Catching That Week Before

    One-two years ago, my Dad and I were fishing on a sandbar jutting out into the Ohio River (this was the same sandbar where a man ramped his pontoon boat onto shore and offered us a free ride around Brown's Island. None of us felt like getting kidnapped that night so we awkwardly declined.). That night, my Dad caught one fish and I caught zero. While there, we started talking to another fisherman that claimed "to catch fish after fish" a week before that night.

    It seems odd that wherever we go, we always hear about how many fish they caught the week before. So for one-two years, we've been trying to catch up to that "week before" and tonight, it finally happened.

    With a brief stop at King's Creek and one Smallmouth reeled in, we took our gear to the mouth of King's Creek on the Ohio River. We had many good nights here last year and were anxious to see how this year would start.

    I used a Kastmaster at the creek so I thought I'd try my luck with it here. It payed off on my second cast, reeling in another Smallie. For the past 4 months, I've been in a slump but all you need is a few base hits and you're hitting .300 again.

    After reeling in a handful off the Kastmaster, I switched to my go-to Rapala. It didn't matter if I reeled it in slow, fast, jerky, or not at all; these fish were in a frenzy. I've never witnessed anything like this. They didn't just take the lure, they attacked it on the run. Three times we watched  fish close to shore dash through the lure but miss the hook. When they hooked on though, the impact felt like there was a 5 pounder on the end of the line. Once hooked, they'd run and jump until they were finally on shore, where they would then become civil and let me easily remove the barbs.

 
 All and all I ended up with more than 15 Small Mouth Bass/White Bass. They weren't huge in size but their fight was amazing. It was a thrill I haven't gotten from fishing in quite awhile. While I caught up to my "week before," my Dad is still searching for his, losing a few and only reeling in one. I mention this not to rub it in but to say how odd it was. He used the same lure I did and even fished the same spot I did. He joked that I was spitting on my lures before throwing them in. I returned the joke by catching the same 2 fish 15 times.

First Quarter Results

  Whenever something goes wrongs, responsible people always say to look at the bright side of the situation. It's been a dark winter for many reasons, but let's try it out, that bright side thing I was talking about.

  I've fished more days through April than I ever have before. I can't lie though, I've had the same results fishing that I could of had not fishing. And as far as I know, that's not how it should work. But what I lacked in numbers, I made up for in other areas.

  Firstly, I have learned (and still am learning)the basics to fly fishing.  I can now talk to fisherman about wooly buggers and egg patterns like I'm part of the cool kid's club. Regardless of the end result, it always feels nice to learn a new skill.

  I wouldn't have learned as much as I have if my cousin didn't hook me up with his friend from back home. This kid shares the same name as I do (I could have named this post Zac Attacks but I didn't because that would have been stupid and the 5 people who read this would probably never read it again all because of a stupid title. It just wasn't worth it.) Anyway...

  I've never formally met him but after quickly talking though introductions, I learned we actually played football against each other in one of the most memorable rivalries I've had growing up. You're lucky we never played that tie-breaker Zac!

  He taught me what I needed to learn and gave me the confidence I was looking for. But most importantly, I've got a new fishing buddy and you can never have too many of those.

Showing me how it's done.

  So far, I've learned a new skill and made a new fishing pal, not so bad. This bright side of things is actually working.

  But yes, the fish (trout) weren't cooperative this far. My Dad has been more fortunate though and has caught multiple fish multiple times. In this picture, he was the trend setter of King's Creek that night. No one was fishing this spot but after he caught a few, he now had friends fishing next to him trying to cash in on his find. To be more specific, they weren't his friends (I sure hope not) but looked more like the creepy characters who sit on their porches with shotguns in horror movies. Good job Dad!

 

 

  After a long depressing bought of stubbornness, I finally gave trout a rest and went to what I know best, Bass. I didn't catch anything that large but that didn't matter. It was the therapy I needed to rejoin with the experiences I've had growing up: the woods, the smells, the ponds, the ticks on my neck, etc. It never gets old.

First Bass on a fly

Keychain Bass

  So to put things in perspective, I got my butt brutally kicked so far this year. Kicked to the ground again and again, but I know it's only going to get better. All these growing pains will give me a better chance at making sure they never happen again.