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Posted: Aug 17, 2003 16:15 |
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Catfish lovers … this is your month!
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By Bud Larsen
“The gods do not deduct from man’s allotted span, the hours spent in fishing.”
-Babylonian Proverb-
Twilight of summer is already here … where does it go? Not to worry, though, as we always have the longest, and most awesome good weather patterns from now until it is time to seek out another great pumpkin.
Weather after Halloween … all bets are off.
How about 25,900 8” channel catfish being stocked this month? … Yes, the great fisherman who watches over us (Ned Horner at Regional F&G) just confirmed stocking of channel cats will begin shortly in the following Panhandle lakes:
Cocolalla – 9,000 Hauser – 7,000 Fernan – 4,500 Smith – 450 Rose – 4,500 and Jewell – 450
Trout stocking for the fall brings equally good news … with 16,200 nice fat Kamloops coming up from the Nampa hatchery next month. We’ll give you the stocking list in next month’s report.
Kamloop stocking won’t begin until mid to late September simply because the new hatchery runs at the Sandpoint hatchery are at an estimated 60% completion (my estimate, folks … not the contractor’s nor F&G) and won’t be ready for use as holding runs for a couple of weeks yet. Forms were still in place last week, but I understand they are off now and sealing and water line work will begin next week. We’ll take another run down there and check the progress for you before the week is out.
My fishing was fairly limited to date, but did get in two memorable trips which warrant reporting.
Big fish … a lot of fish … no … just fishing with fun people.
First up was an afternoon and early evening sojourn to Brush Lake with my great neighbors, one of their charming daughters, their nephew, and his wife.
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| Annie McClure from Worchester, Massachusetts, and her cousin Bob McClure. |
Meet Annie McClure from Worchester, Massachusetts, and her cousin Bob McClure from Lexington, Kentucky.
Annie flew in from back east and cousin Bob and his bride, Neita, arrived on a brand new Honda motorcycle they rode all the way from Kentucky to rendezvous with Annie at her folk’s home in Bonners Ferry. (The big butt in the lower right is yours truly … busy picking up maggots that Annie kicked over during her fight with the killer 12” trout.)
At Brush I’m going into my act and telling everyone what to use, and where to throw their lure, etc. (You are expected to do these things for people who hail from east of the Mississippi.).
Anyway, I’m just about to open my big mouth and recommend we bet $5 on the first fish, when Annie nails a nice fat rainbow. My line is not even in the water yet!
Next comes Bob with a cutthroat, a bluegill, another rainbow, and I lost track of the small bass he hung.
In the interim, Annie is steadily bringing in rainbows and all the time running her mouth “… how many fish you have you got, Uncle Bud?”
If her mom and dad weren’t present, I would have thrown her in the lake.
Almost got her to eat some cheese bait, though. (Those girls from back east will try anything … once.)
Bob and Neita had to head back to Lexington a couple of days later, and as I bid goodbye to this fine couple, I presented Bob with one of my famous fish whistles as a present and small memento of their visit to the Idaho Panhandle.
Giving Bob the whistle was a mistake … I will tell you why later.
On to the next fun fishing trip.
A week later we really lucked out and spent an evening on Pend Oreille fishing with the infamous trout man, Andy Eckberg, and his charming friend Cassandra Rutherford.
I’ve wanted to fish with Andy for over two years and finally got the opportunity to do so.
Doc, Jacqui, Annie “The Mouth” McClure and I met up with Andy and Cassandra one night after he got off work at the mill and we convoyed to Sandpoint.
Andy should have been a fishing guide instead of an engineer. Water was pretty rough, so we fished on the eastside of Long Bridge, casting tubers for bass along the rock rip. Andy is a true pro … five people in his well-equipped boat … and all five people fishing one way or another. Andy adroitly kept the boat within casting distance of the rip and parallel to the bridge, and … managed to show all of us just how and where to put our lures.
Now, here is a man who can walk and chew gum at the same time.
We all caught something … small bass, bugle mouth bass, and even a pike minnow.
Annie was a little upset that I would not pose with the bugle mouth bass she caught. Nor would we keep the pike minnow. Compromise here was to have Andy hold the pike with Annie for the world to see.
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| Annie and her trout. |
Now you folks back east know what a “Squaw Fish” looks like. (I know you all recognize a bugle mouth bass, hence no photo of one.)
We kept noticing an anvil cloud of smoke high and to the west of us … learned later that it was from a major fire near the Washington/Idaho border just east of the reservation.
A truly awesome sight to behold, as the intense fire raging below is reflected in the anvil cloud of smoke. Thought at first it was a reflection of the sunset, but too late in the evening for that effect.
The views we were treated to on all our Panhandle waters never cease to amaze, and always warm this old heart. Even better when you can share these sights with good fishing friends. Thanks Andy!
Let’s get back to this guy Bob from Lexington, Kentucky.
About a week ago I received a large box in the mail.
It was a genuine 12” long Kentucky combination lure made out of an ear of Indian corn.
Now, you’d think a guy who was given a genuine fish whistle would not attempt to get into the game of “do him one better?”
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| Cheese bait? |
Well, I have to admit, Mr. Bob McClure … you got me, boy.
Here is a close up of this infamous Kentucky combination fishing and hunting lure. You rat.
Bob’s combo lure is a true piece of engineering. It captures the humor, which only a southern boy on a brand new Honda Gull Wing, who will ride all the way to the Idaho Panhandle to fish, is capable of. He is a sick man.
Like most feats of engineering in general, this lure has a few faults that I’m obligated to point out. It's not suitable for Idaho fish.
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| The ultimate Kentucky fishing and hunting lure. |
Bass – Idaho bass habitually attack a lure from the side … not from the rear like southern bass, so in order to fish this lure it would have to have side treble hooks.
Tiger Muskie – Same thing. Had a big one hit this lure on Dawson … took four rows of kernels off the side …poor fish choked on the dry kernels and I got fined for “chumming” with corn.
Hey, we fish by the rules up here, Bob.
Bob; even sent a graphic set of instructions for using this lure. I have not tried the hunting mode yet as this thing is so heavy … I’ll need 60-pound test line to hunt squirrels with it.
When this babe hits the water, you better be cranking hard, because this is really a deep diver type of lure.
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| You have got to be kidding! |
Conservative and law abiding guy that I am … I took Bob’s lure to a friend of mine in F&G. Zach, shown here, scratched his head, mumbled a lot, sniffed it, questioned me as to why 4 rows of kernels were missing, and wanted to send it to the state fish and game lab in Boise for analysis.
Enjoy your Labor Day … make sure you get some fishing time in.
Christine! No more excuses … get those lines wet!
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