Saturday Fishing Report - 12/17/16

Welcome to this week's fishing report for the less than competent angler.  (Maybe I should start saying 'from' instead of 'for'. LOL)

Sunday - It had warmed up to 48F that morning, and I was jones'n to fish. so off I went.  Got to the lake at 8am.  The lake level is about 908 (feet above sea level) when normal pool is 915.  Everywhere I have fished previously this year is way above where I can now fish.  It's surreal.  Anyway, I went to a creek that feeds into the main lake and fished off chunky rock banks.  Set the worm about 5-6' deep and cast as far as I could.  Two-three casts and I landed a 15" bass.  Problem was I wasn't certain enough of my tape measure.  And I'd hate to get fined for having a too small fish.  So, I threw it back.  Not an easy decision, but one I can live with.  Unfortunately, it was the only fish I caught.  I tried another place - mainly because I wanted to see what it looked like 2ft lower than the last time I was there.  I got to places I never would've tried to go when the lake level was higher.  Cool.  I also found some fishing gear left by previous unlucky anglers.  The lake takes and the lake bestows.  (Still haven't found any of the lures I know were ours, but it all works out.)

Monday - Went out from 11am - 1:30pm.  Air temp was around 45F, I think.  Slight breeze.  Cloudy/partly cloudy.  At the spot where I caught the walleye.  Working with worms again.  Nothing was biting, but I did find some more gear.  And then I went home because I was freezing my ever lovin' patootie off.

Note:  There was a guy who put his boat in shortly after I got there.  He waved.  I waved.  He didn't take his boat far and I could see him fishing along the opposite side of the creek mouth.  Right near there is a huge home that has a 4 slip boat thing on the creek.  This guy was casting toward the structure, I assume, when all of a sudden I heard "goddamn sunuvabitch... f---" shouted at the top of his lungs.  I looked over - to see what the heck - and realized he must've cast his lure into the boat building.  Well, at least he wasn't sinking.  I went back to fishing.  After another ten minutes or so, when he was about 20ft past the boat building, I hear the same expletives shouted out over the area.  Must've snagged a rock or an underwater tree that time. (It's cliffy, so it does echo, but he had to have been shouting, too.)  Listen, fishing is supposed to be enjoyable and relaxing.  If it isn't, please stop.  Or at least keep your unhappy displeasure at decibels only you can hear.  The rest of the world doesn't need to experience you.  And before you say it, yes, I swear like a sailor.  Usually under my breath.  Never that loud in public.  There could be kids around.  Or people with more sensitive sensibilities.  Keep it PG out there in the world, folks.

Tuesday - I was driving myself nuts, so I went fishing from about 2:15pm until about 4:30pm.  It was cold and getting colder.  It was windy as hell.  And it did its job - which was to get me out of my own head for a couple hours.  I went to three different spots in the same general locale.  Spent a lot of time hanging up on underwater detritus at the first spot.  Finally got out of the wind a little at the second spot, but nothing was biting there either.  Went to a third spot where I have caught bass in the past.  Into the wind again and like I said, it was getting colder.  I tried walking that whole creek bank and something was stealing my worms, but no real hits.  Gave up and went home. 

The rest of the week was too damn cold to fish and I had other stuff I needed to do anyway.  Life intrudes as much as the weather.

This week I won't tell you to go drown some worms.  I'm not that cruel.  I might try to get out this morning, but only because we're in a weird spot where it's 54 degrees first thing and will drop throughout the day from here.   It might be my last chance to fish comfortably for a while.  ;o)