I have never said “it’s too hot to go fishing!” But sometimes I wonder about my sanity.
When I was a teacher and school administrator I had the summers off. The days I was not in graduate school I went fishing. No matter how hot. But I had several ways to cool off.
My favorite was fishing at night. It’s much cooler, the fish bite better and there is less boat traffic. Back in the 70s and 80s I seldom saw or heard another boat on the lake. Now there is enough boat traffic, especially drunk boat drivers and others that do not know how to drive a boat, that it is dangerous out there in the dark.
The Sportsman Club and Flint River fished night tournaments for years. Nighttime is about the only time you can fish Jackson Lake and some others on weekend days. But we quit fishing them a few years ago due to concerns of some members.
One of my most memorial night trips happened on Labor Day weekend in the 1980s. Linda went out with me late in the afternoon and as it got dark we continued to cast.
That was one of the darkest nights I have even seen. Overcast clouds hid the stars and there was no moon. On Clarks Hill no boat docks or shoreline lights in Germany Creek offer any light. I literally could not see my hand a foot from my face. The boat running lights were off since we were about 40 feet off the bank and could have heard another boat coming a long way off.
We were fishing a deep rocky bank. We knew our dark Texas rigged plastic worms were in the water when a cast produced a splash. As she worked her worm Linda said “I think I got a bite!” When I said “set the hook” the boat rocked and she almost yelled “its big one!”
We heard the fish jump a couple of times making huge splashs but could see nothing. I felt around and got the net and stuck in over the side of the boat, wondering what I was going to do. I thought about getting the flashlight but knew a sudden light would make the fish fight even harder.
Suddenly the water exploded right beside the boat and the fish jumped into the net! No skill on my part needed. That seven-pound, ten-ounce bass hangs on the wall in my home office.
Another night at Clarks Hill Linda’s parents were visiting and they decided to go out with me while I fished after dark. After about an hour they started talking about going in. I said I wanted to fish one more place, some riprap not too far from the boat club.
The first hour fishing it I caught five bass. When I caught my sixth one my mother-in-law said “oh no he got another one, he will never take us in.” After that I decided I better go in even if the fish were biting!
I miss night fishing but will put up with the heat in tournaments since I don’t have a choice.
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Two weeks ago the heat kept all but two of us home in the Flint River Club tournament at Sinclair. Zane and I started at 6:00. At 7:00 I had caught three small keepers, two on a frog and one on a Texas rigged worm.
I caught my fourth keeper before 8:00 on a small jig but did not catch my fifth keeper until 1:30! I did catch a seven-pound blue cat that gave me a thrill.
My five at 6.6 pounds won. Zane had three weighing 5.05 for second and his 2.87 pound largemouth was big fish.
Last Saturday 17 members of the Potato Creek Bassmasters fished West Point for our July tournament. After fishing from 5:45 until 2:00 we brought in 22 keeper bass weighing about 35 pounds. There was one five bass limit and eight people did not land a keeper.
Caleb Delay won with three bass weighing 6.63 pounds and his 3.35 pound largemouth was big fish. Glenn Anderson had the only limit and came in second with 6.30 pounds. Kenny Delay was third with four weighing 6.20 pounds and my three weighing 4.63 pounds rounded out the top four.
It was very slow fishing. I caught all three of my keeper bass in shallow water with no cover, places I call nothing places. I cast to them just to “keep my bait wet” when going between places I want to cast.
Sometimes I do get lucky.