Woke up about 45 minutes early, as usual, loaded remaining gear and rolled. Family out of town already so got fresh homemade coffee, ahhhhhhhh. Stopped at Cash Magic to find bearded lady not there but replaced by energetic brunette lady who was actually cleaning instead of holding up the counter, quite an upgrade. Wow, friendly too! Evacuated colon, coffee and iced up. Called Josh Redd to tell him I was way early and just going to launch instead of Tyd’s. No breakfast today except my trusty banana.

Launched at kayak launch noticing water kinda low. Headed down shoreline throwing a bigger version of my cheap Bomber topwater in the northwest breeze, odd for summer. Had a few blowups but no connection. Figured it was cheap factory hooks so got pissed and tied on old faithful with a loop knot for added action. First cast hooked up on legal trout, in the box. Ahhhhhhhh. Right on time, I saw Josh pedaling up. We greeted and went on about the business of walking the dog. Shortly later, one of the showers promised by the forecast prompted me to don my raincoat just in time. I partially hid behind a little point and waited out a pretty stiff wind and heavy rain. I figured bait and therefore fish would be blown towards the shore but no go. I was a little frustrated with one fish in the box after a couple hours of fishing so decided to change up my game and headed out to the rocks and chop. The wind was blowing water between the rocks and piling up chop on the windward side. Got a blowup on first cast and hooked up on second. Started methodically exploiting conditions and casting different baits. No monsters and lots of throwbacks but started landing fish on topwater, Vuduencork and even one on a floating twitchbait! I committed to staying in the rough water and soon Josh appeared. I explained the pattern and he also started landing fish. Good action but lots of babies. Who cares, at least we had action and there was nobody else around to mess us up. The exertion level was high and the bite slowed so we made our way back to the launch. The tide had fallen to winter low water levels so loading included dragging the Monsta Banana a ways. Lovely. Our timing was excellent as we’d just missed the GI golf cart parade and sat right down at the Starfish for burgers. Fabulous! We went over to Bridgeside and cleaned fish. I had one or two more than Josh but he’d released a 21″ trout and several reds. My average was about 14″. We hung out with my buddy John at his trailer and then combat launched on Hwy 1 yielding us each a couple trout and reds. We were so exhausted when we picked up that we gave our fish to a lady fishing on the shore. She was waiting for her husband and grandson that we’d seen fishing from a canoe. We made her promise to tell them she’d caught the fish which was probably more than they’d caught. Next stop MeeMaws for pork chops then the luxurious Galliano Inn. I retied a couple lines and leaders while Josh showered. When I came out the shower he was out like a light and shortly thereafter, so was I.

 
The alarms sounded at 430 and we were both moving pretty slow. I got dressed and went to the lobby for coffee then nuked us up some frozen sausage, egg and cheese biscuits. Not as good as Tyd’s but fast, allowing us an extra bit of sleep. We stopped at the ice machine and rolled back to the kayak launch, later than normal by a good half hour. The water was lower than the morning before and the wind had turned more westerly. Josh took off at a good pace and I started throwing topwater on the outside of the rocks while pedaling slowly into the wind. I was rewarded by blowups and hookups and started putting fish in the box. It wasn’t as rough and the further I went the cleaner the water got. I missed 2 big girls alongside the kayak trying to net them which is always frustrating, but the action was good. Just as with the day before, I got my raincoat on just before the deluge and anchored on the backside until the worst had passed. They only seemed to want the topwater when thrown into or across the wind, and it had kicked up. After a few misses, I pedaled to a point and cast a few times, nada. Went back to the rocks and maybe picked up another.  Got close enough to Josh to talk an it slowed for him too so we went back on the flat where he caught his biggest of the day and a shark. Lovely.  I went around a point and relieved myself of the biscuits then back to the rocks. It was probably noon and my casting arm was past the jelly stage to the discomfort stage.  I missed several hookups because my arm was so limp that I couldn’t set the hook properly.  On the way to the launch I saw the Murphy’s but never had the pleasure of their company as they pedaled across the channel.  The water was so low that I had to pull my drive and push quite a ways, then drag the Banana about 30 feet at the launch.  Josh showed up shortly after and also wined about the water level.  We went to Bridgeside to clean fish. My plan was to take a break then fish till dark as I had Monday off to rest, but I was spent, done, whipped.

 

Why? Why does the hook work on everything but the fish? If you get it anywhere near the net, it works. It works on my shirt,  pants, skin and paracord but a trout can hit it 4 times and escape,  unscathed. Why doesn’t the waterproof tackle box I spent extra on keep my baits dry? Had to take them all out to dry out and still trying to get the box dry. Do you think all my baits will rust even though it was rainwater, not salt?  Just wondering. Asking for a friend. Also found beautiful piece of wormwood I’m going to hang on the wall and decorate with retired baits.  Little respect, huh?  Anyways,  awesome fishing weekend. No tournament or competition other than Josh and I friendly,  constantly pushing each other.  Practice, practice.  Can’t wait till next trip! As always,  comments appreciated.

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