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Picture Of The Month



SD2OR with a trophy fall walleye

Topic: Practicing Gratitude  (Read 2070 times)

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DBam

  • Rockfish
  • ****
  • Location: British Columbia
  • Date Registered: Mar 2016
  • Posts: 106
When I look back at my 2019 fishing year, I realise it wasn't much. No winter or spring fishing. My company had a guided sturgeon trip organised for back in July which I was looking forward to, but the night before the trip my father passed away unexpectedly. Needless to say I missed the trip. My boss actually made it up to me by taking me out sturgeon fishing a few weeks later. If I'm ever having a suboptimal day I just try and remember that.

I got out fly fishing at the end of August. I picked a high elevation lake that I really like. It's great summer fishing. The girlfriend got my kayak and I rowed my dad's pontoon. She had never fished, let alone fly fished, and only been in a kayak a couple of times before. So there she was first time kayak fly fishing. Well I set her up with my preferred setup for that lake and gave as simplified a rundown as I could of what to do. It wasn't long after I had my waders and fins on that she was hollering with excitement and fighting this 2-3 lb rainbow.

Thinking back on it now, I honestly don't remember if I caught any fish that day. It doesn't matter, I'm just thankful for how the day went. I got out lake fishing maybe once more, and then a few times on the river (gear fishing) and kept one nice shiny spring from those outings. That's it, that's my year.

My goals for 2020 are to get a new drysuit and spend some time on the coast. Always wanted to fry up a dogfish like fish and chips, apparently it's what the English did a hundred years ago. Maybe someone here has tried it and can tell me if it's worth it or not. If I'm lucky maybe I can do some fly fishing for lingcod, that's always been on my bucket list. And maybe I won't get around to any of it. However it turns out I'm determined to be content and thankful.


C_Run

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Independence, OR
  • Date Registered: Apr 2011
  • Posts: 1214
It's good to have goals. It seems like I've had to adjust my expectations, i.e. lower them, quite a bit lately but still it's good to be able to look back on the successes and set new goals for the fishing year ahead.

As for the dogfish, I think the English are still eating them to this day. We visited a small port on the Bay of Fundy where my brother lives and they had many totes of dogfish and skates, as well, headed to England for the fish and chips market.


showa

  • Rockfish
  • ****
  • Location: Seattle
  • Date Registered: May 2016
  • Posts: 188
I did not fish much last year either. I was grateful that my friend took me to Cle Elum lake to fish for mackinaw and we caught two. The wind at time was strong and the water was quite choppy, I was a little scare at the boat rocked back and forth so violently. In the fall, he took to Shilshole Bay to fish for salmon and we caught 3 pinks. I am spending most of the fall and winter to get my kayak ready for fishing this year. I have downrigger on the kayak now with the arm cut off to about 14" long, I will be practicing catching lake trout in the Spring before going out for salmon in the Fall. Moved my trolling motor and outrigger to new (old yak) PA12, and install new rod holder. The PA12 is a beast with that many stuffs on it, need to design a lift system to get the wheel in when coming back from fishing. I am planning to hit the water more often this year, hopefully not much honey do list this year. 


Squidder_K

  • Rockfish
  • ****
  • A bad day of fishing is still better than a good d
  • Location: Bremerton, WA
  • Date Registered: Sep 2018
  • Posts: 136
A few years back GF and I went to South Tahoe, and used a guide to go Fly Fishing.  Her first time, I had been maybe a dozen times before over the years. by no means an avid fly fisherman.  We hit a spot the guide used from time to time, and the Sun, Moon, Stars were all in alignment as she caught and released 5 fish that were all 19-21 inches in length a couple of them might have been in the 4-5 lb range they were so fat.  I was happy to see her catch fish, and even more excited to see her catch some big ones.  I caught and released a bunch as well.  When we got back to his truck she asked if it was always like this.  Both the guide and I looked at he and almost at the same time that days like this are often once in a lifetime. 

I n my lifetime of fishing, all the 21 inch trout I have caught can be counted on two hands with fingers to spare prior to that day. On that day the amount of fingers doubled.
US Army & Army National Guard Veteran of 34 years
Veteran 36th Infantry Division "The Fighting Texans!," FOB Danger, Tikrit Iraq 2005
Boston Sports Fan since 1967, I have seen the highs, and the lows of Boston sports teams.
aka Kevin