Jared Rypka-Hauer
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Dude, you can't get down the driveway at L&D1 anymore... they have it gated off and the gate's locked down. "Employee access only." You can get up to the walkway and walk back there, but you can't get out on the sidewalk to get near the water. It's all marked "Government Property - No Trespassing". Damn.
So I fished a bit further upstream from there and threw some really long casts (50+ yards of line?) back downstream toward the bull gates on the lock. I can say there are fish above the Ford Dam... I cannot, however, say what species, size or condition they're in, other than being a bit less hungry than they were yesterday afternoon.
As for what fishing I got in, well... I ended up riding home in a tow truck because the alternator went out in my truck on the way there and I was too focused on fishing to bother turning back when I should have. So I got to fish for an hour, maybe 90 minutes, and in that time I lost 3 suckers (3 heads and 3 bodies, cast separtely) to whatever was sitting on the bottom.
Either the fish there were big enough to pull a sucker head off my hook but small enough to not get the hook in their mouths, or they're just biting so slowly that they just get the bait in their mouths and sit there (my suspicion), so while I had a lot of good hits, no hookups.
That's the story of my life, though... dunno what I'm doing wrong, but I get at least 4 times the hits that I do fish and it doesn't seem to matter if I let them sit and chew on it or if I actually try to feel them out and set the hook.
Anyway, all in all it was better than no fishing at all, but sitting in a dead truck on the side of Hiawatha with the window rolled down because you can't roll it back up when it's 29ºF isn't exactly fun.
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Whoever first said "Better a bad day fishing than a good day at work" is the wisest person who ever lived.
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JAKOB
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Sorry to hear about the bad luck! I brought up going out last night to the wife and she  .
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When you ask the wife if you can go fish - doesn't it feel a lot like asking your mom if you can go play with your friends?
Tired of McDonalds? Try some BK
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Jared Rypka-Hauer
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JAKOB, given the choice between a dead truck/tow truck and a wife on the war path, I'd say I got the better deal. 
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Whoever first said "Better a bad day fishing than a good day at work" is the wisest person who ever lived.
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JAKOB
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And I would agree!  You also got to get a line wet! 
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When you ask the wife if you can go fish - doesn't it feel a lot like asking your mom if you can go play with your friends?
Tired of McDonalds? Try some BK
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Jared Rypka-Hauer
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You took the words right out of my brain! 
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Whoever first said "Better a bad day fishing than a good day at work" is the wisest person who ever lived.
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northstar
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Ouch 
I never let them fool with the bait. I just let them have it. I'm a Texas bullwhip kind of guy and if that doesn't get it, I just put out more bait.
What kind of hooks are you using?
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Northstar - Even as you have done it unto the least of my children, you have done it unto me.
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Jared Rypka-Hauer
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Last night I switched around a bit. I started with a #3 circle octopus, then I moved to to a #6 Kahle, then to a #6 circle octo. All brand-new Gamkatsu hooks, so dullness wasn't really an issue.
I keep tinkering with bait size... it's hard to find the right balance between big (attracting power) and small (much easier to get in their mouths) chunks of cut bait. I still seem to be missing the boat, as it were. Still, though, sucker heads are sucker heads. I had them on both the Kahle and the #6 circle and nothing really seemed to work.
The only thing I can really think of is that I should maybe have been using an offset hook, which I didn't have with me last night. It may have helped in those conditions.
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Whoever first said "Better a bad day fishing than a good day at work" is the wisest person who ever lived.
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Briank
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You know I'm a 3/0 or at the largest a 4/0 circle kinda guy for sturgies and channels.
That way I can still catch a mud puppy if there's one in the area. 
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Briank's Trophy Catfishing and Sturgeon Adventures
Photo's From the 2009 Season<<
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Jared Rypka-Hauer
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Ja, ja, but them tiny hjooks just don't seem to hjook them up fer me, janno?
Still, tho', it's a tantalizing thought: reduce the bait size and the hook size and see what happens. One "side of sucker" per setup, and let'er rip. Come to think of it that's the one thing I haven't really tried.
Thanks Brian!
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Whoever first said "Better a bad day fishing than a good day at work" is the wisest person who ever lived.
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Czech
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Try the castandblast approach, cantaloupe sized bait ball on the bottom with a floating hook above it? I'm in baby! 
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Always remember: Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.
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Czech
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Sweet! We got moved here! I love this spot!
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Always remember: Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.
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Czech
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I already got the Sally crap from the first time I posted this, so save it gang. Been there, done that with channels, now a flat is totally different. I work in a hospital after all, need to keep my Sally hands nice and purty! 
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Always remember: Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.
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Jared Rypka-Hauer
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It's OK. When I was out with Brian the first time (note: there hasn't been a second time, fwiw) I was wearing my normal fishing jacket... we were fishing with 3 poles, 2 being held by me and Scary Jeff, one leaning in the back of the pontoon. I reset the leaning one and grabbed the brass bell out of my pocket.
When Brian heard it ting-ting... I couldn't decide which was more likely, that he'd fall out of the boat or pee his pants laughing at me. In shame, I sacrificed the bell to the River Gods. So I've had my Sally moments too. And I haven't fished with a bell since...
And for the record I hate bells (in the way, noisy, extra weight on the rod, blah blah blah), but better a bell than missing a fish because you weren't quite attentive enough... and with my attention span...
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Whoever first said "Better a bad day fishing than a good day at work" is the wisest person who ever lived.
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Czech
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A bell on a WHITE pole and BK would have swam home!
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Jared Rypka-Hauer
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There I can claim non-Sallyism. All my good, regularly-used poles are either graphite or graphite/fibre composite. Nothing white here unless you count the old, unused pile of ancient crap rods I have stacked up in the garage.
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Whoever first said "Better a bad day fishing than a good day at work" is the wisest person who ever lived.
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Sad results last night, and bad news, Brian
