Trip Report For 6/4

[straw hat]

Well guys, my wife and I started out early this AM to put in at CC and fish up around Shaws Bluff. Yup, first trip of the year with the old boat. I read the MoDOT website on Friday night and they said that the bridge on 245 had been "completed as promised". Guess what... WRONG!!! They haven't even poured the concrete!! It took us forever to turn that pontoon around and go about 20 miles out of the way. I was suprised when I got to the launch. We were the 7th vehicle in line to launch. The last couple weekends it was pretty slow down there but not this time. After 45 minutes we finally got on the water. First four stops someone was already there. Finally found a little side cove to fish. After about 20 minutes a bass boat came in over our lines, full speed, got our lines tangled around his prop and then he got really mad? He blamed me and then threatened to beat me to ^#$*(. I called the Highway Patrol (they are now over the Water Patrol) They said that this was not a violation of safe boating laws and there was nothing they could do. My wife and I left. We found another cove about a mile down the lake. About 15 minutes later here came the same bass boat, they buzzed us twice within 10 feet each time. sprayed his rooster tail all over us, ran over our lines (again). I call HP again and they were concerned for our safety and suggested that WE leave the lake. What did we do? We went back past the CC bridge to the south. Fished around a small underwater hump in the lake. We had caught about 6 keepers when here came a v-bottom boat up to us. Yup you got it, they putt putted right over our lines right up to the boat. They asked if we were anchored. I said yes. They said they did not have an anchor and asked if they could tie up to our boat (which they had already done) and fish with us. After the kind of day we had had I was sort of looking forward to being left alone. I told them we were about to move anyway and wished them luck. We moved down the bank aways and started fishing again. Water is getting pretty green but visibility is still fairly decent, around 2 feet. We caught 29 keepers by the end of the day!! They were running 7 to 12 feet deep in 20 to 25 feet of water. My brand new water thermometer said the water temperature was 92, the one on my transducer said 72. I guess the new thermometer gets returned. Ran out of minnows one short of the limit. Not complaining though. Went back to take out and there must have been a jillion boats in line to take out and put in. None of the vehicles in line were willing to let any of the us back out of our parking places so we could get in line. There were three of us that had to wait over an hour to back out. Finally one guy coming down put a stop to all that. He pulled at an angle across the road blocking traffic so no further cars could come down. The three of us finally got to back out and get in line. It is nice to know there are a few good people out there. After nearly 2 hours to get the boat out of the lake we were on our way home. That air conditioner in the truck sure felt good. On the way home a truck came up behind us. I think he was drunk. He was constantly going over the yellow line and off onto the shoulder. I was behind 3 other vehicles doing about 55 but I guess that wasn't fast enough for him. He started to pass all of us on top a hill. As an oncoming car popped over the hill he suddenly cut back over and forced two of us off the road into the ditch. Luckily no one was hurt. It bent some of the suspension on my trailor and broke the running lights at least that is all I have found so far. We gave the HP the lisence plate number and they said they would be on the look-out for him. It took us about 30 minutes to work our way out of the ditch. Then I parked my truck and went back to help the other car out of the ditch. Do you think the story ends there? Shot no. When I got home my neigbor's kids were having a party. Two of the party goers had parked in my drive way. When my neighbor went to find the kids so they could move there vehicle he found that the two had left the party with some freinds. Now I am an easy going person but I am hot tired and just a little irritable by now. Luckily several of the guys in the party came out and were able to move the cars one at a time by thifted first one end and then the other and moving them on to the grass on my yard. I just finished cleaning the fish and when this post is done I am not evening going to eat dinner. Just turn off the lights and go to sleep. Wake me in the fall! lol

[Boobie]

Hey straw,sorry to hear about bout with the bass boater!Wish i could have been with you. Where i come from in stl we have a saying for @#$holes like that."I'M YOUR HUCKLEBERRY".

[Gilly]

Get the registration # and turn the a-hole in.

You sound like a magnet for dark clouds, straw, good grief!

[rangerman]

What a rough day....I don't have the words.

[straw hat]

I did Gilly. Don't know if anything will come of it, we will see. Also turned in the lisence plate number of the car that ran us off the road. With multiple witnesses and damage to vehicles I had a feeling it would be addressed. As far as the dark cloud, well I am not complaining it was hot yesterday and it helped keep the sun off me. haha Well, time to go work on the boat trailor. You guys need to go get some of those crappie while they are still hitting well. Good luck.

[SmallyWally]

At the least.........you got almost 2 limits. As far as everything else, what a day man, what a day.

[Thunderin Gobbler]

Hey Straw, sorry about your troubles at CC. We got up there to CC at about 5:30pm Saturday evening and, fortunately, didn't have the long wait this time. Finally!!! Only thing that held us up was the party kids in a huge pontoon that didn't know how to back a trailer. It was kinda comical watching them though. We went into that first big cove to the left once you go around the point north of the ramp. Started out doing some bass fishing and caught a few small ones. Then decided to start throwing crappie jigs (no minnows unfortunately). Them crappie were all over the bushes. I bet we caught close to 50 or so. One small white bass, a 23" channel cat (on jig) and a 24" (yes 24") walleye. We caught 5 different species altogether in just that one spot off jigs. That was a blast.

I know what you mean by the rude people out that day. We had them flying in and out of that cove the whole time at full throttle. We also had some guys that filled that cove with jug lines, and decided to come in to check them while we were working the bank. They cut withing 10 yards of us and stopped to check them. Apparently those empty lines couldn't wait 5 more minutes to get pulled out of the water.

Anyway, it was still a great day on the water, especially when the fish were biting.

If I can figure it out, I'll get the walleye pic one here. By the way, all fish still had eggs in them.

Jason

[Thunderin Gobbler]

Here's the walleye we caught Saturday on a crappie jig.

[straw hat]

Good to hear from you Thunderin'. Is it the picture or is that walleye really that skinny? It looks like it is starving. Glad those crappie were still hitting well when you got there.

We got there to take out right after that party pontoon had tied to the dock. They tied length wise to it and we couldn't get in to tie up. My wife dropped me off on the bank to get the truck backed down. When I finally got in line to back down I was watching them at the dock. Now this was nearly an hour after my wife had dropped me off to get the truck. The pontoon was still tied to the dock and several kids were there swimming. There were several bass boats wanting to tie to the dock and couldn't. The boaters, swimmers and pontoon owner were all having a heated discussion. Finally the pontoon took off but the kids remained there swimming with the boats coming in and out to tie up. That was a rude bunch, glad I wasn't involved in that exchange.

[fishbait3]

Here's the walleye we caught Saturday on a crappie jig.

Nice walleye Thundering Gobbler