Nice Fish

[Red Childress]

I took my "big fish catching machine" friend out yesterday on some new water. His nickname is "the horseshoe" because he when he is in the boat, the big fish come knocking.

[lowbidder]

That release shot really shows how fat she is!
Nice fish!

[Red Childress]

She did a full body jump and covered my sunglasses from about 15 feet away.....

There is more info related to this fish but I am not quite ready to discuss it yet....maybe tomorrow. It will be amusing for some of you and "nightmare-ish" for the rest.

[FrenchCrickJunkie]

Red

I want a T-Shirt - I have been fishing in French Creek, getting a few walleyes throughout the night jigging - nothing spectacular. I also have gotten a few pig smallies at dusk. No muskies - although they are not my target...I have been running some cooonhounds at night (where I just came from - prolly made a few neighbors angry tonight) and they have got me away from fishing. Also found some nice arrowheads about 3 weeks ago...and I've been working which has taken me away from the more enjoyable activities in life. Anyways I do want a T-shirt - Let me know how to order one. Thanks.


Z

[Red Childress]

Those new shirts are made from moisture wicking material and are very cool for summer fishing. I ordered 24 gold w/blue print and blue w/gold print....some long sleeved ones as well. I am out of them already cuz my partner and I took half of them and then gave away a few to long-time clients and family.

If I order a single shirt the price will be somewhere around 20.00....I am guessing since they cost me 16.75 when I ordered the original 24. If you want to wait until late-Winter, we plan on making another bulk order to keep the price down as much as possible.

Let me know what you think and I can put you down on the list (or not).

[Red Childress]

My mental wounds have healed enough to share one of the best/worst fishing days ever.........I must be out of my mind for posting this but my therapist told me I needed to share this story with my friends.


The Horseshoe and I were speed trolling a lake on Sunday keeping 2 of the 4 rods very tight to structure since the lake was flat, skies were sunny and the water was extremely clear.....I thought the fish would be holding tight under those conditions. So at 10:40am the "structure rod" which was back 40 feet begins to scream and before we could get the boat stopped a musky had peeled 37 feet of line off. We get the fish in the net, happy smacks, photos and back to fishing. After about an hour, the same rod goes off but this time it is a snag. The drag was pulling off the reel very nicely as the boat slowed. As we get the other rods out of the water, the snagged rod snapped at the reel seat.......we had no idea what happened so I wrote it off as a faulty blank.

We motor back up and get the snag free, I get an extra rod and put it out with the other 3 and we are back fishing. An hour passes, the same rod snags up. (Since we are speed trolling big baits, the drags are just tight enough to not slip while we were moving at 4.5-5.5.) Drag is releasing fine as the boat slows, we are almost finished getting the other 3 rods in when the second rod snaps. By this time I am perplexed.......drags were not too tight but something is just flat wrong. So I grab rod number 3, put it under the same reel and we are back fishing again. After about 5 minutes of fishing, I decide to stop the boat and check the reel that has been on both broken rods to see if there is a problem. I have never had a problem with a trolling reel but it was worth checking before I broke a 3rd rod! (These 2 rods were brand new "just out of the plastic" St. Croix Premier 8' rods by the way.)

I begin letting out line and watching my line counter get to 50, 60, 70, 80 feet then at 87 feet (which is where the counter ended up when my buddy pulled it from the holder on the previous "tank" we had netted) the line had cut into the spool all the way to the backing. The reel was the culprit not the rods or an over-tightened drag.


What will Red learn from his "teachable moment" you might ask??

1) Never assume your reels are in perfect working order when dealing with braided lines.

2) Do not take extra rods on a fishing trip in order to decrease the chances of breaking them.


**Please be gentle with your responses**

[allegheny river kid]

That definitely isn't a good feeling to watch any rod fold over making a 1pc into a 2 pc. I've been on that end more than i like to admit, i always tell myself it could be worse. Nobody got hurt and you caught a heck of nice fish and got to share the day with a good friend, i'd still call the day a victory!

[Polish_Pike]

Gregg Thomas talks a little bit about this in his Spring Muskies DVD trolling segment. He said when he trolls with braided line that may have been casted at one time, he starts that line by throwing on a cheap floating lure that has no sentimental value, starts motoring, letting all the line out to the backing, then reels it all the way back in to make sure deep loops and cuts arent in play and the braided line is spooled up nice and tight. Makes sense I guess...you never know what danger lies deep within the spool. Most of my reels never have more than 75ft of line out from casting so much, but have at least 150yds of braid.

Along with the broken rods, send in all the client photos with big fish, and you in your St. Croix apparel. I'm sure they will get you fixed up. I've bought a few of their products after trying them in your boat.