Angler John’s Happy House of Fish Stories

I got to spend a little time on the water this past weekend at Roaring River State Park in Missouri. Only fished for about half a day but it was more than worth the trip it took to get there(about 6 hour drive). The river is stocked nightly with trout, a fish I have yet to go after, so it made the fishing enjoyable(when is it not). I pulled one rainbow in that was maybe 13-14 inches(trout are slimy little things) and that was my only catch of the day. We are hoping to go back and do some camping and fishing this coming spring so hopefully I will get more time on the water.

Outside of this trip I have not really been fishing at all since all of my local fishing holes are suffering from weeds and other bad things which make it basically impossible to fish. The closest place I can fish is at least a 30 minute drive and with my schedule having that much time to really drive anywhere is few and far between. Let’s hope I get out more often so that I can enjoy the great outdoors more.

Today we started early, like really early, 6am early. Let me step back, last night was the 4th of july and we spent it with my parents. A few years back my mom bought my dad a nice float tube but he never used it. Since Grant wanted to take out his kayak I figured it would be a perfect time to borrow this never before used float tube and get my ass wet(more on that later). So ol’ dad pulled out the tube and some nice flippers to go with it. I was all set!

Back to 6am… First stop was Burger King for some food and then onward to Wal-Mart. We had to hit the Wal-Mart for sunscreen, I basically baked myself yesterday and look like a hot tamale. We also forgot water on day 1, made sure to remedy that as well today. After making sure we were all stocked off we went, back to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge so that we could get on the water before it got hot.

Our first stop was Lake Jed Johnson. This is the same lake that I almost fell off the dam(read a few posts back for that one). I brought along my waders so that I would not get wet while floating but also brought them so that the boogie fish did not eat my legs(you have no clue what is in that water). Well, I’m smart enough that I figured, “Hey it’s a hot day so I will only wear my waders around my waist, it will be ok”, WRONG! I go to sit in my tube after getting it all blown up and what happens? My waders drop a little as I sit and water rushes down into the waders causing my shorts and socks to get all wet and my waders to fill with water. Oh the joy that brought

On to the good stuff… so I took off down one bank and Grant headed off down the other side. I fished along the shore for a few minutes before hooking up my first largemouth of the day. Boy that is a great feeling, fishing for about 10 minutes and snagging a fish. The day was looking better already.

About 30 minutes later and 100 feet further down the bank I was fishing some taller weeds with a wooly bugger when I got caught up on the weeds, well I thought I got caught up. My line seemed to be stuck and I tugged and tugged. Was not moving…hmmm. All of the sudden my line shot to the left and the fight was on. I striped in line when I could but this guy would not give. At this time I believe I started yelling and hooting. The fish jumped out of the water at least twice, this was crap I had only seen on TV up until this point. Finally I got him pulled in and got a really good look at him. This was the type of fish you see on those bass masters shows, big and fat, at least 16 inches long or so. I sat in all of my glory, ready to show the world my prize fish. To freaking bad I was all the way across the lake from anyone! So I sat some more and looked at my new friend(we became friends during this time), I gently let him back into the water and said my goodbyes. Goodbye old friend.

I only caught one more at Lake Jed Johnson, it did not matter as it was no where near as big as the other, so who cares right? So we decided to pack it in and head off to a new destination. One problem, I was half was across the lake and only had flippers and a tube, at least an hour back to shore. Grant was in his kayak so we figured he could pull me. That did not work. So we tried a few different methods, all of which did not work. Now the great idea! I would sit facing the kayak as Grant builds up speed and rams me, what a great idea right! Well turns out it was, he got a decent start and hit me head on(I caught the nose of the kayak before it went through my head). We got back to shore and loaded up for the next lake.

Let’s skip the next lake, it sucked ass and we wasted a lot of time there, I caught nothing. Us eating lunch at Burger King was a lot better than fishing the second lake(BK Stacker FTW!).

We decided that we would head back to the land of the longhorn(Lake Elmer Thomas) and would both load up into the kayak for some tandem fun. Sounds great in theory, until you realize I am a huge sissy who does not really know how to swim very well. We head out across the lake in choppy waters so that we could fish a more calm area that had a little channel that would end up bending around a ways. I mainly navigated this trip while Grant fished, I was having a great time learning to maneuver the kayak around. Grant caught a decent sized largemouth right before we packed it in for the day.

Overall this was a great two days of fishing with a great friend, we caught plenty and had a ton of laughs. Next week I head north so that we can take out two kayaks and see how much trouble we can get into fishing for some carp. Until next time, I’m your host, John.

What a great weekend. Many new experiences this weekend. Where to start?

On Friday Grant came down from Oklahoma City so that we could spend a couple days fishing the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. We headed out around noon and went to Lake Elmer Thomas where we traveled around the shore catching some decent sized bluegill. Lake Elmer Thomas seems to be the best place in South West Oklahoma to catch Bluegill, no matter when you go out, you will catch at least two or three.

One thing about fishing on a wildlife refuge is that there are real wildlife roaming around. The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge has both Texas Longhorn and Buffalo wandering around so you have to be careful or you will end up face to face with a very large, very mean animal. While fishing yesterday we had the privilege to share the lake with a family of longhorn. We kept our distance and moved away from them at all times.

However, when we decided to move back toward the car we realized that we had blocked ourselves in as there was a longhorn that had been following us down the shoreline. We were cautious as we walked and could not see where this animal had gone, until we came right up on her. She was laying down in some shade behind a tree. Now longhorn are big, and they have huge “long” horns. They are not something to mess around with. If you are standing ten feet away from one and trying to decide if you should just walk by or if you should turn around? Turn around! We are not that smart to say the least. We decided that we would be quiet and tiptoe past. As we were just about past her she jumped to her feet, as I sat stunned trying to figure out what to do, Grant was running away. I looked up for him and he was gone! Running as fast as he could go. Well, I did the same. We made it past her and she just sat and watched us. Grant dropped a fly box while running and was brave enough to head back and grab it, I guess he has a death wish. End of day one.

Since I am still a fishing n00b I have not been using the best gear out there. In fact, everything that I fished with cost me less than $100. Well all of that has changed! I am the proud owner of a Sage Launch rod and Sage 1650 reel. I picked them up at Bass Pro Shop in Oklahoma City this past week and have been out fishing them almost daily since. It feels great in the hand and has a lot more feel in it than my other rod, I can feel the line load very well. Hopefully this setup will hold me over for a while until I can convince the wife that I need a nice new z-axis for Christmas.

Today was going to be my first time fishing local lakes in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. First stop was Quanah Parker Lake, I spent about two hours here and mainly hiked around looking for a good spot to fish. The wind was coming from the east pretty hard so casting was pretty rough. I did manage to catch a decent size large mouth, it was the largest fish I have caught to date.

Onward to Lake Jed Johnson. My father always talks about this lake, says if you go across the dam there is a lot of large fish that hang out in a certain spot on the lake. I figured I would give it a try. When I first got out of the car and looked at the dam it seemed really sketchy. You have to climb a rail, walk along a very narrow piece of concrete that only has a fence on one side, then you must climb down onto the spillway and cross about 50-75 feet on the spillway, climb back up and cross another narrow piece of concrete. Needless to say, I don’t believe you are supposed to cross this dam. I figured, “What the hell, good fishin’ over there”.

About halfway across the spillway I hit a patch of moss that turned out to be slick as ice. This caught me off guard and sent me into a movie style feet shooting over head falling backwards ice dance. The thing about this spillway was that the part you walk over is already pretty slanted, so any real mistake and you are going to fall a good hundred feet down, more than likely to your death. Back to the epic fail of my fall.

My feet reached for the sky as my head reached for the concrete behind me, a loud thud later I lay on my back with a huge headache. Realizing what I had just done almost made me pee my pants. I slowly got up and thanked the lord that somehow I did not slide down that spillway. I was less than a foot from going over the side. As I sat there gathering my bearings I noticed something was missing though, my rod and reel had gone over the side and lay down at the bottom of the dam all beaten up.

With head hurting and back stiff I made my way down a rocky hillside to the bottom so that I could collect my equipment. The reel now has a catch in it and the rod is pretty beat up, but they seem to still be usable. I gathered my things and went home. After a few tests at home I concluded that I did not have a concussion(I hate hospitals so I did not bother going to one, even though the wife thought I should). The lesson I learned was that I should not try to venture into areas that I am not meant to be, it’s not worth me dying over a few fish.

I have been in Portland, OR for the past week for my job and got used to the nice cool weather of the northwest. Today I was going to go fishing at my local hole but the 97 degree weather made me think twice. This makes me wonder what other fishermen in the south do during the summer months, do you brave the heat or do you take it easy during the summer?

For a few years now I have been wanting to buy a SIGG Water Bottle. I have had a few different reasons for wanting one but the main reason is to cut down on my personal plastic water bottle use. My family buys a case of water a week, my wife and I drink most of it while my two girls drink one or two bottles themselves. Not only is this hurting our environment but there is also the risk of allowing a ton of chemicals to go into their bodies from the plastic(if it is true). So today I figured I would take the first step and purchase one of these bottles for myself to use at home and while fishing. If it works out well for me I will go ahead and get one for my wife and both of my girls. Here are some stats from the SIGG website about plastic water bottles.

“
* Most disposable water bottles (e.g. – Evian, Dasani, Aquafina, etc.) are made of PET plastic. According to the American Recycling Institute, only 14% of these bottles are recycled. Most of the PET bottles end up in litter or trash where they can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade, filling our landfills and injuring wildlife.

* Americans are currently adding 30 million PET water bottles to our nation’s landfills – everyday!

* Even if PET bottles are sent to the recycling center, they are really being “down-cycled”, converted to a lower form of plastic, much of which goes unused.

* PET is a petroleum-based plastic. Manufacturing and transporting bottled water (especially from distant countries such as France and Fiji) unnecessarily burns fossil fuels – approximately 1.5 million barrels per year according to the NRDC.
“

If you need to get a hold of me for some reason you can now email me at hornbeck anglerjohns.com

Go ahead and give it a try, just say ‘hi’

Tonight while fishing I was faced with an ethical dilemma. At my favorite fishing hole I snagged a decent size bluegill but when I got him up to me I found my fly deep in his throat. While this has happened before I can normally get the fly out pretty fast with my forceps. I also de-barb all of my hooks so it makes it a little easier. Well this fly was stuck and I tried for longer than I should have to get it out. I was unsure what to do, do I cut the line and leave the fly? Do I simply end his life now? What to do?

I pulled the snips from my pocket, cut the line and lowered him back to the water to let him go. Away he swam but I could not help wondering if I had done the right thing. What will happen to this fish when he tries to eat something, will the fly come loose and get stuck in his belly and cause him to die? Will he simply be able to cough it out(not likely but I can hope). Does it even matter? Tonight I am stuck with this question in my head, did I do the right thing?

I moved everything over to anglerjohns.com so please update feed settings. I am still using wordpress but I figured it would be better to get a custom domain and setup some mail. Things are looking good.