patriotsandbass

So took my oldest son, Dillon, out to Lake Ripple last Sunday. Nice warm day, few other guys on the ice. Went to my spot behind the high school. (Before I start this story, it's important to know that Dillon is 3, about to be 4.)

So we start the day by looking at a beautiful 5 pound bass that some other lucky guy had got with his kid. Then we settle to wait. Hour goes by, no flags. Another 30 minutes, no flags. Then it starts. 5 flags, not a fish to show for it. Then we get another, I pull out the trap and set the hook, hand Dillon the line and we pull in a 3 pounder together.

As soon as the photos are snapped we have another flag up. Off we run, him under my arm as I sprint across the snow. I set the hook and he pulls in a 2 and a half pounder all by himself. We're setting up for the picture when I see another flag, so off we run. About 75 feet of line is out, but no fish.

Anyways, some time goes by. Then I see Dillon standing by a hole with one of my traps in his hand. I start to scold him for touching the tilt without me. Then I see that he's going for the line. By himself. He sets the hook and commences to pull in well over 50 feet of line, pulling a FAT pickerel out of the water. I NEVER TOUCHED A THING! 3 YEARS OLD! SO PROUD

So I decided to head out to Lake Ripple this past Mon. It was a bit cold, with the weatherman claiming wind chills got it down to -35 degrees F. I believe him, because within 10 minutes of my arrival spray from my auger had got stuck on my eyelashes resulting in both my eyes being frozen shut! So around 6 am I managed to finish cutting my five holes and bunkered down for the wait. Long story short, ended up with 5 flags in 3 hours, which yielded 5 total fish. 3 bass (2 of em nice size) and 2 pickerel (one fattie.) So all in all a great day, even with the shoveling, the cold, and putting my foot down deep into an old hole. CAN'T BEAT ICE FISHING! Can't wait to

So me and Aaron headed out this morning bright and early getting to the water around 5 am. Action started slow, a couple of bass for me but no sign of the big boys. About an half hour in we start to see them.... this spot is great because there is a ton of weeds that hide big bass and carp, but by the boat launch it's clear for about 10 feet, and that's where we chum the corn. So when they move into that area you can see this bad boys clear as day. Well, we go about an hour just watching them play with the corn, until finally we see a hog slurp up my hook. BAM, got a nice set and get a good look at him before that first run. BIG. I handed my pole to Aaron so that he could get his first ever taste of a carp fight, and oh boy was it a good first fight. This guy made three or four solid runs including one where he stuck his whole head out of the water and thrashed about for us! He ended up being too big for the net, but we managed to get him to shore after about a 5 or 6 minute fight, he fought him like a champ!

Totals for the day:

Aaron:
19 and a half pound carp
2 LMB (regular size)
1 Pickerel
1 Bluegill

Me:
2 LMB, biggest was about 2 pounds
and a Snapping turtle

Great day, thanks to Aaron for waking up early to join me

GOING AGAIN TOMORROW 7/17, I am not afraid to share my spots, so please hit me up if you are interested in joining, we get to the water at 5 AM

The day stated like any other with Muskie... at around 4:15 a.m. We took the long hike to the water at Wach. Reservoir and set up. We fished for about three or four hours before Tom finally landed a nice 2 and a half pound smallie on a crawdad. The lakers were biting and running but didn't seem to want to swallow the shiners so that no one could get a hook set into them. At around 1045 I noticed a big smallie slam into one of the dead shiners we had tossed out into the water. I figured that I couldn't catch any LESS fish that I had thus far, so I picked up a dead shiner sitting on the shore, took off my weights, and started casting and retrieving the little guy. On about the twentieth cast I watched my shiner hit the water about twenty feet from shore. I gave it a little jerk after it disappeared from view and SLAM! At first I thought maybe I had snagged up, then I see a big smallie leap from the water. She weighed in at 4 pounds even (my fourth fish this year that was within a pound of being a pin fish) and 21 inches long. Not bad for my first ever Wach Res fish and my first ever smallie! GREAT DAY. Thanks to Tom and Muskie for a great trip!

Today started like most other days have the past two weeks. Woke up at 3:45, on the water at 4:30. First half hour goes by without a sound, then the circus begins: carp jumping all over the place, bubbles popping up everywhere where the big girls are digging for my corn. I see one of my lines scream out and I know it's on: first carp of the day. Or not.... much to my surprise I find myself holding a 14 inch tiger trout (Pretty sure its a tiger, never caught one before though...) which had felt barely bigger than a twig on my beefy carp tackle.

Another fifteen minutes go by and I see the right hand line scream out... FAST, faster than I have ever seen my line move. I grab up the pole, set the hook, and hear my drag start to SCREAM.... I feel something huge on the other end, then just as quick as I feel her, she's gone. I reel in the line (almost 100 feet had been taken out in a matter of seconds) and find that the 20 pound mono leader had either snapped or been bitten off about 2 inches above the hook. I know this lake has muskie/salmon/pike in it, so I'm thinking I may have had one of those on.

About 10 minutes later both lines trip, one fast, one slow, I go for the fast one a get a decent 5 pound 8 ounce carp, then reel in a 4 inch painted turtle on the other.

Very interesting and satisfying morning!

****little edit: went back out later to the blackstone with my oldest and he got a nice 7 pounder!!