end of the lake.

We will be starting out there. I plan to use a lot of rubber this trip out. There is a lot of shoreline structure that I want to work. I will also have a couple bright colored crankbaits tied on in case the water is still chocolate milk colored.

It should be overcast with a chance of rain this evening. The wind will be better than any tournament we've had so far so our fishing options will increase a lot. I'm kind of leary on how the fishing will be this time out. I am yet to catch a bass at O'Shaughnessy even though it is supposed to be one of the better bass lakes in central Ohio.

Earlier this week my wife worked late Monday and Tuesday so I had to watch the kids in the evening. Last night I had two associates I had to let go so I did not get home until about 8:30. I am heading back to Kansas tomorrow for a wedding on Saturday, then I will make it back here on Sunday. It is about a 16 hour drive each way so that should be fun. At least I have a day off work tomorrow.

I will post the results of the tournament on Monday or Tuesday.

The Good Old Days Might Be Back

At the beginning of spring I had plans to have everything done in order to be ready to fish fish fish this year. As soon as that tax check came in around March it was looking really good. Then it began to change. I bought a new boat. I entered in a couple of bass tournaments. I booked camping. I was spending money here and there. I had always been good at saving my tax money for upcoming adventures before but this year I just needed that boat. I bought it without thinking about tags, taxes, and all of the little items like ski vests I would need for it. I guess I did think about it but didn't think it would tax our savings so fast.

My wife and I's income covers the cost of our bills. We don't have much left over. I had plans to fish and camp every weekend. Now I don't know how that is going to happen, in what I consider the prime fishing time, early spring. I was counting on our extra money in savings to cover the cost. Summer will be easier if I can sell the pontoon. I have been talking to a guy at work about it and he seems pretty interested.

I do know I will make it out quite a bit this year. I have never let money keep me away from fishing. Even when I was eating Ramen Noodles and drinking Old Milwauki in college I scraped enough change together to make it to the lake all the time. They were some of the best trips too.

One time a friend and I went to a lake in Kansas just after walleye spawn. We saw a guy casting out to the waves that were crashing into shore. The wind was blowing hard that day and had a huge mud line built on the north side of the lake. I tied on a jig head with a 3 inch green and brown grub tail and cast it out. It took a little bit to figure out how to catch the fish. I was joking around and pulled as hard and fast on my line as I could and WHAM! my pole dips and the line starts singing out of the reel. When I got the fish in I saw that it was a 3 pound wiper.

We caught a fish almost every cast like that. A few of them went up to 8 pounds. The more we fished the more we realized the fish were at the edge of the mud line and the mudline was getting further and further out. I took off my shoes and waded out to my knees. The water was really cold and the waves would sometimes splash up to my waistline. My friend did the same thing when he saw I was catching more fish. Before long we were wading out to where we could barely keep our heads above water. It was freezing cold but catching fish like that was worth it.

Later in the evening as the sun was about to set the bite turned off. We kept casting. All of a sudden the walleye moved in and we had our limit of walleye in about 30 minutes.

I burned the drag out of my Eagle Claw spinning real that day. It took the whole 45 minute drive back to campus with the heater on high to get the feeling back in our hands and legs but man was it worth it. Especially when we were able to eat fresh fish instead of Ramen!

I look for a really exciting year this year. My oldest son is 3 now and he is really into the thought of fishing. He has his own scooby doo pole and his own tackle box with some lures that I have given him. Every night he brings me a bass pro or a cabela's magazine and wants to look through it with me. My best friend lives with me and we finally have some weekends off together this year. I have a new boat for funnin' and fishin'. I'll just have to go out when I can and with what money I can and make sure I make the most out of every trip.