Camping Trip - High Temp 36 Degrees

Gavin's keeper.  The last one of the day.  He wasn't letting this one go.

I called Dad last week to see what they were doing for the weekend.  The boys have been amped to fish since we got back from Grand Lake, so I thought I would drive up to my parents and hit some ponds and small lakes with them and Dad.  Dad had other plans.  He was wanting to camp. 

We watched the weather and the forecast became more bleak as the week went on.  On Friday it was snowing up there.  It's not winter and there isn't ice on the lakes yet so we went camping.

It was cold.  Two layers of coats cold.  I bundled up in my coveralls, coat and multiple shirts and was ok.  I couldn't move my limbs due to such bundling but I wasn't frozen cold.

It was after dark on Friday by the time I reached the lake.  Mom and Dad had a fire going so we sat around that and talked for a while before we were all too cold to stand outside any longer.  We went into the heated 5th wheel and got some sleep.

The next morning we were not in too big of a rush to get out onto the lake.  It didn't look like anybody was.  There were about 4 boats on the water through the whole day.  We started out over a fish attractor and tried to catch some crappie.  We saw 1 caught in a boat next to us and that got us all jacked.  I slowly lifted my rod tip to raise the jig off the bottom then let it sink back down, repeating the motion over and over.  I had a few light taps but never had one take it.  Then I get a tap.  I lift the rod tip and the battle is on.  I feel the fishes head jerk from side to side.  I realize it's not a crappie.  That feeling is all to familiar.  Then I see the shiny sides and the ugly mouth and my thoughts are confirmed.  It's a drum.

We trolled some after that and Dad caught a white bass.  Nothing was biting in the deep water.  Everybody was starting to get chilled and hungry so we went in for lunch.  With no vehicles at the launch ramp we just tied up to the boat dock and walked to the camper. 

Again, nobody was in a hurry to go back out.  Dad snuck down to try fishing off the rocks for a shallow crappie.  I saw him catching fish after fish so I went down.  He was catching a white bass on every cast.  We both started catching them.  Then just like that they were done.  We decided to go out in the boat and try slabbing them in the cove.  No luck.  Dad's trolling motor broke earlier this year so we couldn't work the shorelines.  We tried drifting down a shoreline but the wind wasn't letting us.

We were getting ready to try another cove when we noticed a rain cloud approaching.  Dad didn't want to get wet so we jetted back to the ramp and loaded the boat. 

Leo had been keeping a fire going all afternoon so we stoked it up a little to get ready to roast hot dogs and brats.  We sat around the fire most of the evening and the night until we couldn't take the one sided heat any longer.  Back to the camper to shed the layers.

Sunday was nicer.  We realized the best fishing was going to be from the shore so we walked to the back of the cove.  We were catching a lot of fish but they were small.  The wind was blowing to the other corner of the cove so Dad walked over there.  He caught several keepers so I walked over there.  We were catching keepers on about every cast so the boys decided they were coming over too.  They got into the action.  We only fished for about an hour before heading back to pack up camp and clean fish.  In that time we had kept 19 fish and had thrown back close to 100.  That's fun fishing.

I had scheduled an appointment to look at a pop up camper that afternoon so we left the lake to go look at it.  It was reasonably priced and came with everything you needed to start camping as well as tons of extras.  The camper was in great shape so I made an offer.  He counter offered and I counter offered again until we came to an agreement of $3450.00 for the 2003 Starcraft pop up along with a 32" flat screen t.v., a fold down grill, all of the new bedding, pots, pans, silverware, microwave, coffee pot, DVD player, video game system, and everything else that was in there.  The great thing will be the air conditioner and the heater.  Now I can camp anytime.  It has 2 queen size pop outs.  The sofa and the table also turns into 2 more twin size beds.  It will sleep 6 pretty comfortably.  It will be nice next year at my tournaments to not have to get hotels all the time.  Maybe I can find a boater that will want to camp and would be willing to take me out prefishing in exchange for a place to stay.

On my way home I averaged 14 mpg with the explorer.  That's only 5 mpg less than not hauling anything.

Next week I leave for Louisiana for the BFL Regional on the Red River.  My wife isn't going with me.  She has been on too many trips the last few weeks to take any more time off from work.  Even though it has been trips for work.  She went out to Colorado Springs for a week and now she is out at Seattle Washington for the week. 

I was planning on making a longer trip out of this and spending some time in Louisiana, but now it's all about fishing and getting back.  I'm not fun enough to spend that much time with myself.

Last night I cleaned out the garage so I can park the camper in there.  They are calling for tornadoes, high winds and hail tomorrow.  Is it spring already?  No need to risk it, I'll have my boat and camper in the garage. 

Gavin Hooked one and was struggling getting it in so Leo came to help.

Getting the fish lined up ready for the big picture.

The big picture

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.