Saturday Fishing Report - 7/28/17

Welcome back to the Saturday Fishing Report.

I went fishing a lot last week.  Mainly, I just needed to get out of the house, get some fresh air and exercise, and flush the system.  I didn't expect great things.  It was too hot for one thing.  Bleh. 

Anyway, Monday and Wednesday were pretty much the same - hot and sunny with a little wind.  I was catching bait fish.  Loads of baby bluegills and punkinseeds and sunfish - if I used a small enough hook.  Otherwise, they were just stealing my bait.  I did have an interesting thing happen on Wednesday, though.  As I was reeling in to check whether I had any bait left on my hook, a big bass tried to eat my bobber.  He blew up out from underneath a ledge.  Needless to say, he did not eat my bobber and I did not catch him.

So, I went back to the same place on Thursday armed with bobber colored lures.  I used an orange, yellow, and white stick bobber.   Anyway, I did some fancy lure work out there on the ledges.  The little fish were chasing them, but no big fish.  Then it started to rain.  It's hard to do lure work in the rain because I don't want to keep opening the tackle box to change lures - especially since I hide my cell phone in there to keep it dry, and opening the box defeats that purpose.  So, I went to worm and bobber again.  The first fish I caught was hanging out in a hole in the ledges (lucky I know where it is from when the lake level was really low).  I got the bait dangling right over that hole and WHAM.  A big bluegill.  I'm guessing about 9".  (I have to guess.  He wriggled off the hook, flopped down the bank, and made his escape.)  Then I caught two little punkinseeds.  Then the rain started to come down harder, so I moved my gear and myself to underneath a tree.  Threw out and sat on a log watching my bobber.  Caught two big gills there and got those on the stringer.  Moved down a little when the rain lightened up and caught another big gill.

Oh, I nearly forgot!  I was throwing out on the lake side of some bushes where I'd been getting some bites when suddenly my bobber disappeared.  I set the hook and began reeling.  And reeling.  And reeling.  Whatever it was, it was big!  When I finally got it close to the surface, it was a big ol' turtle.  Probably 10-12" worth of it.  I dragged it up on shore, grabbed the pliers, and went to work getting the hook out of its mouth.  Which would've been easier if it wasn't hissing and snapping and jerking its head back into its shell.  I finally managed to pull its head out and got a firm but gentle hold on its neck.  Popped the hook out easily enough.  (Turtles don't have a lot of soft tissue around their mouths, so hooks don't go deep.)   Anyway, it was a big ol' eastern river cooter.  I picked it up, said hello and put it back in the water.  It swam off like a bat out of hell, never - I hope - to be caught again.

Anyway, I fished there some more until I had to use the bathroom.  Lucky for me, the park is open.  I stopped in there but I didn't stay because the park is full of campers.  I went to my old go-to spot.  Good thing I did, too, because I wasn't out there ten minutes when a jet ski approached.  My first thought was: asshole.  My second thought as he got closer was: I wonder if he's going to ask for directions.  Turns out the second was correct and not the first.  He shut the ski off and shouted the name of a nearby town.  Well, he was hell and gone from there and headed in the wrong direction.  I got him turned around, told him where he was and how to get back to where he wanted to be.  Of course, it's raining and his map was soaked to the point of near-disintegration, but I managed to find the piece that showed where we were and where he needed to be.  Off he went, spraying water out the back of his infernal machine right at where I'd been standing only seconds before.  (I moved because I know those damn things shoot water out the back.)  He yelled an apology and off he went.  I hope he made it back.  :sigh:  Tourists.

I did catch one more fish to bring home.  Unfortunately, I also caught a sycamore and after popped my gear off in a tree I didn't feel like re-rigging.  I went home instead.  Cleaned the four fish and they're in the freezer. 

That's it for me this week.  Have a fun week and I'll see ya next Saturday.