Tuesday, February 12, Lake Wheeler, AL
Dan writes:
I finally got Annie out on the water today. I figured with her there to string new line onto my reels and tie up some Carolina rigs for tomorrow, I’d be able to spend every minute today searching for fish. As soon as we had crossed the lake and set down on our first fishing spot though, we had a problem. The depth finder in the bow of this loaner boat was not working. It kept blowing fuses. I spent an hour taking things apart, and went through five fuses before giving up.
That was frustrating, for what I wanted to do today was to duplicate what caught fish yesterday – look for either deep structure or schools of bait on the depth finder, and then sit on top of them and drop a worm straight down. This turned out to be impossible without a depth finder on the bow. I did mark a few more spots on my Lowrance GPS, pockets that I can return to tomorrow that may have what I am looking for, but I never caught a fish today.
We quit around 2:30, went and gassed-up the boat, then returned to the campsite. I spent the next hour replacing the faulty depth finder with a Lowrance X15 I had brought with me (to be mounted in my new boat when I get it). At least I got that problem resolved. The only problem remaining is… how to catch a few fish tomorrow!!! From talking to various other guys, it sounds like the three fish I caught yesterday is exceptional. The average seems to be one-a-day.
Annie writes:
Up at 6:30 and out the door. Run back into the tent. Are we crazy??? It is 27 degrees outside. The little ponds on the way to the launch ramp have a layer of ice on them, everything was covered in white frost, and the launch ramp itself was a sheet of ice. Thank goodness I wore just about everything I brought with me.
It was hours before I could actually take my gloves off to work on organizing the boat. Dan was frustrated, for the depthfinder issue is preventing him from doing what he wants to do, and I really feel bad for him. By 2:30 when we came in I had organized all his baits, had all his reels stripped and restrung with new line, tied all his baits on, and he is ready to go for tomorrow.
We went to the registration meeting tonight, but when we returned Dan did not feel well. I think it is just stress. We have not had a practice this difficult in quite a while. I told him that whether he comes in tomorrow with ten pounds, or ten ounces, I will be there waiting for him and will be happy just to see him.