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View Full Version : First BASS TRIP OF THE YEAR


shalom
03-12-2004, 10:17 PM
First BASS trip of the year . I put in at MILDROM BOAT RAMP and ran down river to a place that I had never fished before . Last summer in low water I saw an area that looked good . On the second cast I caught a 17&1/4 inch smallie. What a great fighter .

Wannabe I caught it on an old ugly tube. I was fishing it slow almost dead sticking it . I had YUM ON IT , and the best part was I was off the bank . You are an awesome teacher. I fished several places that I have caught fish and only had one more bite but it didn't hook up.

I was almost back to the boat ramp when I saw a strange sight. It looked like a young man in chest high waders standing on top of the water about 40- yards from shore fighting a Chinook. I had to do a double take and go over to investigate .It was a young man in waders anchored in a small, very small Catamaran belly boat. I asked him if he had a net. I was sure that I would have been able to see it because his floating devise (I am not sure if it was big enough to be called a boat) and he said no !!!This is my first trip out in this boat .He was having a difficult time bringing it to the boat , because he had a light weight steelhead pole . I asked him if he would like to get into my boat and drift down river , he said no thank you because he had his dog with him . I told him my dog DAISY was friendly and there was plenty of room for him and his dog in my boat .You have to remember the size of this boat and I was all most along side of him and I still hadn't seen his dog .He then tells me that his dog had surgery yesterday and had stitches .There was a small 2- foot square piece of plywood that the dog was laying on. He had some gear tied on and the dog was in the middle of it. I waited about 15-minutes watching and waiting. He then says there is no way that I am going to get this fish in by myself and would I please pick him up so that we could drift down river .I said sure, as I got closer I noticed that his dog wasn't tied in .It looked like a puppy so I suggested that he tie him in so that he or she couldn't jump or fall into the river .He thought that was a good idea. I picked him up and we drifted about 1/2 mile down river. Luckily I had left my salmon net in the boat. I netted a chrome 24 pound native Chinook .He then asks me if it is a native and I explained that his fish still had an adipose fin and that made it a wild fish and it would have to be released. He then said with a small pitiful voice are you sure that it is wild. I told him yes I was sure. He wasn’t trying to argue he was hope that I could somehow make it a hatchery fish that he could keep . He then thanked me again and said that he would never have been able to land it with out my help . I felt good about helping him , but a bit sad that I couldn’t make his fish into a hatchery fish that he could take home . :dance:
:smile: :smile:

Love Fishin'
03-12-2004, 10:30 PM
Way to go Shalom! graemlins/applause.gif :cheers:

Interesting story about the young man you helped out. Let's hope that he will be able to keep the next one.

bucketmouth
03-13-2004, 03:15 AM
Good fish. good story. :smile:

Taking time out to help that fisherman was done in typical shalom fashion.

rebell
03-13-2004, 07:09 PM
Good job shalom graemlins/applause.gif To bad it wasn't a hatchery fish for the guy.

My son and I hit the lower Willamette this morning for bass. Our first bass trip of the year turned out to a test of patience at first. We arrived at Cathedral park about 8:00 am. The parking lot was full to say the least. We did manage to get the boat launched and actually fond a place to park after much searching ( for awhile I thought we may have to load the boat back on the trailer and look for another place to launch ). Then the day improved to say the least. We managed to boat 14 smallies for 1.5lbs to my son's best ever 4.9oz smallie.

The weather was great, the fishing was good, and I spent a awesome day on the water with my best friend. It doesn't get any better than that!!!

Wannabe
03-14-2004, 05:21 AM
Great story.....fishing is really starting to rock for those smallies. We were out thursday and had an awesome morining. Glad you could get out. Tight lines
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