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.