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03Feb07 pickerel-palooza fishing

2K views 8 replies 7 participants last post by  Virgil Poe 
#1 ·
Got a call last night from John Veil inviting me to fish one of his secret spots today, so we could (hopefully) add to our SRRKC tourney aggrigate, and maybe find the monster that will win this thing. :D

We met up at about 1100 and started tossing minnows rigged various ways.
I was using a shad dart of between 1/8 and 1/16 of an ounce (not really sure they are some very old darts).

We probably fished an hour before I got my first fish... a 15"er, and then the bite turned on.

We decided we'd measure some of the larger fish, but unless it would add to our aggrigate, we decided to return the smaller ones to the water quickly.

After landing a couple more fish, I finally got one worthy of a photo. 22" of mean and scrappy... :eek:



We caught steady for about another 90 minutes during the period of brightest sun and warmest temps of the day (which wasn't saying too much today), but before the bite turned off, I got a fish that tried to straighten the hook on my dart...



I got that fish to within 10' of the shoreline, but I gave him just a little too much pressure and when the hook came out, it exited the water and passed within inches of my head. :eek:

John got some nice fish to add to his aggrigate and lost a monster right at the shoreline, but I'll let him tell that story. :)

Funny how you don't feel the cold when you're catching. :D
 
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#2 · (Edited)
SRRKC older guys can catch fish too

I have found a pretty decent shoreline fishing spot that produces pickerel on each outing. For those of us who aren't boat fishing for the SRRKC derby, this spot is one of just a few with access to decent water. Kevin joined me a few minutes before 11:00 this morning. As we each reached into our minnow buckets to get the first baits out, our hands got mighty cold. I was afraid it might be a short trip. The fishing was slow for the first hour. I hooked three fish but got none to the shore. All of a sudden, Kevin found the right stuff and pulled four fish out in the next half hour inlcuding the beautiful 22" fish he posted above.

I was a little frustrated but did not lose hope. All of a sudden, the mojo shifted to me. I caught fish on three straight casts. One was the 19" fish shown below and another was probably Moby Dick. I could not believe the size of that fish's head. That big fish swam back and forth and pulled line against the drag, but eventually I got it near shore and yelled to Kevin to come see it. I had been standing about 10 feet from shore and began to walk backwards so I could beach it. I hesitated momentarily and the line tension was gone. I looked down in 6" of water less than 2 feet from shore and there sat the big fish. If he had had hands, I'm sure he would have been giving me the finger ;) I attempted to move the fish onto the shore with my boot, but the big had wanted no part of that game and took off. :eek: :eek: I assumed that the fish had broken the line, but later found the jig and minnow still in place. I never got a good look at the overall length of that fish, but the girth was massive. I think Uncle John's tournament leading status dodged a bullet today.

Although that was frustrating, it got my adrenaline pumping. Kevin and I kept fishing and each caught a few more. One of my last fish of the day turned out to be the longest one I have actually brought to the measuring board during the derby. It was right around 21".

As Kevin noted above, although the actual temperature was in the low 30s, we didn't feel cold because we were fish-catching machines today. I believe Kevin moved into the 3-fish composite lead, but I am right on his heels (21", 19", and 18.5"). On my last three visits to this honey-hole, I have caught fish of at least 20" that got loose just before I could get them onshore and measure them. I still have a few more weeks to go back and recapture the ones that got away.
 

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#4 ·
Kevin -

It was my pleasure to fish with you too. We showed the younger SRRKC guys that the more mature club members can catch fish too. The photos I posted here are from my camera but were cropped to highlight the fish.

Thanks for sending your photos. I took two photos of your big fish on my camera, but the way the lighting hit the measuring board, you can't read any of the numbers. I'm glad you got a good shot on your camera.
 
#5 ·
Way to go, guys. It was a chilly day out there today, and I give you both a lot of credit for sticking with the wading thing... not an easy thing to do, but as you say, much easier when the fish are biting! :)

Sorry you weren't able to get your big one to the measuring stick, John... at least you now know where he lives... he won't roam far, and he'll be hungry for one of those minnows again soon.

... And YES it was REALLY cold grabbing minnows out of the bucket and then fishing w/ wet hands today, wasn't it... I think that's the toughest part of all this :D

Great job, guys... good pics and excellent report. Glad you were able to get out. Keep up the good work!
 
#7 ·
I knew I should have tried today. Woke up and saw the bright sun and thought about it, then stepped outside and changed my mind. Guess I missed a good bite.:( Oh well. This things getting tight now, I gotta find some more of those 20s to get my aggregate back up. Should be a good finish.
 
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