I liken this little comedy of catching the trout with the
net, as it was hoisted up to the bridge (remember there is no land access to the
water there) to catching Asian Carp in the Illinois River.
The first thing I did when I got home was go online to
Cabela's.com and order a new stringer because the cheapie one I’ve had most of my
life was finally ready for the trash can. The new one was twice as heavy as the
old one and should last the rest of my life. You can’t go cheap on something
that goes “twang” and drops all your fish back in the river.
The second thing I ordered is called a Pop Net. Many of the
people that fish the bridge have a similar net, but this one has a couple of
cool extras. It’s designed for fishing off a pier or a bridge. It starts out as
a 10 inch loop and opens to a 30 inch net. When you’re done, just fold it back
to 10 inches and it goes in the sack it comes in or you can stuff it into a
bucket. It comes with 30 feet of rope (more than enough to get it to the water)
and has a capacity of 100 lbs. Where is that big trout when you need it to test
the net?
Bridge Net |
OK, off to the bridge yesterday morning. Got there
at the usual 0830 and there was a guy and his dad set up in the spot I had last
time. Again this was the “slot” where the fish were being caught. No bribing
with donuts this time since it bombed so bad last time. By the time I got
there, they already had 8 or 9 in the bucket. I fished the next section over
and was rewarded with one about 10 inches, BUT I did get a chance to use my
handy dandy new net and it worked like a charm. I fished for about 3 ½ hours
and only caught that one with one other bite that I missed. The “slot” next to
me kept providing bite after bite, but they missed most of them.
The guys next to me wrapped it up at Noon and since they
were one short (they had 9) of limits for both, I volunteered the one I had to
give them 5 each. After all, he knew me from reading my articles in the paper.
When I first walked up, he said” Aren’t you the guy who writes for the Ledger
Dispatch? I read your column all the time”. He also mentioned something about
me giving away all the secret information about fishing Middle Bar Bridge, but
didn’t throw anything at me.
were and disappear under the water for an extended period of
time coming up with, yet another fish. In between diving for fish the Otter
would lay on its back and look at us. I think it was giving us the finger. (Can an Otter do that?). It showed absolutely no fear of us knife toting
humans. Cute (I can’t say little because it was a good 2 feet long) guy or girl
as long as it’s not your stringer he or she has stripped of those had caught
trout. Something like that tends to take the cuteness out of an Otter.
OK, that’s the update from the bridge.
Tomorrow is Tenkara on the creek, Wednesday. Stay tuned.
Mark
Well...I know that 20 inch fish is just around the bridge! You will fill that new net in no time...
ReplyDelete"I think it was giving us the finger. (Can an Otter do that?)." Yup, I'm sure that animals give us humans the finger on occasion...
ReplyDeletevery nice, looking forward to some tenkara action, fascinating stuff
ReplyDeleteWhat's this stringer thing you're talking about?
ReplyDeleteEagle Claw Heavy-Duty Stainless Steel Stringer at Cabela's. Item: IK-020511
DeleteMark
Time for me to go back to the Bridge...
ReplyDelete