Floatilla? Rubtilla? Frozentilla? Skunkedtilla?

[Paranoid]

OK...spill it! How was the float. Let me take a stab at it. 6:00 am. A bunch of guys show up at the bridge. Some are sleeping, most are hungover, a couple are still drunk, oh yeah, don't forget the cross eyed guy.

It's quite a bit colder than most anticipated. In fact it's damn cold! As the rigs pull in to the take out, one after another you all frantically jump out and run down to take a look at the river(and relieve your buldging bladders full from residule brew from last night, not to mention the 4 cups of coffee this morning). The river rises momentarily from the twenty or so short lived steaming feeder creeks then quickly drops back to it's very low and gin clear state. Did I mention LOW and CLEAR?

You press on. You slide the boats down the shoot to the water. Damn they slide fast when the grounda all froze. You look down at you rope burned hands, feel the throbbing in your head from last night and your knee still hurts from that spill you took getting out of the truck. You still have a smile on your face...let's do it!

You pretend not to be in a hurry. It doesn't matter who has first water, after all we are all friends here right? You notice your "buddy for the day" enjoying the morning and whisper...hurry the f**K up!
You push off, full of anticipation, glad not to be on the oars today. This is gonna be great!

As it gets light enough to see you notice that the water sure has come down a bit...quite a bit, and boy is it clear..... crystal. In fact you would bet your new reel that there must be a good three or four feet of visibility.... That is if you could find three or four feet of water to prove your theory. The fishing begins.......

Now you have made numerous casts, most were perfectly thrown masterpieces(of course). Except the twenty or so that resulted in backlashes from frozen eyes on your rod. Still not a fish. You push on.

The morning sun triggers tissue killing ice fog that seems to drop the temp ten degrees or so. You pull your hat over your ears and prepare for another short stretch of fast water. As you pick up speed the wind chill drops to at least 40 or 50 below. Your ears are burning, your fingers are numb, and damn it all, have to pee!.......AGAIN!

A couple of hours go by without even a nibble. Except of course for the several takedowns that you "buddy" had.(takedowns...right...you mean blowndowns, as in branches you cracker. you think to yourself}. Finally you have the bridges in sight. Only a couple more minutes left to spend with your "buddy". Man those bridges are a long way off.

You arrive at the ramp, empty handed except for the lock of your "buddie's" hair that resulted from him purposefully not warning you of that sweeper on the last corner.

Tired, hungry, ****** off you wait for the others. You wonder how far off is your ride. They can't be far behind. You ask your "buddy" for the time. Ten forty five he snivels. You mumble "thanks alot". Seemed more like eleven thirty or so to you.

Then your face regains some color, your pupils dialate, and your heart begins to race as you have a great idea. You look to your "buddy" and ask..."Watcha doin' tamarrah?". "Wanna float this again?" He looks at you in disbelief...Did he hear you right?...Again...Tamarrah?...With you?......
"Sure" he sais..."Sounds like fun!"

[Bait O' Eggs]

I think what we have here is one of a couple scenarios.

1. They got to drunk to fish and never made it.

2. Those that did make it fishing, got skunked. Nobody wants to come forth and say they dont smell to good. Everybody is waiting for the other guy to show there tail between there legs.

3. They are all in recovery, some at the the hospital, some in jail and they rest are MIA on the river.

quite possibly all 3 may be happening

you can bet if anybody caught a fish, they would be talking some smack.

Maybe heyall still has them all tied to a tree with duct tape.

any other possiblities.

[This message has been edited by Bait O' Eggs (edited 02-11-2001).]

[Mikie]

Maybe they kicked fish butt, yesterday and went back for second's . Maybe their sleeping it off, maybe they got southernized by hey-yall . Maybe just maybe they got skunked . MIKIE

[superfly]

Hey, you want to know how these guys really were at 3 a.m. This is superfly's girlfriend and I can attest to all the craziness at the "Crippler". RT was hitting on all the nice young ladies at the bar (bust still maintaining proper etiquette), Justin was buying drinks (one after another) for us all while he was eyeing one or two special ladies, and superfly, well let's just say I kept him busy. Anyway, the most interesting part was the "wake up call" at 5 a.m. You want to see 3 hurtin' boys, this was it. There was no smiling, no motivation and plenty of moaning about headaches,etc. Interesting what a headache will do to two friends, watching Superfly and RT fighting for the last of the Vicoden was over the top! I can honestly say I felt "NO" pitty for the three! But I can say it was fun and it was great to get to know them.

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If you want to run with the big dawgs then get your ass off of the porch!!

[DanS]

Wow,

You guys (and gals) are being pretty tough on the ol' boys. I call them that after hey y'all fished with them. RT and Fly were moving pretty slowly and speaking in quiet tones when they arrived at the takeout. While Justin wasn't visibly damaged, you could see the hurt on Fly's and RT's faces. And you're right.......it was COLD. I brought my heater, which hasn't seen the inside of my boat for a couple years. But everybody was there and ready to go.....no sissies in this bunch, dammit.

Tha water was low and fairly clear, but not quite gin. It was cold enough to numb your hands in a few seconds. I made the mistake of dropping in at Schaeffer park, instead of Cook creek. The water up there was just too low for a drift boat with three dudes in it. Every hole I thought would be promising in the upper end already had people or boats or both on it, so we pressed on.

Below Cook creek a ways there is a nice slot with deep, but soft water along the bank. The Osmeister was in there with his Silent Approach jig and new Thill float when.......dooowwwn goes the float. Keep in mind that Os is fishing with a reel that has about 15 wraps around the spool before he's out of line. Of course I advised him earlier that this was not a good thing, but he refused to respool with the line I brought, which would only be marked up by 7 or 800%. So this fish must not be especially clever, because it dogs around the boat, but refuses to make a long run. After a nervous battle (Os tightened his drag down so tight that a fast run would have likely ended the fight) the fish is in the boat. A nice 8 or 9 pound buck, one shade off chrome with NO adipose fin. "Oh hello, Mr.-Hatchery-Fish-who-is-getting-spanked" I say before giving him a taste of the Keeper Club. So now the pressure's off MY boat, one of us caught one and the skunk is off.

So we continue on to the carbody hole, and find a dudue working a side planer in down the entire top end of it. The guy down at the tailout is leaving so we decide to just drop on through the hole and fish the tailout, where the water is nice and deep and smooth. I toss out my Turbomaster float and 1/8 oz cerise Beau-Mac jig and........doowwn goes the float. Say hello to hatchery fish number two, a chromer hen about 7-8 pounds Now the pressure is off me personally, as well as the boat. We take a little time for photos and some grub and some heat....like I said, the water was COLD.

From that point we went kinda dry for a while. The weather held off, with just a sprinkling of rain for about 10-15 minutes. The wind held off most of the day, but when it was blowing, it was frigid. I was glad I wasn't nursing a hangover, like some of the guys were. Just above the takeout, Os hooks another fish. Now THIS fish seems to be a little more substantial than the previous ones. I look up to see his reel still loaded with about 20 feet of line to spare, and just as I'm about to remind him to keep his eye on it, doink, the line breaks. Big bummer The cry of anguish from Os could be heard across the countryside. Score one up for the fish (and again for the Silent Approach jig). Jeff and I tried to find the partner to the fish that just whupped Os, but we couldn't seem to get through the water without hanging up. When I rowed over to get one of our floats, it was apparent why. It was a jumble of logs, branches and other assorted evil, and HOW Os got through there in the first place is beyond me. He claimed a magical touch, Jeff and I claimed he's Mr. Magoo......stumbling along while the world crumbles around him.

After the turnaround (thanks Jeff) we met up with everybody back at the launch. Justin (of Sauk River fame) had video of a chromer native hen they landed on a plug up above Cook creek that he showed on his camera. Parker was looking pretty good on the oars, regardless of what Justin tells you. Fly, y'all, and RT weren't able to shake the effects of the night before and gave the fish a day off. steelheader69 found some whitefish, but no steelhead, and I never saw Kris to get a report from him. The heavy hitters from Oly-Town (Jeff, Os, and I) had a blast and were able to bring home some fish....pan-fried steelhead with Bernaise for dinner tonight.....so I'd give it an enthusiastic thumbs up.

Hope everyone else had as good of time as I did. I'm hoping I can join you guys down there for Floatilla The Hun II later this year. Oh, I almost forgot, hey y'all...those eggs are for FISHING, not sprinkling on your scrambled eggs!!

Good meeting and fishing with all of you folks ! Let's do it again

Fish on..............

[Steelheader69]

Hey, it was nice meeting everyone yesterday. It got darned cold at times. The one big downside to a cataraft is no bow shielding me from those icy winds that were hitting me and my crew. Luckily for me, it was an easy float all the way around, my cat takes no water to float so didn't have the problems the others did. I'm just curious if there was word out we were coming. I haven't seen the Satsop that busy in quite awhile (usually they're on the Nooch this time of year).

Actually, my boat was completely skunked, my friend Steve caught a nice little trout (probably an outgoing steelhead smolt) not to long after Os caught his first Steelhead. It was released of course, we want it to go to sea and get big. I'll have to side with DanS, too many boats. I was last to launch, and all the holes I wanted to hit were full. In fact it's funny, I had went into the carbody hole wanting to fish it. The sideplanner guy was there and his buddy was still working the slot so I kept moving on. Figures, DanS moves in after me and hits them. Worse thing is, since I moved ahead of everyone, I hit the sleds first. MAN!!!!! It was sled galore. There was easily over 13 sleds. I had virtually no fishing room at all. (I had heard there was some sort of protest going by the guides from a driftboat I passed near cook's creek). We did our best, had a few nice hits (I worked the oars all day, did very little fishing) but had fun nonetheless. Yeah, I did catch quite a few whitefish. Had one that was well over 3lbs, kept catching the damned things. Oh well, at least it was fun.

I was surprised. I got to the dropin at 550am, driftboat and parker were already there. Everyone else showed up around 610 or so. Then, finally, RT and guys showed up around 630ish. Hmmmmm, musta stopped somewhere for some rolaids, painkillers, and anything else to kill the pain. I just loved coming back from picking up my truck/trailer and seeing hey'yall with his football helmet with the beer dispenser with "****" written on front. Too funny.

I'm game for a floatilla II. Except next time let's make it either in summer or early fall. Man, my feet are still chilly from yesterday.....



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You haven't lived til you've rowed a cataraft. Friends don't let friends run Outcasts.

You must have been there Para! You nailed it; except for the 'tamarrah' part . And Pam, I answered (defended ) my honor to the same post you put in 'Eggs at Superfly's' thread ... that wasn't 'hitting on' - just dancing, and talking about the weather forcast with the pretty girls . Thanks for driving us around! ... As for Dan's story, that was a good one. The truth is they brought 2 frozen hatchery fish caught elsewhere and water thawed them out quickly . They forgot that the Satsop doesn't get planted with winter brats! Hee hee. Nah, they caught a couple nice fish. And I watched 'Sauk em' Justin workin' the sticks perfectly and they plugged out their fish right where Fly told them they'd be. The only fish we had on was by plugging also (a 'ribbed' Tadpoly that Fly had reworked). It got right back off though. BTW, that river had more like 10 feet of visability, seen it in a couple deep salmon like holes. The gin clear water and having to follow a number of boats on a Saturday in that kind of cold weather was ... well, it was fun anyway! Since I had never fished the Satsop before last week and Fly new the Shaffer run better than the Cook Cr. down section, we sneaked in a Satsop practice from 11 a.m. to 5 on Wednesday . With only 2 trailers there and some faily good water color still, we got a couple fish each. All beautiful natives. And they are tough fighting big shouldered fish in that watershed! ....

Now, I am going to bring the legend of "Hey_'Yall" into proper perspective here. Sorry Mike, gotta spill it. This guy is a nice southern gentlemen! At least for a day. He's funny too. But he isn't really like the badass personna he has been putting up on the BB. I didn't know what to expect after reading his posts. This was his first time in a driftboat, and Fly and I gave him rowing lessons. After the initiation he did just fine. Just up around the corner from the take out Joe and I put the 2 front seats back to back and had Mike tie us up with wraps of a long teather rope; while he donned the 2 can beer helmut. When we got closer to the ramp and only saw a bunch of people we didn't know, off came the ropes ... only to find out our buddies were up in the lot a ways. A good one gone to waste. .... All in all, it was great fun up there. Thanks you guys. - Steve

[SAUKit2em]

Sleep? Who needs sleep? I'll close down the bars anytime and go sleepless and still be chipper the next day......yeah, suuuuuure!

It was cool when RT first showed up to Fly's house, Fly was doing up some eggs and I was working with some shrimp while we both were getting a head start with some Long Islands. Steve didn't hesitate to break into fishing conversation while sharing in the wonderment of distilled spirits with us. The 4th Ave. was fun but the "Crippler" was even better, there are some cuties down in Oly, let me tell ya I was impressed!!! At the Crippler, I tried to make sure that the boys we're not going to be babysitting their drinks as I kept 'em coming. RT and Fly, you guys didn't notice those shots of Jaeger that I had each time I got a new round, did ya? Superfly's girlfriend showed up and she was not only beautiful, but really cool Thanks again for getting us home safely, Pam, we really appreciate it and hopefully we'll see you again next time, just dont forget to bring Stephanie with you

I had a blast and everybody I met from the board at the bar and on the river was friendly and good spirited. We spread out throughout the day, but when we ran in to each other here and there it was fun to joke around with the floatilla posse. I have to thank Mac and Parker for helping me out by rowing part of the day or I wouldn't have made it. Thanks, guys, and Parker is getting pretty good at backtrolling and I even let him navigate down the river which he did a great job of.

I had never floated the Satsop and it was fun not knowing what was around the next bend. The first hole of the day that we fished I pulled up and asked Fly if he was going to plug it. Thanks again for letting us have that spot, Joe we appreciate it. We let out the "hurt" and about 20 min. into the day we had worked about 150 yards of water when I said "this hole looks so good, if we don't hit a fish right here next to this drain pipe, then I'll @#$! a pig!!!". Good thing we found one right there because I didn't feel like having to get overly friendly with a swine. I videotaped while Parker and Mac landed the fish. A couple quick pics too and we released the gorgeous chromer hen to go share her genetics with a big wild boy. I thought that it was going to be a banner day since we had literally just started the day. I think we got the fish because it was so early that my hangover had yet to kick in and even in my semi-conscious, sleep deprived state, I was rowing hard, running on pure adrenaline because being on the water with good people is what it's all about. That was the only fish we hit all day but it gave us a big boost on the motivation scale.

Thanks again to everybody for being so supportive of us showing up late and being somewhat out of it when we did show up. I also appreciate the compliment, Dan S., about how I didn't look visibly damaged....I was, believe that! Great meeting everybody and we will continue with "Floatilla Part II or maybe III" at the Sauk River Steelie Ranch........except next time I hope it's spring or summer when the days are longer because after a night like we had, meeting at the boat ramp at noon sounds a lot better than 6:00am

My head starts to hurt when I think about a next time, but I can't wait

Thanks agian to everybody,
Justin___________KID SAUK



[This message has been edited by SAUKit2em (edited 02-11-2001).]

[Jeffhead]

Just wanted to add that it was great meeting some more cool people from the ifish family. Had a great time fishing with my bud's Dan and Os who schooled me on how to bobber and jig (nice fish you guys, next time it's my turn!!!). Silent Approach, thanks for the box of jigs, they were greatly appreciated. Os looked good holdin' that fish with your jig hangin' out of it's mouth. You know for as little sleep as all of you Friday night hound dogs got you really didn't look that bad!!! Looking forward to Floatilla II, Return of Floatilla. Maybe we could do a Columbia springer session if they open it up!!!
Good luck and tight lines, Jeff

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There's two theories to arguin' with a woman...... Neither one works

[Osprey]

YEEEE HAHHHH!!!!
After surviving the night before,Thank God I left early and took Redneck home ,I figured that boat would need at least one good set of eyes.It was so good to see everyone and share a laugh with them,even funnier to watch them try and Arm Wrassel Timberman ....you'd a had more luck trying to duct tape a Bobcats Butt in a Phone booth

After all the smack talking going on,it was so good to have to fish gods smiling at us,after all by the time we hit cook creek we were ...the "last boat" ,and then to catch fish behind all these talented anglers was sooooo sweet,

Of course it was because we had the Satsop master in our boat and the Jeffhead
"Damit Danny" you're such a #@#@$*&* ....are you gonna eat all that food .....good job Dude,

btw: why would I want to change line when I'm watch you two cursing the stuff you were losing,I'd rather use 40 yds of soft smooth mono,then watch it explode off my spool on a regular basis,besides like I said it was more than enough line,...It's all in the technic....the Osmeister

[parker]

From left to right:

Superfly, Parker, Brat, Saukit2em, RT, JeffHead, Brat, DanS, Osprey, Hey-Yall.

[This message has been edited by parker (edited 02-12-2001).]

[Osprey]

What a bunch of handsome guys and a couple nace feesh
whos the Geek on the end with the helmet???? too bad you can't see the Chastity belt he's wearing,good thing after Friday night,I'd be nervous too....Os

Thanks for the pic Parker. Along for the float but left before the pic was taken were Jerry (Steel.69) and his 2 boat crew, and organizer Kris (Line_Buster) and his boat load. Jerry Shipe was going to bring his sled and friends up to fish the lower end but was either gone when we got down there or decided it was too low - haven't talked to him yet. Lots of fun guys. No more hangovers for me. I hadn't had one in a many years, and I remember why now . - Steve

[superfly]

All I know is that the renegade whiteman will not be partying before the float next time, god sunday hurt!, especially when the girlfriend made me get out of bed to get things accomplished that day, oh well, and by the way R.T I think you owe me a few V's and Justin, I will work the hook up with steph for yah!!!
Peace Superfly

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If you want to run with the big dawgs then get your ass off of the porch!!

[Line_Buster]

well, sorry guys I jumped ship. I did the float from the park to Cook creek where I met up with my dad who worked the night before and couldn't make it untill later in the morning. We started talking and after hearing about all the people down river and looking at the conditions I loaded up the boat and went to another zipper. I had no intrest in going on with the float. Liek was said by others. ever hole had someone in it. I fished that river several tiems before and never caught fish when it was that cold and clear. so I packed it up. wish I could have met up with everybody at the end of the day. I like the idea of part 2 up with Saukit2em on his river. I've never been up his way. maybe when the weather gets better we can go for it. glad to hear someone got fish.

Line Buster

[Snagly]

I think I liked everyone on the Board better when I didn't know what they looked like. (Until I saw the photo, I didn't know that Hey_yall was Hannibal Lecter's kid, either.)

Sounds like both the pre-float party and floats were a heap of fun, and as I read the thread my temples started pounding in sympathy!

[DanS]

snagly,

Don't worry about hey y'all too much, he's not nearly as scary as he looks in the "****" helmet. It was nice not having to worry about him biting, though .

Fish on.......

[Osprey]

Had to bring this back up so my daughter could see it,sorry redneck ....she was game till I expained what a chastity belt was UUyuk spit spit hehehehe oh sorry .....muhaahaaa....Os

she wanted to know why the big guy got to hold the fish ....I said cuss he always wanted to hold a Washington fish ...Os