Fishing Buddy Report, Dec 9-11

[Phil Lilley]

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The wife and I needed some time to get away from the mayhem the past few months, so she got us a room at Lilley’s last Monday and Tuesday.  My wife had decided she wanted to try fishing which sounded great to me, but I didn’t expect the first real cold front of the winter.

Woke up Monday morning to temperatures far too cold for fishing.   So we had to wait until afternoon for the wind to die down and the clouds to part.  I’m not normally a bait fisherman but I thought worms (inflated of course) and a sunny spot on the dock were appropriate for a beginner.

I don’t think there was any generation but there was a slight down stream flow.  Baited the first rod and handed it to her saying, “Here you fish with this one”.  Then I baited the second rod.  The second rod didn’t even get into the rod holder when it had a bite, so I handed it to her (you know, to get her some action).  I took the original rod to the other end of the dock to get it out of the way.  She did well landing her first fish.

But as soon as I had that fish in the net and on the dock the second rod doubled over and the reel started singing.  I picked that rod up and knew it was a good fish.  I didn’t even have to set the hook, it was already running.

When I got it close to the dock I knew I had a problem.  I had a big fish on the line, the first fish was still in the net and I knew my wife would not know how to get that first fish out of the net.  I carefully maneuvered over and grabbed the fish in the net by the mouth and asked her to hold it just like I was.  “Does it have teeth?” she asked.  “No it’s a rainbow” I said.  She tried to put her thumb in its mouth but it started wiggling, she shrieked and I knew that wasn’t going to happen.  I give her credit for trying though.  She won’t even touch raw meat!  I just laid the first fish on the dock and hoped for the best.

After a good fight we netted the big fish.  It measured 23”.  I put the first fish on a stringer and said, “Here is your stringer.”

As I was putting the big fish on a second stringer she said, “What are you doing”?

“I am putting it on my stringer” I said.

“Isn’t that my fish because you caught it on my pole.” She said.  Sometimes they listen too well.  I think we’re sharing it and there was no more rod swapping.

Didn’t have to wait long for bites after that, as we landed a trout and a sucker each in the next 15 minutes.  They weren’t nibbling on the worms either, they just hammered it and they were on.  Then as quickly as it started, it stopped.  Not even a bite after the last fish.

Tuesday morning was even colder than Monday but it was warming quickly so about 10am we decided to rent a boat for a few hours.  There was some generation, so we motored up to Short Creek.  I set up a rod with an egg pattern and one with jig and float.  My wife wanted to use the jig and float so she could watch “something”.  But the problem was that she didn’t really get the hang doing “something” when the float moved.  You don’t really fish much when you’re helping a new fisherman, but I did manage to catch one on the egg.   And she finally got a hook set on the jig and caught one.

Then the water quit running and so did the bite.  The time went quickly, so I put on a small clown colored crank bait for her to troll back to Lilley’s.  Enjoyed the day and the scenery until we were just above the dock when she hooked a real nice stocker.  Nice way to end the day.

Thanks to everyone at Lilley’s for a great stay.  We will definitely be back.

Greg and Andrea Lawson