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A (grand) Father's Day to Remember
A (grand)father's day to remember
Tony Dean • For the Argus Leader • June 18, 2008
My granddaughter Celine pumped the fishing rod back and reeled quickly to take up the line gained. "I don't think I can reel this guy in," she said.
About a minute later, I slipped the net under a plump, 16-inch smallmouth bass, her first ever.
And it went that way for the next two hours. All told, Celine landed a dozen smallmouth bass, the smallest measuring about 15 inches, and the largest just more than 19 inches. She was giggling, and so was I.
In fact, I was having the time of my life. Truth be told I was enjoying my best Father's Day ever, fishing with my granddaughter on Lake Sharpe. Yes, I know smallmouth purists don't troll, but this wasn't about me. Instead, it was about the best way to get her into some fish. And once I did my part, she did hers.
I moved slowly along a 12-foot deep flat, with a pair of trolling rods out to each side of the boat, each pulling Salmo Hornets, one in a tiger-striped green pattern, the other a crawfish look-alike. As usual, neither color nor pattern made a difference.
When a smallmouth bass hits a trolled crankbait, it nearly doubles the trolling rod, often putting so much pressure on that it's difficult to get it out of the rod holder. When a walleye, a 14 incher, finally hit one of the baits, it barely bent the rod tip backward a time or two.
I haven't had that much fun while fishing in a long time. Especially when you consider I didn't catch a single fish. However, it's a safe bet Celine will continue to fish.
Celine lives in Phoenix, which from the standpoint of a Grandpa, is too far away.
Glacial Lakes effort proves difficult
My week in the Glacial Lakes region featured difficult fishing, though my brother Tom of San Diego, and I caught plenty of northern pike, largemouth bass, a few smallmouths and some dandy walleyes.
And we can blame it all on the weather. Tell folks you didn't do as well as expected because a massive cold front came through, and they'll accept that excuse. Which is precisely what happened.
The only thing stable about the weather during our stay at Roy Lake Resort was the instability. Fronts rolled across on a daily basis, and as most fishermen know, they definitely result in most fish developing lockjaw.
Tom, true to his California bass fishing roots, utilized a black plastic Powerbait worm and caught dozens of pike and nearly as many largemouths bass. Though we were specifically targeting smallmouths, they were just entering the spawning mode and that, along with the fronts, had them off the feed.
We awoke one morning to massive thunderclaps, lightning and marble sized hail and saw the Roy Lake Resort docks pummeled into the shoreline by the high winds, which also capsized several rental boats, though the floating gas tanks betrayed their location.
After a morning of helping Jan Pitzl and her staff fix things, Tom and I went fishing. As expected, it was the toughest day of all. However, about 7 that evening, we drove to nearby Cattail Kettle Lakes. While fishing from the road grade with slip bobbers and leeches, we landed three walleyes, losing two others in less than a half hour. The fish we caught measured 23, 22 and 17 inches respectively. The hardest part about fishing Cattail Kettle is catching walleyes under 20 inches.
Iowa sees record floods
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a town I lived in for eight years beginning in 1960, saw a record flood with most downtown blocks inundated. Iowa City, Vinton, and Des Moines also saw heavy flooding.
I received a bevy of e-mails wondering if the tile drainage that has been in place almost from border to border in the Hawkeye State contributed to the floods. While I can't offer a definitive answer, common sense tells me that drain tile moves water from farm fields to lower areas faster than it travels across undrained land. And since water flows downhill, most ends up in rivers. Thus a land practice some call "improvement" benefits just a handful while penalizing many more. Since flood relief is likely coming to Iowa soon, the American taxpayers will pick up the tab.
Lakes Oahe, Sakakawea Get Healthy Dose of Water
From May 27 through June 22, Lakes Sakakawea and Oahe rose 5 and 6 vertical feet respectively. The runoff from the heavy rains will add fertility to the lakes, and while the increased water levels likely came too late to benefit spawns this year, it should pay dividends over the long haul.
A (grand) Father's Day to Remember
