My Biggest Trout Yet and Other Memorial Day Awesomeness - Days 2 - 4

Life changed my mind for me - I'll be finishing the entire report today.  As always, it will be wordy, so feel free to just look at the pictures.  I use this blog as my journal of sorts, so much of what I write is for myself.  For those who do read everything, I hope you enjoy it.  This was one of the best vacations I have had in recent memory.

Day 2 - Saturday May 26 - Big Fish Day and Hiking

25" of solid muscle.  I was by myself, so I had a hard time getting a picture
with scale.  None of these pictures even come close to doing hime justice -
he was massive!

My plan for Saturday morning was to lay low around the cabin in the morning and help with breakfast.  I had been out with Jason all day Friday while the girls took care of the boys without a car.  The C-ster woke up at 6:00am (which is good for him!) and I was up too.  After 20 minutes Cheryl asked, "Are you going fishing this morning?"  What kind of a question is that?  "If that is a serious question of course the answer is YES!" I replied, (duh?).  She told me to check in around 9:00, but that she didn't care if I left.  See ya!



Wildcat Shoals.  The low fog was nice, expecially over Memorial Day weekend,
as it helped hide the other fisherman and boats that were around.

I drove 5 minutes up stream to the Wildcat Shoals access.  The shoals themselves are over a quarter mile down stream from the access, but I made quick work of the hike.  They were generating one unit (of a total of 8) from the dam, so althought I could wade the shoals, the water was moving quite quickly.  I quickly found a place where there was water deep enough to hold fish, and although the water was clipping along, I knew the fish could easily hold on the bottom, and that the moving water would knock down food and get them feeding. Turns out I was right!

Not more than five minutes after starting I had my first rainbow on.  The combination of a decent fish and strong current made the fight fun, but I quickly brought the 14 inch rainbow to hand.  My morning was off to a great start!  I fished the same run gradually making my way to the far shore, casting into any variations in the current that I saw.  I was successful too, catching seven more rainbows of the planter variety in short order.  Then it happened.

My first rainbow of the day.  This one was on the skinny side, but it fought
well.  The others were all shorter and stockier. 

 The Big Fish Story:

As I continued to make my way accross the river, I came to a section of river that was slightly deeper and slightly slower.  I quickly caught 2 rainbows out of the top of the run.  On the first good drift through the heart of the run my indicator stopped and I set the hook, expecting a rainbow to immediately run on me.  Instead I felt two good head shakes, and then the fish slowly starting swimming away from me.  "Oh boy, you've got a good one" I told myself.  The fish worked straight away from me for twenty feet before he took off down river.  The run was impressive not in its speed, but in its strength.  I was not going to stop this fish.  When he finally decided to stop I glanced at my reel and saw 3 or 4 wraps of fly line before my backing.  That's as close as I've ever been on a fair-hooked trout.

Slowly I worked the fish back in until he was in the original run.  Then he ran again, but not quite so far.  I worked him back to the run.  We repeated this sequence one more time.  Now is when the wheels in my head started spinning: "I'm crotch deep in fast water 70 yards from shore, I don't have a net, amazingly there is no one here to help me, and this fish has got to be a pig."  Although the fish had been on for 10 minutes, I still hadn't seen him - in fact, I hadn't even managed to get my indicator out of the water the entire time.  Finally, I saw a flash - it was a big brown - but I couldn't tell how big.  Five minutes later the fish was tiring and I managed to get him next to me.  I tried to grab him, but with the current and his size, it wasn't going to happen.  I decided my only recourse was to take him to shore.

Finally, I got him on shore and documented!  Success!

As quickly as I could I worked myself and the fish to the near shore, where I was able to land him.  There was still no one around.  I quickly removed the fly from his upper left jaw (a #14 grbh hare's ear), and got out the camera.  I started taking pictures, trying to keep the fish in the moving water at all times.  I measured him against my rod, took some more pictures trying to get some scale, and then, when he was ready, I let him go. 

"There's fish out there as long as your arm." At 6'3" I've got some long
arms, but this guy is lots longer than my forearm!  Ever tried to take a
picture of a 25" fish by yourself?  It's hard! 

Disappointingly, none of the pictures come close to doing the fish justice.  He was a pig, and my longest trout ever by half an inch.  As I watched him slowly swim away, I smiled.  I could hear my heart beating, my right arm was ligitimately tired, and I was absolutely stoked.  I called Cheryl up and told her that I was coming in.  That was enough fish for one morning.

Day 2 - Afternoon at the Buffalo River

That afternoon we headed to the Buffalo River.  The Buffalo is a National River, as well as a blue ribbon smallmouth stream.  We had been hoping to canoe it, but the water was so low that we decided against it.  Instead, we made a picnic lunch, grabbed the baby backpacks, and hit the trail.  We hiked just over a mile to some cliffs overlooking the river.  Amazingly, all three of the little guys did great, and we all had a really nice hike.

The C-ster says "I love hiking!"  This is right before I failed to notice a low
branch and gave him a 4 inch scrape next to his left eye.  I love this shot!

Now isn't that a good looking family.  (OK, I'm incredibly biased.)

Jason, Lindsey, and their crew.  Somehow the littlest guy slept the entire
way back on his mom's back.

That evening I dropped Cheryl and Lindsey off upstream from our cabin in the canoe and they floated down while Jason and I watched the kiddos.  Somehow we stayed sane watching a six month old, a nine month old, and a two and a half year old the last two hours before they went to sleep.  I guess we're just good fathers!

Cheryl and Lindsey setting out on a daring adventure.  (Not really!)

Day 3 - Sunday May 27 - Morning - Trout witht the Whole Family!

The next morning Cheryl really wanted to catch some fish.  She has been in a dry spell for a while.  So we ate a quick breakfast, threw the C-ster in the pack, and headed back to Wildcat Shoals.  Lightening didn't strike twice, but each of us were able to catch quite a few rainbows and one decent brown.  The water was also down, which made wading even easier.  In addition, our baby was happy the entire time!

Fight him Cheryl - but don't horse him!

"Get him Dad! Don't lose him!"  The C-ster still thinks blowing bubbles is a
word, but if he could talk, that is what he would be saying!

"We got it!  Good job Dad!"

Day 3 - Evening - Some More Nice Bass

That evening Jason and I decided to return to the bass creek to try to catch some more smallies.  My goal was simple: Catch a smallie on a popper.  I did!

My first, and only, smallie on a popper.  Just a little guy.

Jason was catching too many fish using spinning gear, so I switched back over to the dark side and had a blast!  Instead of the tube jig we had been using, I used a small 1/8 ounce bass jig with a small crawdad soft plastic.  It had amazing action, but at first it wasn't getting hit.  The later it got the more fish I caught, and the bigger they got.

Me with the biggest smallie of the evening.  You can tell it is getting late
in the evening because the flash on the camera went off, which makes me
blink, which in turn makes me look hung over!  I'm not!

My last fish of the evening.  This largemouth jumped immediately after hitting
which I think is really exciting.  It was a great way to end the day.

I also got to knock a new species off the list - the Ozark Bass.  The Ozark Bass is a relative of the rock bass, and they are only found in the White River drainage, where we were fishing.  I'm not entirely sure this is an Ozark Bass, but normal rock bass have spots on every scale, which usually form lines, and they also have black rimmed anal fins.  These fish had neither of those features, so I am pretty confident that these are Ozark Bass.  They were definitely caught in the right place!

Ozark Bass.  Very similar to a rock bass, but a unique, native species to the river
I was fishing.  As you can tell from C-ster in the background, I actually caught
this one the next morning.

 Interestinly, Jason and I had probably fished 8 total hours on the river and we hadn't caught a single Ozark Bass.  Then, in a matter of about 20 minutes I caught 5 in three different holes.  It was strange to say the least.

Day 4 - Monday - May 28 - Fishing for Smallies with the Family

Cheryl has only caught a handful of smallies in her life, so for the final morning we decided to head back to the smallie stream.  We got up early and packed up the car and the canoe.  We would be hiking today, as we had the C-ster and Lindsey and Jason were heading home to Illinois.  We hiked below where Jason and I had been the previous night, and we fished some fresh, good water, but the fishing was slower than we had hoped.  Sure we each caught plenty of fish, but the size wasn't there. 

Cheryl with one of the bigger smallies of the day.

Cheryl with a fiesty largemouth.  What a wife!

We took the C-ster out and let him play in the creek a bit.  To say that this kid loves water would be a huge understatement!  Of course he loves his Mom and Dad, but he also loves being outside.  With Cheryl and I as his parents, hopefully this is a passion that continues to grow!

Holy cuteness batman!  As he gets older he looks more
and more like his Mommy - a GOOD thing!

Overall we had a great trip.  We got to spend time as a family and with Lindsey, Jason, and the boys.  The fishing was phenominal, and somehow, nothing went wrong.  It was certainly a LONG weekend to remember!