2007 Fishing Vacation

Once again we returned to cabins and 700 acres of beautiful lake for our family fishing vacation. You'll notice in the slideshow, we caught some nice fish. The lake limit on "keeper" Bass is anything up to 12" or over 18".

Last year we caught several large 16-17" Bass (and buckets of Bluegill). But no "trophy" Bass. This year however, we caught four and had equally as many nearly 18. Definitely a good year.

I brought new bait to test, which is the case for me every year. Thus far, nothing has ever worked as good as the "black worms" Wayne gets. It's unmatched. Well this year I brought in some Creme lizards I saw on the shelf. (Had to buy them.) Was I ever surprised.

These things are amazing. My first fish of the trip was an 18.25", 2.75 lb Bass. I made about five casts in as many minutes and BAM! That fish hit my lure like it was starved! All to say, they're a staple in the tacklebox now.

It was good to get out and away from the grind. Not that work is bad, but to retreat from civilization and just fish was relaxing. I caught several nice fish too. Two of them were "Keepers", 18.2" and 19.25" respectively. My second one came Friday morning.

John had taken his family fishing that morning, so it was just Wayne and I until we'd pick up Brownie (Lisa's grandpa, who caught the fourth Big One) at nine. As it turns out, Wayne landed an 18.75" 3-lb monster in the initial hour we were out there. Then maybe an hour later I reeled in the second one.

That fish took some angling. Hooked him about seven feet from the boat, just off the bank and beneath a willow tree. I put a cast right on his nose and battled the lunker for two full minutes before Wayne netted him for me.

It was fun and rewarding to feel the pole bending under pressure and hear the line buzzing. When it finally boiled the water's surface and took another run, you knew... this was a big fish. I didn't really expect it to "keep", but it did handily. Will be good eating to go with the Bluegill we brought home (frozen of course).

Something struck me, looking back through the photos I took. I didn't take much of anything else, just fish and some storms. John and his kin are virtually MIA this year. They were definitely there, just kind of weird I didn't capture them on film as much. So the pics are kind of lopsided this year, many of my fam and Lisa's Dad. But not much of anything else. Other than the fish of course.

Well, hope you enjoy the shots anyway. The weather was spectacular this year.

Enjoy the memories folks . . .