The Great
Pop Gear Chase
Yes, I believe this fish was laughing at my friend Phyllis on this particular day!
Phyllis had just caught a fairly large trout and was reeling it in using the new pop gear she'd just bought. She not only caught the first fish of the day, but proud as a peacock that she'd hooked it with her new pop gear.
As she was working overtime at rubbing it in and boasting about her ability to catch the first fish of the day, she had almost landed the fish when the line broke. The fish took off with the new pop gear still in its mouth. The look on her face was utter shock. She was really pissed because she lost her new fishing gear.
All of a sudden the fish surfaced and was circling close to the boat. Phyllis jumped up with joy because she felt the fish had run out of gas and was going to let her just pluck it out of the water.
Each time she got the boat close to the fish and was about to net it, the fish would dive again. This went on for about two hours. Yes, the fish had a smile on its face each time it surfaced. The fish finally got to laughing so hard it filled up with water and sank for ever with Phyllis’s brand new pop gear.
The Big Bass
Here is just one example of how @#^&* picky my fishing partner could be.
We had obtained the owners permission to fish on a fairly large private beaver pond with some friends of ours. On this particular fishing expedition my wife emptied her entire tackle box using every fishing lure you could imagine. One lure after the other was being used. We laughed till we cried while she went through her routine...tying on a lure, then casting three times. If no bite she switched to another lure until there was only one lure remaining in her tackle box that she had not used yet.
We still argue today whether it was a blue worm or a purple worm. Our memory, or at least as she says, my memory, was blocked out by the action. When that fish got on I believe our interest went straight to the fish and the lure was something we would have to pull out of our memory banks later on.
It was quite a blast when that big bass snatched that PURPLE worm up and the fight was on. Yup, she got err done catching one of the biggest bass we have ever seen to date in this area! I don’t mind bragging for her since she shared the meal with me later.
By the way...it wasn't long before we were all laughing with her. Dang that lucky skill.
Over Limit
First of all, I believe the statute of limitations run out at the seven (7) year mark, so for safety reasons, I'll date this story back about 71/2 years.
My fishing partner and I were fishing in Panther Lake, one of our favorite lakes. I believe we liked the lake more then the fishing because I don’t think we ever caught more then a couple fish between us on any given day.
So bear with me...if the limit of fish were five per person, and you never limited out in all the years that you fished the lake, is it illegal to catch more then 5 fish each in one day? Legally speaking no, but this particular day we were catching fish one after the other and limited out within the hour. We were having a blast and did not want to stop. We were giggling and laughing like a couple of kids.
We evaluated the chances that the game warden would be waiting at the boat launch, and those chances were very high for Panther Lake. We were having such a blast that we agreed that whatever the consequences and fines that may have been levied on us, we would just mark it up to entertainment and pay up. Fortunately we did not get stopped by the game warden but then again we only caught two more fish each after the limit.
So if you don’t count the fact that it was illegal and we can’t count all the other times we did not limit out then we felt that luck, not skill, again played a part in this fishing trip. No, we never did anything like this again. Really, we didn't...
K-Mart Swimming Trunks
Ok, you already know that I believe there is a lot of luck involved in fishing so you will appreciate this fish tale, especially where it did not involve a fish at all, or as my wife said, “Well sort of”.
My buddy and I stopped and bought some artificial spinning lures from K-mart on our way out of town. Of course you know by looking at a lure that the fish will be interested and you will probably pull every fish in the lake out in short order. Well they had a sale and, if memory serves me correctly, I paid 79¢ for this lure, and Oh, what a beautiful lure it was! It shined, it spun, and went up and down as you trolled.
We had heard so many fish stories about Kitsap Lake we decided to drive around and find a good spot where we could fish from shore, since we weren't hauling the boat around as we were just out for a drive.
We had been fishing for awhile, no bites, and my arm was getting tired. While reeling in my line, as the lure got close to shore I slowed down and the lure went down and hooked onto the biggest log you ever saw. You thought I was going to say fish didn’t you? Remember I said this story did not involve a fish.
The log was only down about 4 feet. Since I'm only a little bit over five feet tall I felt I'd have no problem retrieving the new lure.
Of course I was not going to go in with my clothes on. The difficulty now posed was, how could I do this without getting my clothes wet? How could I possibly keep from getting embarrassed, since we were fishing at a public launch and a humanoid could appear at any moment and see me if I was naked.
A bright light came on along with an idea. I ran over to the truck to search for an old pair of swimming trunks, cut off’s or something that I could slip into and retrieve my lure while maintaining my dignity. Of course, I couldn't find anything wearable, but wait!...I then spotted the K-mart shopping bag, left over from the earlier lure-shopping expedition.
Now, I got to thinking, why not? So I poked two holes in the bottom of the bag for my legs to go through. I then stepped off into the woods, took all my clothes off, eagerly slipped into this bag and tied the handles around my waist. I now had a pair of swimming trunks! I came out of the woods, and, of course my buddy was laughing so hard he almost fell into the water. As quickly as I could, holding on to the hope that no one else would see me, I got into the water and retrieved my 79¢ lure.
So you think the story is over? I hate to disappoint you, so I won't...read on!
Now I had to change back into my clothes. Little did I know that some person would use the convenience of the same woods to relieve themselves. When I put my pants back on I smelled this odor looked down, and to my astonishment to saw number 2 on my clothes! Well to make a long story short, I had to go into the lake to wash off my pants.
This time I was going to push my buddy into the lake if he did not stop laughing. This really was a no fish story. We caught none that day, but what a memory.
The Game Warden & the Beaver Pond
I don’t believe I can get in trouble with this story because of guilt by association, so I'll tell it here. I do remember what Dad said over the years about when you are with someone and they do something wrong you are guilty right along with your partner. He also stressed you could walk away from a situation or talk someone out of doing something wrong. So here goes.
An association of mine and I were checking out the countryside about 2 weeks before fishing season opened. We were looking for the perfect place to go fishing. We were so far out in the woods (deep) that I do believe that the last time I saw or smelled asphalt was at least 5 hours ago. We came upon a fairly good sized beaver pond.
For you to get a good visual of this, we were traveling in a 6 wheel off road rig. We had not seen any sign of human life since we started off road.
This pond was so secluded that we believed the fish would have a hard time finding it, but, we discussed this for a period of time and figured that there was only one way to find out if it held any fish.
Now mind you, we are both very conscious about the law and follow it faithfully. You can also agree with me that everyone has a good angel and a little devil sitting on their shoulders telling them what to do from time to time. Of course in real life you already know that two buddies will influence each other positively or negatively.
We normally did not carry a fishing pole with us in our scouting expeditions, so this did not help. We still don’t remember how that one happened to get in the back of the rig. We both looked at this pond and figured out that if we just tried a few casts for practice and actually caught a fish we could always release it. This, we knew, would justify our time, distance traveled, and of course knowing that on opening day we could actually catch a large native fish.
To make a long story short my friend caught one of the biggest native trout’s we ever saw. It was at least 18” and was fat. About the time he landed the fish we heard another vehicle approaching so we ditched the pole and fish in the bushes, since there was no time to do anything else.
The vehicle was an older model unmarked pickup truck with three men riding in it. One of the men came up to us and asked how the fishing was. He also stated that he was tempted to get his pole and try it out. We commented that we did not know how the fishing was and also said that it would not be wise to try it before opening day. He laughed and said he agreed and departed.
About one month later my friend was out for a drive and was way up in the mountains when he noticed a vehicle over the embankment. He was concerned that someone might be in it and called it in to 911.
I bet you can't guess who the first person to arrive on the scene was, wearing a freshly pressed game warden uniform? You guess it! He was this very same man that we talked with previously at this beaver pond. He had also been scouting out the areas for fish, like us. Yes, we did release the fish.
So, You Want to Be a Hero?
So you want to be a hero? I don’t know if you should start your story off with the same words as your title but I am just a fisherman not a writer.
I was at work one day and my Senior Manager called me on the phone and told me to come to his office right away. This manager was a no nonsense type person and just did not normally invite you to his office unless something serious was about to happen.
Of course my mind was racing like crazy, trying to figure out what was up. I could think of nothing I'd done wrong, so defending my self would be difficult.
When I arrived at his office he said to come in and sit down. He started right off being friendly and got right down to the subject.
Boy was I a happy dude, knowing now that I was really in his good graces!
He said he wanted to take his grandchildren fishing that weekend and said he knew of my fishing experiences and was aware that I knew the local area and the best places to fish. He said he needed my help and asked if I'd please tell him where he could take his grandchildren to catch fish.
This man wanted results like normal and I knew if I pulled this off I would be a hero and that would not be a bad thing for me in the future. If you ever have that kind of pressure and and you HAVE to catch fish and want to have a blast while doing it, go to Island Lake in Shelton, Washington.
After you launch your boat at Island Lake, go to the left about 300 yards from the boat launch and fish off shore approximately 50 yards. Put a small worm on a # 6 hook and lower it in the water until it hits bottom, then reel up about three turns and bob up and down a little. One after the other of fry pan size perch will fulfill any wish you might have for pleasing the grandchildren with fish, guaranteed.
You Catch Em, You Clean Em!
Now you are probably wondering after reading my hero article how in the world I knew about this Island Lake located in Shelton Washington.
One day we and a couple friends of ours were out driving around and we were following each other through the countryside in our rigs pulling our boats behind us. We came upon this lake and decided to try our luck. We were not prepared but experienced one of the best, and worst, days fishing we had in a long time.
When we realized this lake was full of perch we quickly pulled out the rule book to see what the size and limit was. To our joy we found no limit on this fish so we could catch however many we wanted.
We were having a time of our life. Mind you we had four people fishing and two boats. We finally decided to stop fishing for the day and go into shore. We still laugh about this day and will for years to come.
Between us we caught over 100 fish, and had a fine time doing it! The reason we remember this trip so well is the fact that we cleaned and scaled fish for a very, very long time. They were good eating and the experience taught us one thing. Count your fish, then evaluate your energy level and match it to your day.
Happy perch fishing! Island Lake also has some nice trout and bass.
I have many more fishing stories still to come as time allows, so come on back and see the new additions as I catch them.
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