It started out like any other day. Up at 5 am, walked out to the truck about 6:10 with a quick look and Ol’ Man River.
Just a few moments at work and it felt like there was an eye lash under my eye lid. Stings, nose runs and tears start flowing. Washed out the eye several times to no avail. Then a co worker say it’s swelling up. Figured since there wasn’t anyone else around I’ll have to call the clinic to see if they can remove the wayward eye lash.
I was very happy when the clinic said I could get in within 1/2 hour.
The nurse practitioner numbed the eye, dyed it and reported a nice scratch across the cornea. Nothing else to be found. Codeine, ointment eye patch and sleep prescribed for the rest of the day.
Canceled the cat trip for the evening because…well try driving with one eye sometime. It’s not impossible, but it sure is different and I wasn’t about to be boating with a client with one eye.
I thought about going to the WI Conservation Congress to follow up on the closing of the winter flathead season and lowering the excessive flathead limit on the WI side of the river, but again it wasn’t worth driving to Onalaska with one eye.
I made the weekend howdy-rounds at Everts and had a quick burger at the Bluffs before heading back to the Resort. When I arrived back, the river was calling my name. Glass smooth, windless night and very nice temperatures. I felt good and I couldn’t resist the urge to putt down to a cat area I wanted to try for a long time.
Hooked up the boat, stopped at the bait shop and loaded up 4 jumbo suckers and off to the landing I went. It must have been after 11 pm by this time.
It was one of those magical nights. The Merc was purring with it’s normal 2-stroke hiccups running at 3700 rpm cutting the mirror finish of the river. The CD play was softly playing the only hit The Amazing Cherrybombs had.
Tossed out the ol river anchor and notice how slow the flow was from what we’ve been use to this year. One more positive check mark on the list. I tossed out one jumbo sucker and one Sudden Impact rod. As I was launching the stink bait down stream I notice the line of the sucker rod wasn’t in the right position. I thought for a moment the current was moving the sucker to the left of the boat. It happens when a large bait lifts the 4 oz sinker off the bottom occasionally.
Since I just put the bait in the water, I was a little annoyed that I had to check the bait so quickly. I was looking forward to kicking back and deleting a huge amount of emails off of my cell phone while enjoying the stars and the almost full moon. The line was heading for my stink bait line so I pulled that one back in.
I reeled down on the sucker. I felt the weight and thought “must be stuck on the bottom that’s heavier then that sucker”. Hoping to free the hook I gave ‘er the onions. Whoa!! That sucker just got bigger!!
Now I’m using the Team Catfish I-Cat carbon fiber rod. It’s extremely powerful, has the sensitivity of the best graphite rods but yet this fish felt odd. For a few moments I thought I had hooked the 16 pound anchor and what I was thinking was tail movements or head shakes was just the anchor in the current. You know, Lift the anchor
off the bottom and the current makes it flutter side to side.
Just as fast as that thought when through my head, this fish decided to give ME the onions.
So there I am, holding on with both hands looking at the net in the front of the boat that I would need to grab and extend at some point…just not yet. Did I hook this fish in the tail? Is it going to make 50 pounds? These I-Cats really bend. Why am I working so hard, there’s almost zero snags here. Why isn’t Mary here to feel this pain???? (inside joke)
I’m not sure how long it took to get her up to the top, but by the time I extended the net and saw her for the first time, the cool evening turned out to be very warm.
When I lifted her over the side of the boat I made another mental note. “BK, you’re getting old”. Quick lift of the fish in the net shows a whisker over 50 pounds. Subtract 3 pounds for the net and we’ll settle on 47 pounds worth of onions. She was released of course to pester the winter walleye anglers.
I had the foresight to bring along the camera and tripod, but not enough experience to focus the camera on the seat prior to hitting the 10 second start button. Looked good in the boat but just a little blurry. Good thing she’s large enough to over come my screw up.
Not another bite in the next 1.5 hours, but you know, that was ok by me. Cleaned up the cell phone and headed back in. The resort was quiet as normal for 1:30 am. Plugged in the boat and rested my eye for what was left of the fantastically gorgeous night.
The day sure didn’t go as planned but there are times things turn out much better then what’s planned.
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