Still hot

STILL HOT!

Too hot to fish. Drove down to the river and saw they are drifting baby shad above the ripples and catching a few. I think wading would be the only way to go.

Hot?

HOT

Is it hot at your house? Too hot to fish, thats for sure! I used to think that being a fair weather fisherman meant you didn't fish in the rain but I have come to realize that it also applies to people like me who don't fish in extreme heat or cold too. Three more days and then a little break, thank god.

Catch up time

I had a lot of catching up to do as I spent all day yesterday fishing the Mississippi with T.C. Cleaning out the shed and the garage. Where did all this crap come from? I don't think I even made a dent in it.

T.C.'s water

T.C. took me uptown on the Mississippi in his 20 foot Lowe and we made a day of it. We caught 23 channel cats (?) and they seem to come easy because T.C.'s boat is set up for fishing and he knows where to park it. We fished Pool 17 out of Port Louisa and hit the flats, wing dams and a little wood. We pulled channel cats cats out of every parking spot we tried but one. The day was great and I can't wait to do it again but the best part was I didn't have to pull the anchor once. In the recent past I haven't been using my anchor winch but I will from now on. Thanks for a great day and the free lessons T.C. I owe ya!

Uptown fishing

T.C. got on my case for not getting it done for the last couple days so here I am. Its been hot and I feel like the company pack mule at work so I have been off my game lately. The good news is it is Friday and T.C. is taking out on his uptown twenty footer in the morning. The two days he made it out this week, he caught 20 -30 fish. Things are looking promising for the morning. Can't wait. Check the fishing report on sliprig tomorrow.

Its back

We're in the impact area again and it looks like most of the week. Although it didn't rain much today, it's the threat that keeps us from doing much. The Weather Channel is giving us a 40% to 50% chance of severe storms and the sky looks like it might break lose any minute now. I'm tired of living under this black cloud of weather and threats. The days of fishing through a rain shower are long gone because we don't get rain showers these days. The rain we get is measured in inches and almost always comes with wind, thunder and worst of all, lightening. Staying in again!

Mondays over

The good news is Monday is all but over. I would've like to have gone fishing this evening but it was just a few degrees hotter than hell so I don't think so. Imagine my surprise when arrived at hell, AKA work, and relized hell had a time clock. Long story short, it was hot.

I wish I could go to the Seaark owners tournament but I didn't hear about it until just recently. My own fault. Not a bad tourney. Lots of cash and a boat.

Breakfast on the water

Launched from Water Works Park again and headed up toward Rome. I was on the water by 6:30 A.M. and bringing them in about twenty minutes later. The stink was pulling the Channel Cats out of the brush piles. Each stop would only give up one fish so I had to move constantly. I wish somebody would have went with so they could have pulled the anchor. Probably a half a dozen fish all together. I had breakfast in the boat and it wasn't skunk. Strawberry pop tart in case you're curious. It was hot and I fried an egg on the front deck of my boat but the egg had a brown spot on it and I was afraid it was stink bait left over from yesterday. Chub was sitting up there.

I hate it, but it works

Chub and I launched at Water Works Park on the Skunk and head up river toward Rome, Iowa. We found the Channel Cats and caught them on stink bait. I call it stink bait because it stinks. I know some of you like to call dip bait but it still stinks. Anyway! I hate using stink bait but it works. I keep my boat in the garage so I really don't like getting it all over the boat. We caught them until around 10 A.M., I guess.

blue cats

Just recently I started dinking around on facebook and noticed a there are a whole lot of people catching a whole lot of big blues. I've gotten used to seeing them in magaines but facebook made me realize everybody is catching the big fish, except for me. Unfortunately there are no blue cats in the waters around here so I might have to go elsewhere to find one or two and maybe even hire a guide to put me on a big one.

Damn computer

I'm spending way to much time on this computer lately. The website, the blog, and now facebook. We'll see how it goes. Getting started on face book, Catfish Iowa. Follow along if that is even possible.

Check out the changes on sliprig.com

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

It was a slow afternoon on the river today. Stink bait was working on a few Channel Cats, up to 3 or 4 pounds maybe. I tried Green Sunfish and got bites but no takers, There was three or four other boats on the river, stink bait was the bait if choice for them. A couple guys were running bank poles but didn't pull any fish out of the water. Back to work tomorrow.

Found boat ramps

I found two boat ramps on the Skunk that are just minutes from the Mississippi but neither one was in any shape to be used. The first, at Indian Park, was covered in a foot of mud and I'm not even sure if it is concrete or not. The second, Skunk River Access in Lee County was also covered in a foot of mud but it was definitely concrete because I could see the very top of the ramp. There were two trucks and trailers at this ramp. They had backed through th emud to launch their boats. I'm a little surprised they didn't get stuck.

At Oakland Mills there was a lot of activity on and around the dam with not a lot happening. Just a bunch of people getting chewed up by mosquitos. No boats were on the Skunk but it was about 6:30 P.M. when I drove through the area.

More changes at SLIP RIG, check it out!

Big changes at Slip Rig

Because it is really, really hot and the mosquitos are as big as sparrows I found other things to do so I'm not in danger of suffering a heat stroke or losing a quart of blood to an expectant mommy mosquito. I made some changes to SLIP RIG and have planned a few more changes in the near future. Check it out, see how many changes you can find. The biggest is yet to come.

New boating law

For those of you who like to drink a cold one while you're on the water, listen up! Starting tomorrow the legal blood alcohol content (BAC) for boat operators will be .08 instead of the .10 which it had been. With the new law, law enforcement will surely increase their patrols and checks. Be careful guys.

The R word

It started raining around 8 P.M last night and has been raining since. Wait, I haven't got to the good part yet! Here goes. The Skunk has come back up three feet, give or take an inch or two. I don't believe the river will ever get a chance to settle down. Does anybody know where a guy can find a good checker board? Seriously!

UPDATE: WE'RE ABOVE FLOOD STAGE, AGAIN!

Out of practice?

I spent two hours on the Skunk and got two bites but missed them both. I can't imagine that I'm out of practice. It's only been weeks since I caught a catfish. Then it clouded up and all I could think was that I should get off the river before it storms. I found it impossible to relax and fish. It's unfortunate that a guy can't relax and focus on catching fish because the weather is so consistently threatening. I really didn't expect that the fish would be biting but I had to give it a try. Nobody else was on the river but there were a few people on or around the dam. Nothing going on.

Rained out!!!!!!!!!!!

I went to bed last night with tentative plans to hit the Ol Miss with T.C. but I chickened out this morning since we had rain on the way. It's a good thing though because it rained all day. Its getting so my street doesn't even get dry before it starts raining again. I think I might trade my SeaArk in for a crappie boat, or better yet, maybe a checker board. What do you think?

Crappie, again?

Yea, I did it again. I tried to be a crappie fisherman again but I didn't do as well as yesterday. Five hours of fishing, two crappie. Maybe I should stick to chasing catfish, if the weather and river ever allow. There is no doubt I will stick to catfishig but I reserve the right to hit the crappie, bluegill or whatever other fish I can catch when I can't get to the catfish.

Roy, Crappie fishing?

The Skunk is still falling, seven feet in three days, but I figured the fishing would still be off so I wrote off the river. I'm almost ashamed to admit it but I spent the day on Lake Sugema crappie fishing. It was the first time I have fished for anything other than catfish in years. It did feel a little weird but it wasn't all bad. I managed to catch seven which isn't even half of what Chub caught. In addition to catching more fish than I did, Chub laughed at me all day because I didn't bring my rain suit. I was wet and cold all day. Yea, it rained on us. The wind was blowing so hard that I almost fell out of the boat several times.

Against my better judgement I decided to force the issue and soak some bait on the rapidly falling Skunk River. With a few green sunfish I caught from Pond X I headed down to the river. After trying the culvert on both sides of the road and along the fence by the dam I gave up. Nothing doing. The Skunk fell a little over three feet to just below flood stage, since midnight last night so I wasn't expecting a lot of success. I just wanted to give it a try. It had been so long since I fished that I almost got a bird nest on my Garcia 7000. I'm glad nobody was around.

Weather man?

I've come to realize that at some point I have morphed into some sort of arm chair weatherman. I suppose even I can't help but pick up a thing or two about meteorology after watching the Weather Channel non stop for four years. It was quite a surprised when I received my honorary doctorate in meteorology.

Vacation day 8

The Skunk is still two and a half feet above flood stage and it basically rained all night. The rain and thunder woke me up at 1 A.M. and it has been raining since. For all intents and purposes the best fishing of the year, April through June, has slipped by. Thats not to say that we won't catch a fish or two later in the year but there won't be any days where we can anchor up and catch a limit of keepers in one spot. I have to admit that I have already written this year off so if things turn around and I am able catch a fish or two at some point, it will be a bonus. I am already looking forward to next spring. Hopefully the weather will be better that that of the last four years.

Still nothing

I saw a catfish today. I saw an advertisement for In-fisherman on the Outdoor Channel and they showed a blue cat. Other than that I still don't have anything good to say. Sorry!

Don't say anything

It's only 7:45 A.M. and the news is already bad. I turned on The Weather Channel and what did I see? The radar shows all the red, yellow, orange and green headed straight for us. Rain. When I was growing up my mom would tell me "If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all".

Vacation day 7

Last night I was looking for any glimmer of hope that the weather might someday turn around
and let us fish so I gave T.C. a call. T.C. wasn't able to tell me things would get better anytime soon. He wasn't able to tell me where I could go to catch some catfish today but he made me laugh as he always does. THANKS T.C.!

Speechless

Honestly, I don't know what to say. I guess the good news is that the sun is shining. Unfortunately the damage is already done. The constant rain is pushing the Skunk River upwards toward the nineteen foot mark this time. Nineteen feet is four feet above flood stage. Again, I have a long weekend coming up and my local river will be out of control. I'm speechless.

Do I have to say it

You know what I'm going to say don't you? Come on, say it with me. It rained all damn night and into today. The water level of the Skunk is still falling as of 4:30 P.M. but I guessing it will start to rise any time now. The best part is that The Weather Channel says rain five out of the next seven days. Quality fishing time has been minimal and we're half way through June. The chance at some of the best fishing of the year, the pre-spawn period, is all but gone. In the next two weeks the spawn will be in full swing and the fishing, if there is any, will get tough. Anybody want to buy a boat?

THIS JUST IN, THIS JUST IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Weather Channel just anounced that the Skunk will start rising tomorrow and crest Friday above 19 feet. I'm glad I have Friday and Monday off. Man, its just keeps getting better!

Vacation day 6

The Skunk is high but falling, for now. I had the dam to myself this morning but the floating logs and debris make it difficult to fish. I couldn't give a sunfish away. After moving over to the culvert I caught two small flatheads and missed a couple. I decided to fish the ditch and caught a six pound flathead immediately. I'm thinking I should have dumped a nightcrawler in the ditch to check for channel cats.

I almost forgot to mention that we are getting our daily dose of crap. That crap being rain, wind and thunder. Yea, I must have the day off. Another vacation day wasted.

Falling

As of sometime this afternoon or evening the Skunk River has crested and is falling. On a recon mission down to the river I saw that there was almost nothing going on at Oakland Mills. A couple people on the dam, a few people on the rocks and no fish hitting the beach. The weather and the up and down water levels have the catfish so confused they don't even know if they are hungry or not.

I tried

I rolled my tail out of bed at 5:30 this morning and headed for the dam. Nobody else was there and now I know why. The fish didn't want to play and everybody else was smart enough to sleep in. I moved over to the culvert but my luck didn't improve much. QJC was fishing the ditch and had several nice fish, 2,3, and 4 pounders, so I moved into the ditch. Ended up with one small flathead. On the way home I stopped at Pond X and caught some sunfish. You never know, things might calm down again and I might need some bait.

As of five 0'clock this morningnthe Skunk was still rising. Will it ever end?

Good News

The Catfish Insider is out. I stopped in Big Creek Outdoor Supply this evening and Jim Smith hooked me up with my copy. He said his remaining copies were all spoken for so you will have to find your copy elsewhere but at least they are out.

Jim and several other people said there was a 20 and a 25 pound flathead caught off the dam sometime today. They actually saw the 25 and heard about the 20.

I have to go so I can read my Catfish Insider.

Rising waters

The Skunk is still coming up. I tried the culvert this morning, didn't find any fish at the river end of the culvert but there were some smal flatheads by the culvert in the ditch. They were taking sunfish. Those on the dam were catching carp, didn't see any catfish. A local bar had a tournment scheduled but I'm not sure if it happened. There were a few boats in the river. They might be part of the tourney.

Update:So far the Skunk is up about five feet since it started rising yesterday

The word of the day

What do you think the word of the day is? Just in case you can't figure it out, let me give you a hint. It rained all day yesterday and all damn night last night. Yea, the word of the day is RAIN. It seems like that is all it does anymore. You might also be able to figure out that the Skunk River is coming up again. A couple days ago it got down to a comfortable level but now we're right back where we started. Balls!

I had to stay home from work today because I had the weight of two schools sitting squarely on my shoulders, literally. While I was working I didn't have any problems but as soon sat down for the evening, at about 8:45 P.M., my back tightened up and my left forearm was burning and felt like I had strained or pulled something. I guess if they want to use me as the district pack mule they can pay me to have a day off now and then.

RAIN, AGAIN

Well, what do you know? It rained all damn day. I had a surprisingly good day on the river yesterday and was looking forward to going out again tonight but no. Thats a surprise! If that isn't bad enough, The Weather Channel says rain six out of the next seven days. I must have a few days off this coming week. Monday and Friday next week. It'll be great!

Did I mention that it rained all day?

Lou's hole again

I got a late start but still manged to pull eleven small flatheads from Lou's hole. They were biting to the point that I had a fish on both poles at the same time, twice. They weren't big, the largest was an "honest"seven pounder. OK, maybe six. Honest, I wouldn't stretch the truth. I did try the fast water but didn't connect with any channel cats. Maybe that was the sunfish too. A different bait might have worked better on the channel cats.

Hot

This damn heat will make a fat boy sweat. The Skunk is down to nine feet but still muddy. Depending on how tomorrow goes I might, I said I might, give it a try. If yo follow those who think they can predict the fishing, it is suppose to pick up but not until the weekend, Sunday morning I think.

I did it.

I went fishing. It was a little warm but I needed to go. I had a trap in Pond X but all I caught was bullheads. No sunfish. I used a hook and bobber and caught about three dozen greenies. The Skunk has dropped down to a reasonable level , 10 feet and falling, and I'm wanting to launch the boat. You know what that means. It will probably rain for the next forty days and forty nights. Sorry!

Rain

Well, let me think. I guess there is some good news in that the Skunk River has dropped four feet since yesterday. Now the bad news. We got more rain this morning from a hella thunderstorm that went through at 5 A.M. and gave me an unwanted wake up call. Oh, I need to tell you the rest of the bad news. The Skunk River will probably come back up four feet. Yea I know, its great! Wait, it gets better. A flash flood warning is scrolling across the bottom of the TV screen right now. Even better than that, The Weather Channel is showing rain and storms for five out of the next seven days. Now its really great. Sorry about the sarcasm but I almost tired of it. The Weather Channel must be making a ton of money. I know my TV is on The Weather Channel more than any other channel.

Mt intentions when I started this blog was to write about catfish and related subjects but it has become more of a miserable weather blog. Sorry! Maybe someday we can get back to fishing. So have you had your boat in the water lately?

UPDATE: While I was sitting in the house feeling sorry for myself, T.C. was down at Oakland Mills catching catfish and one big ol' carp. That proves it, even though conditions aren't perfect you have a better chance of catching your fish if you are on the river than you do if you are sitting in the house whining about the weather. Someday it will sink in, I hope.

I tried

Well, the good news is I didn't have to worry about losing any bait or getting my hands dirty. The bad news is I didn't get a bite. I moved a sunfish around the culvert and the surrounding area for maybe an hour. Nothing! There were several people on the dam, the type that show up once in a while, but nothing was going on. The Skunk fell about three feet today, about two and a half feet since eight o'clock this morning. All I can hope for is the river to stabilize during the next week and maybe, just maybe things will pick up next weekend. I said maybe!

Vacation day 5, Friday, June 3

Nope, no fishing for me. The Skunk is still above flood stage and I don't like it. I spent the day in the house doing a whole lot of nothing. Fun, huh?

RAIN, AGAIN

It rained all day and put the Skunk River about six inches above flood stage. There were a few people down at Oakland Mills but all they were catching was perch. Tomorrow will be vacation day 5 and things don't look to promising. We'll see.

Vacation day 4

A foot and a half above flood stage but falling slowly now. I didn't expect much to happen but gave it a shot for about forty five minutes this morning. I probably should have stayed longer but couldn't bring myself to do it. Maybe a nightcrawler or some stink bait could have caught a channel cat but I only tried sunfish. Carp and gar were all over the slack water but I couldn't find a catfish.

Vacation day 3

We got a little rain recently and the Skunk River has come up around 9 feet since the rain started. The river came up about seven feet just yesterday. Nice , right? Here we go. Another year of daily rain and storms. Another year of vacation days gone down the drain because most of the river is not fishable. I still have seven more vacation days scheduled and they may not all be wasted but even one day that I can't sit on the river aggravates me.

No fishing

I decided to take the day off from fishing. Other than the fact that I'm just tired, there were several things that needed to be done around the house. Of course, the daily thunderstorm that is on it's way played a part in my decision to stay off the water. This is the fourth year in a row that the weather seems to dictate the daily activities everyday of the week. I miss the days when I could make plans to do something outside and was actually able to do it. These days I seem to watch the Weather Channel more than any other channel. Anyway!

I had to squeeze it in to my schedule but I did find time to fire up the grill and cook some pork chops. I think I went a little heavy on the Emeril seasoning but those chops were still the high point of the day.

More little flats

Fishing from the rocks at Oakland Mills is still producing flatheads from two to eight pounds. Sunfish seem to be the best bait with chubs and nightcrawlers also working. It was either seven or eight flatheads this morning . I really need to stay after dark and see if I can find a bigger one. The plan is to spend two or three hours after dark tonight. I've spent so much time on the rocks at Lou's hole that I'm actually starting to enjoy it.

Waited until 6:30 to hit Lou's hole in an effort to try and connect with a little bigger flathead. It didn't work. Another ten fish around the same weight, 3, 4, and 5 pounds. The bite seemed to slow down around 9 P.M. I stuck it out until 9:45 but didn't get a bite in the last half hour. Time to head for the house.

Vacation day 2

Got a late start but still managed to beach four flatheads before the bite shut off this morning. The first bait wasn't in the water a minute before I saw my heavy action catfish rod bent over. I missed him. I was trying to bait my second hook. The plan was to put lines in the water this evening but the rain and storms set in on us this afternoon.

Vacation day 1

Today was the first of ten vacation days I have to burn before July 1. I spent most of the day dinking around the house and yard doing a bunch of little things that needed to be done. This evening I hit the rocks and put some sunfish in Lou's hole. Two minutes later the first flathead was on the beach. 7 in all, mostly on sunfish. Maybe one on a chub, I think. Nothing but 3, 4, and 5 pounders. Surely there are one or two big ones around.

Slacker, again

Well, I took another night off from fishing. I heard of a couple catfish being pulled from Lou's hole. It sounded like there were quite a few people at Oakland Mills but not a lot of catching going on. As far as I am concerned the jury is still out on the effectiveness of those charts, graphs and calendars that predict the best and worst fishing times but after checking one on the fishing for today I see that the prediction was for a slow day of fishing. Who knows!

Slacker?

After having a long weekend and fishing everyday I decided to take a break from the action. I may regret it later. The plan is to take tomorrow off also. Hopefully the fish are still there Thursday.

Banner day

After the river came up over four feet yesterday and the air temp dropped to 36 degrees over night I wasn't sure what to expect at the river this morning. I decided to try the dam at Oakland Mills and only got one bite so I moved down river and fished along the rocks in Lou's hole to see if the flatheads were still there. The morning outing proved the flatheads were still there as I caught eight along with one channel cat. The afternoon turned out even better with at least a dozen more flatheads, the biggest of the day was just under nine pounds. Suprisingly the bite slowed down closer to evening. I was hoping the bite would pick up and I might connect with a bigger one but that didn't happen. It slowed down enough that I packed it up and made it home before dark for the first time in over a week.

Yet another Rainy day

I was in Lou's hole by 6 AM and caught two smaller flaheads right away and then didn't catch another fish. Both were on sunfish and got not one bite on chub. The river came up about seven inches and the air temp dropped about ten degrees. Did I mention that it is still raining?

I spent an hour of the afternoon catching bait at Pond X. Sunfish and bullheads. I'll be on the river at first light and I'm hoping there are some catfish that appreciate my bait catching efforts.

The Skunk came up about 2.5 feet since this morning. Not a lot of activity around the river due to the cool air temp, rain and wind. The were some wannabes on the dam but none of the regulars.

Rainy day flatheads

It's raining and there is no end in sight. It let up a little around 9 am so I headed to the river. I got a little surprise when I got to Lou's hole at Oakland Mills. Lou was there striper fishing. A couple years ago he showed me where the flatheads were and he did it again today. He set out to catch stripers but ended up catching another stringer of flatheads on curly tail Mr. Twister grubs on a jig. I set up next to him and put some some sunfish in the water and ended up with about a half a dozen flatheads, the largest about 5 or 6 pounds. Chub added several more flatheads and a channel cat or two. It rained on us on and off all day but we were catching fish so we didn't mind a little rain.

Chore day

I took the night off from fishing and used the time to catch up with some of the chores I neglected all week. Terry called to let me know he caught one channel cat and three flatheads at Oakland Mills below the dam. Now I'm wishing I would have gone fishing today.

Lou's hole, again

After catching flatheads in Lou's hole two days ago I had to see if they were still there. The river was a little low to get the boat below the dam so I headed down to the rocks to fish. Initially the gar were stilling all my bait but finally the sun started to go down, the gar left me alone and the flatheads started to bite. I caught 7 or 8 flatheads on sunfish, ranging from a pound and a half to 8 pounds. Lou has pulled many flatheads out of this hole so I know it could happen at any time. 15's and 20's. I want one!

Lou's hole

After catching flatheads in Lou's hole last night I couldn't wait to get back there tonight. After waiting out a bank fisherman I was able to move over and fish Lou's hole. I connected with about a half a dozen flatheads but only landed 3. One broke the leader line on the hookset. The main line was 30 but the leader line was only 20. Light, I know. I'm thinking about going heavier. I did use stink to catch just one channel cat and then I put it away. I just wanted to get on the board.

Happy Mothers Day!

I took the morning off and slept until 7:45. Late for me. Launched the boat around 4:30 and fished until almost dark. Found the channel cats all over the tailrace. Didn't seem to be a reason. I guess I caught a half a dozen or so on nightcrawler, chub, sunfish and stink. About an hour before dark I moved over to Lou's hole and put sunfish in the water. The flatheads were there just like I thought but I only found the 3, 4, and 5 pounders. I get the feeling there are some bigger ones around. Somebody on the dam had a stringer of small flatheads.

There here!

Last night and this morning it was flatheads from the dam including a 12 and a 8 and this evening it was channel cats including a 9 in the faster water. The water temp in the Skunk is 60 degrees and the fishing is taking off. The channel cats were taking nightcrawler, chub and sunfish. It almost seems like they are hungry and ready to eat anything.

Catfish-2, Roy-almost one

Frosted this morning. Cool and windy on the dam. I got one bite and lost him. A girl caught a flathead on nightcrawler. Some perch and carp being caught. Rumour of a guy catching six earlier in the day.

Catfish-2 Roy-0

Our air temp dropped to 32 degrees last night so I'm sure the water temp dropped along with my hopes of catching a catfish. The forecast shows it getting down to 32 again tonight. I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever warm up.

Catfish-1, Roy-0

I'm all out of excuses. I give!

Almost there again?

Another fisherman caught one of his three small channel cats on his soda can fishing thing but the worst news is he out did me. I didn't even get a bite. I probably should have tried some chubs but I didn't have any and I was too lazy to go get some. Although I caught a couple catfish on sunfish several days ago, I think it is a little early for them. Hey, I have admitted to being lazy many times in the past.

Lots of fish stacking up in the tailrace below the dam. Starting to snag fish just trying to bring your line in. Probably a lot of carp but it must be a sign that things are going to pick up some day.

Nothing

I tried chub, sunfish, and cut sucker and didn't get a bite. Some guys down on the rocks caught four (?) on nightcrawlers (?).

I've heard that tadpoles are no good for bait because they produce some toxic material and unfortunately I found one in my bait bucket with my bait. I'm wondering if what I heard about tadpoles is true, is it possible for them to contaminate other bait when in something as small as a bait bucket. Something to think about.

Some fish, finally

Two channel cats and a flathead took a sunfish and found a circle hook inside. It was the first time I used a circle hook and I'm guessing the first time those three catfish ever put the smack down on a sunfish and found a circle hook inside. I missed one other fish. I had a bullhead on my other rod and never got any action on him. There were several other people fishing in the area but I didn't see any action.

Same story, different day

I dropped a bullhead and a sunfish in the Skunk River this evening and came up with nothing. The same story keeps repeating day after day after day. It is either the rain or the wind that keeps the boat in the garage so I haven't even been able to go look for them. I have been sitting on the dam and moving the bait around every fifteen minutes or so.

Jumping carp

I gave it another try this afternoon but put a bullhead on one line. Nothing! A couple other people did catch a fiddler a piece on crawlers. Cool and windy. Day three for the jumping carp. Maybe I should start fishing for carp. Anybody have a good dough ball recipe? I wonder if Chub would let me borrow his carp boat to go after the carp?

Carp jumping(?)

I've tried fishing every day for I don't know how long and I haven't had any luck. Yesterday I noticed the carp had started jumping and and they were still doing it today. Looking back I remember that the carp were jumping when we were catching the flatheads a couple weeks ago so I'm starting to wonder if there is a connection. Now that the carp are jumping again I'm waiting to see if the catfish start biting again. If they do start biting it might prove I'm on to something. If not, it might prove that I'm full of it.

Rain

In case you haven't looked outside today, ITS RAINING! Imagine that. I'm done waiting for better weather. I've been out everyday but I'm starting to think the catfish don't like the rain. I've always thought that catfish are already wet so a little rain must not bother them but I am beginning to wonder. All I can do is try. If the weather ever settles down I can put the boat in and go look for them.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! We're hoping you had a good day, whether at home with family or on the river chasing cats. I did a little both. The fishing didn't go so well as there is nothing going on right now. Pulled a few sunfish out of Pond X so I guess I can say I didn't get skunked. There was one boat on the river but I think the weather we have had in the past has most of us a little "rain" shy. The chance for rain today was pretty slim but a lot of us were thinking, it's gonna rain, it has every day for the last two weeks or so. So far it hasn't.

Not much going on at the river lately. I tried twice today and came up with nothing. The sunfish I was using and the stink and crawlers everybody was using did not work. There was a boat in the water at Water Works Park. I almost forgot to mention that it RAINed on and off all day. I'll bet you wouldn't have guessed that!

fighting the elements

You probably already know what I'm going to say but I'll say it anyway. It was cold, windy and rainy today. I know, big surprise! One of the gates was open on the dam this afternoon and the waster was reaslly pushing through. I tried to fish the only calm water in the tailrace but didn't find any fish. I didn't fish long because nothing was biting and I wanted to be home in time to watch Swamp People. They caught something.

Rising water

The rain we got over the last two and a half days brought the Skunk up two feet or so since yesterday. I'm guessing the bite will take off in the next day or so but nothing was going on this afternoon. A few tiny channel cats were biting in the slow water, a couple knuckleheads were catching them, not me. I moved a few sunfish around in the the tsilrace below the dam but came up empty.

The sun finally showed its self this afternoon but we are going to pay for it. This morning the weather channel was saying some amount of rain six out of the next seven days. You know what they say about pay backs.

I didn't really think much would be happening at the river but I wasn't doing much around the house so off to the river I go. I moved a couple sunfish around the slow water area below the dam at Oakland Mills and didn't find any fish. At that point I didn't haver much to lose so I tossed a sunfish into the fast water below the spillway. I ended up catching four channel cats in the fast water as the current pushed my line back across the tailrace. A picture is worth a thousand words.

It was a little chilly this morning so I stayed close to the house. Put the boat in the water around 2 p.m. The water is getting low but I tried to get my boat passed the ripples anyway. It was close but I didn't make it. I did manage to put a new edge on my prop though. It has that serrated look now. Lots of bites and fiddlers on stink bait but nothing on sunfish. I watched two rookies trying to put a boat on , or maybe they were taking it off the trailer. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure what they were trying to do. Two other guys came up the river but I didn't see them catch anything. Of course we had to get our daily rain.

KingKat weigh in

I took a ride to Burlington, Iowa today to watch the weigh in at the Cabelas KingKat catfish tournament. Anglers from Illinois, Arkansas, Missouri and Ohio participated in the tournament with many anglers from eastern Iowa, several of which were from my hometown of Mt. Pleasant. The winning limit of five fish weighed in at over 37 pounds with the biggest fish weighing just over 9.5 pounds. Several teams checked in with just one or two fish and the lightest weight I remember being just 1.42 pounds. I have to admit I was just as interested in the boats as I was the fish. The boats ranged from a basic 16 foot model to a 24 footer with all the bells and whistles.

The big surprise ?

Hey guess what? Its saturday, at least ten degrees cooler than it has been recently, windy and oh yeah, it's raining. I forgot to mention that the wind is blowing 24 with gust to 31 and the wind chill is a smokin' 24 degrees. Not really a surprise. Hell, its year four of this weather pattern. Even I expected nothing different. Gotta go. I'm headed to the river!

Chub fished from the dam all day and I joined him around 5 pm. Terry showed up around fifteen minutes after me . We had the whole area covered with all kinds of bait but still caught only a couple fish. We didn't catch many fish this evening but we had a bunch of laughs.

I ran three bait traps this afternoon and ended up with six bait fish. It wasn't worth the effort today. The bad news is that I accidently caught and drowned a mink (?) in one of my bait traps. A first for me. I have seen chubs in the creek so I am a little surprised I only caught two chubs and four sunfish. I have seen days when I have caught four and five dozen chubs in my traps. Not today.

I'm here, lets fish

After fishing Pond X for sunfish with Chub and Buster, I decided to drive down to the river to check things out. One guy was cleaning three channel cats he had caught on chubs a little earlier. I was there with rod and bait, I had to give it a try. I caught one flathead within about fifteen minutes and got a second bite about an hour later but missed him. I hadn't planned on fishing so the little success I had after deciding to fish at the last minute made it worth it.

Along day but worth it

Chub was able to fish below the dam at Oakland Mills most of the day and caught nine fish, both flatheads and channel cats on nightcrawlers, sunfish and chubs. After work I ran down and managed to catch four before calling it quits. We had to work for them though. During the long slow spells we constantly moved the bait around looking for them.

I left the house and went to work at 6:15 this morning and just made it home at 9:00 tonight. We still had bait and I wanted to stay but I have to work tomorrow. Sometimes being responsible really stinks. If I was a real man I would have stayed until the bait was gone and then called in sick tomorrow.

After fishing morning and afternoon yesterday and not catching a fish I decided that I wouldn't bother today. I did drive down to the river just to see what was going on. There was one small boat below the dam and I did see them catch at least one small channel cat. There was quite a few people fishing from the dam but I didn't see much happening up there. There was rumour of twelve channel cats being caught overnight, the biggest being around seven pounds.

First launch

We fished off the dam this morning and didn't have any luck other than Chub's big carp. I'm not pointing any fingers but somebodies carp stunk up my drop net. This afternoon we launched the boat for the first time this year and tried a couple spots but the luck didn't get any better. There were a few fiddlers being caught today but nothing more.

Wind and rain

The sun was out briefly today but we needed our daily dose of wind, clouds and rain. We got it. Since the weather wasn't good for fishing I decided to ride down to Ft. Madison with Chub. He was going to a boat dealer to look for some boat accessories so I tagged along. The weather channel is calling for rain four out of the next seven days. Are you surprised? I'm not. I will be surprised if we get one full day, sunrise to sunset, of sunshine. I give!

There were several guys fishing from the dam but no catching going on. Chub and I decided tho hit Pond X and catch some bait for use at a later date. It was only little green sunfish but we caught fish. I'm getting a little anxious to put the boat in the water but the weather has prevented that so far. Mother nature has thrown some sort of curve ball at us every weekend and this weekend looks to be more of the same old thing. Scattered and isolated thunderstorms are forecast for this weekend. Nice huh!

Wind blown sunfish

I didn't think the river would be any good tonight so I decided to hit Pond X and fish for sunfish. The wind was blowing pretty good out of the west. Fishing the east side of the pond was good for maybe 6 or 8 and then it died off. I was ready to go but decided to fish the west side of the pond before leaving. It was noticeably calmer on the west side because the bank and the weeds protected an area of the pond from the wind. The sunfish were there and were biting only seconds after the bait hit the water.

WINDY!

Its forty degrees colder today than yesterday and still windy. 45 mph gust to be exact! Not much fishing going on. I got a bag of concrete and made five small anchors for trot lines just in case I decide to run them. I poured the concrete in large (2 lb. ?) cottage cheese containers and then put a small ( 12 inches, ?) length of chain in the concrete to tie the trot line to.

Don't buy Hodgman

I think it was a year ago but it might actually be two years ago that I bought a pair of Hodgman hip boots to wear when I run my bait traps. They were always kept in the garage or shed and only saw the light of day while I was wearing them to run the bait traps or while sitting in the back of the truck for the short three or four minute ride to and from a local creek. Imagine my surprise when I pulled them from my shed and found them to be dry rotted. Junk! The straps used to hold them up fell apart when I touched them and the boots themselves were cracked and split at different points up and down the legs. Junk! I am at least smart enough to realize that things do wear out but I also know how little I used these hip boots and how well I took care of them. There is no way these boots should be falling apart, but they are. My adviced to you today? If you want to get your feet wet, buy a pair of Hodgman hip boots or save yourself the money and the aggravation and just go barefoot. Either way you will surely get soaked!

Catchin' bait

There was nobody at Oakland Mills this morning. I went to an auction today because I heard there was a lot of fishing gear and a boat going on the block. Most of the gear was old and worn out. The Lowe boat was a 1652 with a 40 hp. The motor couldn't be started because "it needed a starter" (scary). What else could be wrong I wondered. The boat was riveted but I would have like to have had it, minus the motor. The extra four inches of width seems to make quite a difference. It sold for $2700. Anyway. I hit Pond X this evening and caught green sunfish. After vaccum packing them they went in the freezer for use at a later date.

Nothing again

The sun finally came out but the wind is blowing thirty. There were two trucks at the dam but nothing I recognized. Not much going on.

Notta

Notta dam thing going on. You?

Sun today, rain tomorrow

The sun was shining most of the day today, we're going to pay. Rain is on the way. Something like three of the next six days. Nice! Nothing going on at the river but some little ones tapping the bait. A couple fishermen were anchored and fishing below the ripples at Oakland Mills. Terry gave it a try from the dam and didn't have any luck.

Snow

We got about an inch of snow this morning. The high reached the forties so the snow is gone but it slammed the brakes on the fishing. Nobody was on the river or the dam this afternoon. It might warm up someday. I'm sticking to my theory that for every day that we get even the slightest bit of sunshine we will pay dearly. One day with even the slightest bit of sunshine will surely be followed by many days of clouds, rain, thunderstorms and even snow.

Still cold and slow

I was going to run down to the river after work today but changed my mind after getting a fishing report from Chub. He fished for about three hours today with no luck. The only thing he caught was a bad case of frostbite. I wisely decided to take the night off. There will surely be a warmer day with a few more fish biting.

Still cold, still windy

I was the only one on the dam this morning and now I know why. It was cold, windy and not one fish hit the beach. I got lots of bites but wasn't able to hook'em. It almost had to be fiddlers that were pecking away at the nightcrawlers.

I recently switched from 20# to 30# test on by smaller bait casters in an effort to save more swivels and sinkers from snags and found that they don't cast as well with heavier line. I knew the heavier line effected the casting of spinning reels but didn't realize it would have such an effect on bait casters. Additionally, I found that after casting 20# test line consistently for four or five years, the switch to heavier line had a dramatic effect on my casting accuracy. It was almost impossible to deliver a bait precisely where I wanted it. Almost felt like a rooky.

Spring, but cold

The Skunk came up nicely but the air temp dropped considerably. Enough to keep everybody in the house. Not much going on. Air temps are suppose to be in the upper 50's by next weekend. Last week I replace the line on a couple reels. I used a spool of line that I had in the shed even though I knew I didn't like that brand. Long story short I changed the line again tonight. The line I didn't like had way to much stretch, too much for me anyway. Word is starting to spread of another large flathead at Oakland Mills. I guess a big one was hooked sometime yesterday but they didn't get it landed. Imight brave the winter like air temps in the morning. Maybe!

Rising water/cooler temps

Although the air temps are twenty and thirty degrees below we had about a week ago, the water has been rising (about a foot) for about two days and the fish are biting. As usual they are going after the nightcrawlers and it only took a few minutes for them to start hitting the bait each time. Although I had constant action on two rods I only landed two small channel cats. Another fisherman who had been there for about seven hours had eight(?) in the basket. Five channel cats and three flatheads. All small, but catfish none the less. There had to be some big ones out there but the little ones were all over the bait and the big guys didn't have a chance to find it. The down side tonight was that I was under dressed so I was cold and the sun went down. I was still getting bites when I left at dark but it was time to go.

Weather circus

Not much going on. Thats good because some of guys who are unable to fish this week aren't missing much. I did fish for an hour and a half or so and only managed to land one channel cat that must have been 6 or 8 inches. He wasn't much to brag about but I didn't get skunked!

Get well Chub, the carp, perch and mudpuppies miss you. Mr. and Mrs. "C", congratulations on 44 years. Terry, do your celebrating and get your boat back on the water. I need your fishing reports on the Miss.

Cold and slow

The Skunk is getting pretty low and the bite seems to have slowed a little if you're fishing for catfish. Six hours of fishing produced one ten to twelve inch channel cat. The carp, suckers and mud puppies didn't help matters much but that is the down side to using nightcrawlers. Everybody likes'em. The morning temperature wasn't too bad but the wind picked up as the sun got higher in the sky. It felt like the temperature was dropping but it was just the wind chill cutting like a knife.

Mud puppies, endangered?

I finally made it down to Oakland at 5:30 this evening and all the real fishermen had already gone home. It seems that they caught all the catfish before they left because I didn't catch one. The remarkable thing is that in two and a half hours I didn't catch one catfish but the endangered mud puppy, I caught them all evening. No I don't know how many I caught, I lost count. I can assure you I caught more than you might expect for being endangered. I have always thought that endangered meant that there wsn't very many of them. The way I see it maybe the catfish are endangered. Did I mention that I didn't catch one catfish. I did catch two fish. The "C" word. I'm not gonna say it but "C" stands for carp.

Shorts weather is here. It might be a little cool in the morning and evening but I'm puting the pants away. I hope we don't get a last day of winter snow or ice storm. I don't want to get caught with my shorts on!

I caught two channel cats off the dam at Oakland Mills. Most of the bites were short and soft. I missed a half dozen or so. All I had were nightcrawlers so I don't know what else might be working.

Dale from southeast Iowa caught a 20-25 pound flathead on a nightcrawler below the dam at Oakland Mills. He caught one yesterday aroud the same size. I'm a little surprised there are flatheads there but not many channel cats. I expected the channel cats to show up first, followed by the flatheads. A few channel cats have been caught but nothing extroadinary.

All systems go

I backed my boat down the boat ramp at Water Works Park and fired her up this afternoon. After priming her about a half a dozen times and five or six attempts at staring her she came to life. I let the engine run long enough warm it up and open the thermostat. Aftrer shutting her down I fired it up again. She didn't skip a beat. I think we're ready to go.

I dropped a small piece of nightcrawler in Pond X, mostly out of boredom. After working my way around the pond and trying different depths with no luck I called it quits.

Fire the weather man!

After seeing that all the weather organizations were saying our high temperature was going to be somewhere in the low forties I made plans to drag the old Sea Ark down to the river, back it down the ramp and get it running after a long winter sitting in the garage. The weather man really dropped the stink bait today. We barely cleared the thirty degree mark. If I'm not mistaken it reached thirty two. Did I mention the wind chill was in the low twenties all day. Now they are saying that three out of the last four days of this coming week are going to be wet. Needless to say I didn't get my boat started today. I'm thinking about starting a petition to have the weathermen banished from the weather business.
All was not lost though. I spent a little time in the garage tying up a lot of little loose ends like stowing the life jackets, putting the anchors in place and checking the boat bag to make sure all the necessities are there. Yes, toilet paper is on the list and in the boat bag. You never know, right?

First on the Skunk

Traveling west on 34 near Rome, Iowa I saw what I believe was the first boat on the Skunk this year. It didn't seem like they were fishing. Maybe just getting the boat in the water and getting things going.
It kind of slipped up on me but I just heard we bump the clocks ahead an hour tonight. That is always a good indicator that spring and catfishing is near. Good deal!

Chub said there were fishermen on the dam at Oakland Mills earlier today so I checked it out after work There wasn't anybody around this evening and I didn't find any evidence that anybody had caught or cleaned fish today. The pleasant weather today and similar but slightly cooler weather tomorrow will probably bring the fishermen out. Looking forward to that!

We're gonna pay for this

As much as I would like to see the sun every day I am learning to be careful what I ask for. For three years, and now working on a fourth, the weather has been terrible more often than not and it seems like every time we enjoy a day or two of sunshine we will almost surely pay for it. Maybe its just me but it seems like a day or two of sunshine is almost always follwed by a week or more of clouds, rain and thunderstorms, as many as four serious storms in a twenty four hour period. That being said, I was thrilled to see the sun bake through the heavy cloud cover today but the cynical side of me fills like we are going to pay for this.

Rising waters

It started raining yesterday afternoon, rained all night and sprinkled on and off all day today. Terry pointed me in the right direction and I now monitor the water level of the Skunk River via a guage at Augusta, Iowa. Since about 6:30 this morning the Skunk has come up about 4 feet. I now include the water level of the Skunk River in my fishing log entries on sliprig.com.

First skunk

After catching a catfish yesterday I thought I might try to catch another one or two today but no luck. I did get three bites on nightcrawlers but didn't hook anything. Maybe it was the cold hands in the pockets thing again, I don't know. Anyway. I got my first skunk out of the way early. I moved my bait around in the slack water but there was another guy trying the fast water also, nothing.
A sign of the times? I took the snow blade off my John (Deere) and put the mower deck back on. Everything is lubed up and ready to go. Bring on the green grass. Hopefully we won't get any more snow because I don't even have a snow shovel. I broke the one I had when I was trying to break up the ice a week or so ago. I know, I should use the right tool for the right job.

First catfish of the year

Last night Terry told me there were a few catfish being caugfht in our local tailrace on the Skunk River so I had to give it a shot. Although it was cooler today there were still a few cats biting. I probably had a half dozen bites but only caught one. The air temp was only 3o and the wind chill was apainful 22 so the hands stayed in the pockets until he was hooked. Had I been a little more willing to hold the rods during those soft bites I probably would have hooked one or two more fish than I did. It was cold and I only caught one but he was the first catfish of 2011 for me. I'm hoping this is only the beginning of what will be a great year.

Early season cats

Terry reported that a lucky early season angler caught several channel cats from the tailrace below the dam at Oakland Mills. As you might expect, nightcrawlers were the bait of choice.

Gas and fishing

As usual gas prices have been climbing for the last couple weeks. $3.29 today. The fuel tank in my boat is almost full. Earlier todayI filled two, five gallon cans for my boat and a two and a half gallon can for my mowers, $39.00. Rumours of $5.00 a gallon gas are floating around. I'm going to go on the record now and coin the phrase "boat pooling". You know, similar to car pooling but in a boat. The gas prices will only affect my fishing in that I won't travel asfar from the house as I had planned. The Skunk is only five miles from here and that may be as far as I go. I was hoping to experiment on the Miss this year. Oh well, atleast they haven't outlawed lead sinkers yet. Oops!

Back into the freezer

After one day at almost seventy degrees, rain, a river that nearly came out of its banks and one fishermen with a boat load of whisker fish, we're back into the freezer. Mother nature won this round but the old bat surely doesn't have the energy to hold on for ever. Spring will get here whether she likes it or not. Keep the faith, stay strong, spring is coming!

It rained just a little last night. I'm a little nerveous that we are going to pick up where we left off last year. I'm really hoping this isn't the fourth year of torrential rain and floods. It kinda interferes with my fishing. Cross your fingers, pray or do whatever you feel like will give us some decent weather this year.

Heard that a couple guys caught one channel cat on shad gut at Oakland Mills. Would be difficult if not impossible to fish due to large amount of floating debris circling though out the tailrace.

Check out, luther.edu/eaglecam, They have a web cam focussed on an eagles nest, in a tree, over a fish hatchery. At times they will repair the nest, eat fish or just hang out.

Terry from southeast Iowa fishes the Mississippi and has had his boat on the river atleast once a month for the last thirteen months. He must surely be the hardest of the hardcore cat anglers in this area. He and his crew brave all that mother nature has to offer on a regular basis and it has paid off once again. On the river two days ago, Terry and a friend pulled twenty one catfish out of the thirty two degree Mississippi. The fish were located on a sand flat in direct sunlight and were caught on baby shad that were about a inch and a half long and shad gut.

Flooding

Southeast Iowa has it's first flood warning of the year. As is the case during late winter and early spring, some degree of flooding is expected, but we should keep our fingers crossed and hope that the flooding is minimal.
While we deal with what is left of this winter and the high water resulting from the melting snow and ice, wrap up the preventive maintenance and repairs of your gear so you'll be ready to hit the water when the catfish sart biting.

Sixty eight degrees. The Skunk River is rising for the first time in 2011. I guess that is the first step in being done with winter and bringing on spring. I'm ready although spring is still over a month away. The good news is that we don't have to wait until spring officially begins to catch out first catfish. I'm not sure when it might happen but we;re getting close.

The good news is that the snow and ice continues to melt and the bad news is it is raining on and off. I suppose we are going to pick up where we left off last year, with the bad weather. I don't think we need any rain right now as we already have water standing in the fields. I'm sure a lot of that water will disappear when the ground thaws, I think. I just remebered another bit of good news. We are one day closer to spring!

which outboard should I buy?

I replaced the two spark plugs in my outboard last week and it cost me seventeen dollars and change and they had to be ordered from who knows where. Chub just replaced the three plugs in his outboard and after finding that the auto parts store had them in stock, he paid just over six bucks for all three. My plugs were eight and change a piece while Chub's were under two bucks a piece. This is just one small difference between two different outboards but some differences are huge, especially when you try to decide betweeen two and four stroke models. When you consider the price of outboards these days it might be worth your while to do your homework first.

It was a good day

Forty three degrees. After spending some while in the single digits, forty three is a heat wave. The sun is shining and water can be heard dripping and running as the snow and ice continue to melt. I had the garage door open all day and spent the day in the garage poking around and dinking with fishing gear. I would like to drive down to the river and check things out but I washed my truck today and don't like the idea of driving on the wet gravel and trashing my truck again. I know, I'm a candy ass.

It's melting!

When I heard it was going to warm up this weekend I thought it was too good to be true. I waas wrong. I opened the garage up and got my trailer lights working, for now! I re-worked the ground got everything but the left turn signal. I pulled the lens off the left light assembly and scraped some corrosion off of the base of the bulb and I got the left turn signal, for now!

I don't normally name too many products or stores by name but I have to mention Blains Farm and Fleet in Muscatine. Of all the stores I have been in recently, Farm and Fleet has been the only one that still had a selection of ice fishing gear. I suppose there are many possible reasons why they still have so much gear on the shelf but if you are looking for gear in January or February you'll just be glad they have it. Shelters, rods, tackle, line and even one auger. I believe it was all marked down 20%.

It's nice to hear water running outside. It means some of this snow and ice is melting.

Warming up?

The last couple days have been super cold but the weather is suppose to turn around and warm up a little. Maybe a high of 40 by Sunday. All of this makes me cautiously optimistic. The last time we had a couple decent days outside it was followed by a blizzard that lasted almost thirty six hours. Either way, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting bigger and brighter. From talking to other people who chase catfish I know I'm not the only one waiting for the ice to melt. Although the new year will surely bring challenges, I still look forward to seeing what this year has to offer.

I was in Burlington this afternoon and decided to check out a popular farm and home store which also carries a lot of hunting and fishing gear. My thinking was that they might have some ice fishing gear left over and marked down. They had one power auger, a couple poles and a few ice tents. Thats it. Not much gear and no mark downs. I guess the good part is that I don't have to worry about going fishing on the ice anytime soon. Now that I think about it I probably wouldn't have a place to go ice fishing anyway. I hope the ice melts on the river sometime soon!

I took a drive down by the dam at Oakland Mills today just to get out of the house for a while. The Skunk is completely frozen over above the dam and mostly frozen over below the dam. With the coming cold weather it will probably freeze over completely. Its hard to believe that as cold as it is the ice most likely won't be around much longer. Trust me, I'm ready. I've already thought about where I might fish the first time get on the river. I will probably hit a big shallow flat on the Iowa, maybe the Miss or the Skunk if the water is OK. The mouth of a feeder creek or river is also an option.

What do ya think? Had enough winter yet? Me too! It is a good thing that winter last as long as it does because I'm getting slower and slower at getting everything ready for spring. My goal today was work with the lights on my boat trailer. They all work but go out when I press the brakes. Chub told me it might be as simple as the corrosion in the plug or lights. My solution? Replace the light connector and lights if need be. If you remember, I said I was getting a little slow. Well, I didn't get the job done. As a matter of fact, I barely got started. Maybe I'll finish it tomorrow or maybe the next day. Now that I think about it, it may not be my age that is slowing me down. There is a good chance that I'm just a lazy bastard. Seriously though, I know a lot of guys don't even run lights on their trailer but I want mine to work. It might just prevent somebody from hitting my boat.

The blizzard is done and gone although the eight foot piles of snow remain. Our roads are passable although some are one lane. I was supposed to get the plugs for my outboard on Tuesday but due to the storm I only got them today. When I picked them up I was glad I have a twin cylinder 25 horse. At almost $8.50 a piece, I couldn't afford a triple or quad. If I'm not mistaken they were about $5.50 a piece just last year. It might just be me but that seems to be quite an increase in just one year. If I was a little younger I would invest in a pair of oars.

As the end of January approached I got a little excited that February was just around the corner and fishing season was a little closer. I bought my 2011 license, started prepping my boat and spent a little time in the garage again. Mother nature wouldn't let my excitement live too long. Now its February first and we are in the beginning stages of what they say might be a 48 hour blizzard. Reality check? Point made! Winter isn't over, I get it. The good news is that I have caught little cats in February. We have crested the hill and its all down hill from here. I'm still a little excited. Can't wait to get on the river again.

I know, it has been a while. I've been a little under the weather and fighting a persistent cough for over a month now. I still have the cough but its time to get on with it!

Well, January is almost over. Is anyone else happy about that? I stopped by Big Creek Outdoor Supply earlier today and picked up my 2011 fishing license and a couple spools of braided nylon. The Iowa fishing license was printed on the same paper our deer tags are normally printed on. I'm still wondering if that is right. Anyway. I changed the lower unit grease on my outboard yesterday and I'm waiting for the spark plugs that I had to order from a local auto parts store. They usually don't carry them in stock but get them for me in just a couple work days. I did pull the spark plugs out of the engine just because I was curious and wanted to see what they looked like, (fouling, etc.) but put them right back, but only finger tight. Once I get the plugs in and get the fuel filter cleaned out the outboard will be ready for what I hope will be a good year of fishing. Last spring I found a couple cracks in the hull of my boat that had to be welded so I plan on checking the boat over. Hopefully there are no new cracks but if there are I want to get them taken care of early this year.