Monday, April 30, 2012

Disappointing weekend

Well like it says, disappointing weekend. Where to start, ended the weekend and weekend with charters, tough conditions, windy, cool early in the week then very hot again. Shook up the bite a bit. Had numbers, 20 plus bass in 4 hrs with artificial baits but nothing big. Everyone I took out had a blast but I am not satisfied unless I get a big one each day.

Then after Sunday's charter I had to be admitted to the hospital for abdominal pain. My pain hit really hard on Thursday and by Sunday I couldn't deal with the pain any further. For the last 6 months these attacks have been happening, I was diagnosed with diverticulitis to know learn its not and no idea what's the cause. So as testing continues, I have been awake for past 36 hrs with 1 hr of sleep and no solid food since saturday. I hate admissions.

This admission also caused me to have to cancel my charter with Larry the cable guy. I am very disappointment but more disappointed over the fact he would not reschedule another day. Sometimes the disease wins the battle. No idea when this admission will end, no idea on if surgery will happen, but hopefully I will be back up and running by next week.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Over 20 fish each charter in 4 hrs

Today my doctor agreed to stop my round of IV antibiotics after two weeks of 5 treatments a day, totaling 6 hrs of infusion time each day. The bacteria I had in my lungs was very serious and a strain that can destroy lung tissue. Thankfully I called the doctor as soon as I felt the infection coming on. Had I not, this could have become very serious and even life threatening. It also marks the first time, in a very long time that I was only on these meds for two weeks. Usually I am on them for 4-8 weeks before I feel slightly better.

I have been pacing myself by only doing 3-4 charters a week. Over doing things will make me sick. So I had charters Monday and Tuesday this week so far. They were really fun mornings. As many anglers know, it's hard to catch fish when you have casual anglers, meaning they fish a fee times a year, or new anglers that have never fished or only fished once or twice before. As a guide I do everything to select the proper baits that are easy to use and produce results. I am proud that during both these charters, the anglers all had double digit numbers. Monday, I took out Mark from the UK, a very experienced Pike and Carp angler. It was his first bass fishing charter, and he did great. He had about 15 bass in the boat, and about 20 bites that mark didn't get them or they shook off the hook right near the boat. I am mad at myself because I didn't retie the line when I should have and this 6 lbs bass broke off right next to the boat.

Tuesday I took out Glenn and Art, both from Montana. They in total landed 30 bass. Most being in the 1-2 lbs ranges Glenn lost a really big fish at the end of the trip, again because of the line breaking. I definitely came across some bad line with the berkley vanish, so new line for all the reels. Art did manage a decent fish near the 5 lbs mark, hopefully I can get this photo off my digital camera to post it.

These fish have been crushing the baits, as soon as they hit the water or during a fast retrieval . Weather continues to be in the 80's and humidity is starting to move in. That means the bite will slow up just a little but the top water bite will be getting stronger.

I have one more slot open this week so hopefully we can book that day.

Below is photo of Mark and glenn, again small fish but catching 20 of these in a few hrs on artificial baits is something to be proud of!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Great week of good health and fishing

Finally I feel really good health wise. I haven't felt this good in over 7 months. My iv meds end Monday and hopefully I can stay this good for a few weeks at least. But with the good is some bad, the bacteria in my lungs is becoming resistant to the antibiotics. If the bacteria becomes completely resistant to the meds, then I have no alternatives. If I can't stop the infections that can cause the bacteria to take over and destroy my lungs. In other words, it would kill me. It's not a exaggeration !! So hopefully I can stay off this meds for a while and hopefully not become resistant.

Fishing has continued to be great. My last couple charters the clients all caught double digit numbers. I am taking the weekend off to get some major home projects done but back out Monday, and I already know it will be a great charter with Mark from the UK.

The photos are of Rhys age 7 from NC. He caught a lot of fish using a watermelon sinko. He was a great kid that loves fishing, and I am glad he and his dad Keith had a fun morning. I feel bad because Keith lost a big fish. Even after a few days from the day of the trip and I am still upset we lost this fish right at the boat.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Great numbers with a nice way to end the day

Today I fished with Eric and his 14 yr old daughter Sabrina from Wisconsin. It was a perfect day on the water, no wind and hot weather. The numbers caught were extremely good. They caught over 20 fish, and it was very even. Sabrina caught over 10 fish with watermelon fluke, and landed a good 3 lbs bass, but I screwed up the picture so I can post it. We lost a bunch of fish that shook off or just didnt hold the bait long enough. That would have easily made the numbers over 30 fish in 4 hrs. On one of the last casts Eric landed this fish, right around 5 lbs off a bed. Which was shocking because I thought the bass were done spawning but I came across an area with fresh beds and the end of the morning.

Have some charters later this week so hopefully these numbers continue.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

The perfect day

After a week off the water from having diverticulitis, I am now trying to get past a lung infection. I am on 2 iv antibiotics which I have to administer 5 times a day and it takes 6 hrs of infusion time. That means while i am on the boat I have my iv meds running. It's been really hard to get motivated to do anything let alone charters but the fishing has been so good, it's hard to say no.

Despite feeling crappy this morning I pushed thru it and got to the ramp, I am glad I did. Today I fished with Terry ( who has had three awesome charters with me over past two yrs) and his friend Shawn both from IN.Terry is a cool guy and a very good angler. This was the first time I met Shawn and quickly saw he was also a very good angler and learned he is a marine. My dad served as a marine in Vietnam so the moment I saw Shawn marine corps jacket, I knew he was a great man. I was also blown away when he said his son is in the NFL draft this year so I am really rooting for him in two weeks. I meet really cool people being a guide but this was special. Seeing the pride in Terry's eyes was cool. I already bet his son going to the buffalo bills.

These guys had probably one of the best days I have had on my lake in a long time. The bite was on with a lot of smaller bass but they both had giants. Shawn landed a 8 lb bass with a watermelon seed fluke. It took a good 10 minutes to get her in the boat... I felt instantly cured, it was a big ass fish. The photo doesn't give the fish justice. I was still on my big fish high when Terry landed a 6 lber within 5 mins after Shawn's. The bite slowed dramatically after that but in the last hour we pulled a few more smaller ones in. Hopefully the charters I have the rest of the week produce like today.

Best of luck to Shawn's son, hope he gets that big money and one day a Super Bowl ring.

Terry's fish is the first photo, Shawn's is the second.