great days to be alive

This past weekend reminded me of why I look forward to summer each year as I finally made it “down to the river”. This is something that seems to happen no more than two or three times a year now, so I do savor every moment, as I know that many here do as well, even though they may spend a lot more time in these haunts than I do. I challenge anyone to say it is something they could ever get sick of, particularly on nights like the past few.
My brother and I spent most of the weekend cruising the sloughs and the backwaters in a dented up old canoe, doing our best Huck Finn impersonation.
We started up the Vermillion chasing bowfin and channel cats and ended up on P-3. By the end, my poor frayed thumbs couldn’t take much more channel cat action and we did get into a few flatheads as well. I will see later tonight if I’ve got a few pictures to share (unfortunately, everything we brought got a little wet). A trip highlight was having IDA superstar BrianK motor by our camp one evening, no doubt on the scent of the cats, although all he mentioned at the time was walleyes. I guess I sometimes go for those too (particularly if it is nearing dinner time). Reading now,it sounds like he and his party ended up doing well, which is great to hear. I hope there are many more magical nights this summer for everyone to enjoy.

Phil

Phil! That was YOU!???

You should have said something!

I’m betting the skeeter netting came in handy that night!

If you would have been camped just upstream and around the corner..I would have warned you that the whole bank fell in the river just three nights before. You know how glaciers fall in…that’s what a lenght 75 feet long and about 10 feet in did…sent a HUGE wake throught the currant and tossed my boat.

Nuff of that…did you get any good cat’s out of that hole? You should have!

It was a beautiful weekend. Couldn’t be any better…and it does make one say…it’s great to be alive and living in this area!

PS tell your freind that I didn’t see him there on the bank, I was watching for the lines in the water…when I was shining the 1.5 million candle power light in his eyes!

That’s what I’d call a Mississippi mud slide. I’m glad we didn’t take that ride-hope no cats were underneath!! There were apparently some survivors as we had a few little kitties come out to play

A channel from earlier on Saturday.

OUCH! Phil, you need to keep your fingers out of their mouth!

Nice pics…Did you guys camp out all weekend?

We were out for two nights, travelling light and exploring for new spots…know many of the skeeters down there on a first name basis now. I didn’t really mind them that much and being out there for a while let us get in on all times of the day, and as I’m sure you know, it can get wild in those hours just before sun up. The thumb, on the other hand is still a little tender. That was one of the first flatheads and I decided it was worth a picture, so I scrambled up the bank with it. It was only about 9 pounds and was doing a good job of clamping onto my hand so I just kind of let it dangle there as I climbed up. When I got to level ground I was pretty disturbed to see blood flowing out from under the gill plate and streaming down the side of the fish, since I knew it was only hooked in the corner of the mouth. I guess I was no less disgruntled when I realized that it was my blood and that the top of my thumb knuckle had been pretty much peeled back and chomped off. Pretty stupid. I may have to change my handle to “cat rookie”. If it leaves a scar I will have to come up with a much better story than what actually happened.

I can hear the story now….I had this state record flathead that pulled me around from sundown ’till dawn. I wrestled it into the canoe with my hand in her mouth when she decided that she didn’t want to be there…and tipped us over…with my hand still in her mouth. Pulled me all the way to Pool 4 before I said “no fish is worth this…” and let go of her mouth…

…I have a little imagination….

Thanks for sharing….and reminding me to make a post on how to hold a flathead…I was going to do that last week but forgot!