Tough Day At Truman Lake - But Still Fun!

Well, last Sunday we had a northern cool front and about a 3 inch rain to boot! I figured it would put a damper on bass fishing, but none the less, had a trip to Truman Lake on the agenda for Tuesday, so we went ahead as planned and went fishing anyways!

We started off fishing with crank baits and spinner baits, and we tried every lure in the tackle boxes! Well, not every lure, but you know how it seems when the bite is not there. We fished hard and managed to catch 3 bass with only one being a keeper but a pretty good one at that! He weighed about 3 1/2 lbs! Not bad quality, but poor on the quantity side! One of those days, which we all experience from time to time, but we still enjoyed the "Great Outdoors" anyway!

Couldn't ask for a better day, weather wise, 78 degrees and pretty much sunny all day, even though we did endure a 5 minute shower early on in the morning. We saw a few eagles, deer, and a half dozen or so big gobbler turkeys! There weren't many other fishermen and we didn't take long to figure out why!

After lunch, we decided to try a different approach, Tom tied on a jig n pig and I tied on a 10 inch Texas rigged worm. You know, the old reliable stand bye lures! Now most of you that follow me, regularly, know that I always manage a limit by days end on Truman, but it wasn't to be the case this day! I did manage to catch 3 bass, all about the 3 or 4 lb range, and all of them big chunky fat ones!

We called it quits about 4 pm and put the old Blazer into the wind and headed home. Sometimes you just have to be grateful just to spend the day on the water, just enjoying the "Great Outdoors" and good old fishing buddy fellowship. We had a blast, and both commented about not remembering the last time we was on Truman in July, with 70 degree sunny weather, and almost no wind, to speak of. At times the lake was like a mirror, and that is truly beautiful and fun to cruise the lake when it is smooth!

If you all enjoyed this post, be sure to leave a comment and check out the archives for a whole lot more of the great adventures in the great outdoors, and loads of tips and articles to make your next trip, hopefully, more productive and fun! I hope you all like the new look of the site and Please, give me some feedback, good or bad it all helps me to make things more exciting and more enjoyable for you all, here, at "Kenny's Great Outdoors!"

See Ya out there, and good luck with your next outdoor adventure!

ProperBoat Ramp Etiquitte- Helps To Avoid Ramp Rage!

Just recently, I witnessed a terrible scene at a local lake boat ramp, boaters getting into a fist fight and cussing each other because of impatience and inexperience at the ramp! While entertaining to some, ramp rage is aggravating, dangerous, and time consuming, and can easily be avoided!

While this can be a sensitive and delicate subject, especially at the ramp, on the lake, it needs to be addressed in a way that makes sense to all boaters. It is a matter that we all deal with every time we access the lakes and streams where we fish or boat.

We get up early in the morning and drive to our favorite lakes and streams and anticipate a wonderful day on the water. By the time we get to the boat ramp we are wired for sound and the Adrenalin is flowing good. When we pull into the ramp access parking lot, we immediately see that there are 10 or 15 rigs waiting for their turn to untrailer and go fishing, or boating which ever the case might be!

Now while there are no set rules for unloading your boat, everyone has their own routine they go through to get from point A, boat on trailer to point B, boat in water! Some people are very quick and some are very slow. Some are slow deliberately, while some just don't have the experience yet, usually a new boat owner!

Here are a few pointers to make your trailering and untrailering experience go a little smoother at the ramp.

Pull into the parking lot and get your boat ready to launch BEFORE backing down to the ramp! This is the best procedure even for the most experienced boater and down to the least experienced boater! This is where you tie on lures, put in drain plugs, organize your gear, and transfer gear from truck to boat.I know while this is going, on a few boats might get in front of you and cause you to get a later start, but in the long run , avoids hassles, and ramp rage, which can quickly ruin the atmosphere of the day, making an unpleasant experience!

If you are a new boat owner go to a large parking lot and practice backing up your rig, as this is tricky, for new boat owners, and can cause you a lot of anguish at the ramp with other boaters waiting their turn. If you have a new boater in front of you , remember, you were inexperienced and slow when you first started out with your new rig. Practice being patient and offer the newbie, assistance with untrailering his new rig. Offer practical advice in a friendly tone of voice, so that his next experience along with the present experience , can be more pleasant and enjoyable.

It is hard enough to untrailer and trailer your boat, without someone chewing on your keister, and arguing, and quite possible even fist fighting! I have witnessed these very unpleasant situations and I am sure you all have witnessed them too!

If you have properly readied your boat and trailer, all you have to do is back it into the water, unhook the bow hook from your boat, and pull your vehicle out of the lake and up to the parking lot. With 2 people this is rather simple, and if you fish alone, there is always someone who will pull your rig up to the parking lot for you. After you dock your boat, you can always go get your keys and lock up your rig or reposition your rig where you want it. Drop your access fee in the box, and off you go fishing!

Now I haven't given you a check list , on what all needs to be done, because to me, this is just common sense. Before you go to the lake get a routine that works down, and practice it till you are quick and efficient with this procedure, and when you get to the access you will appear to have experience, and will not slow down anyone waiting behind you! No one will ever no you are a newbie!

While we wait our turn, be patient, and offer assistance, nicely, and make this part of boating as pleasant and enjoyable for all involved.Another thing, if you are easily agitated, and don't like to wait, then leave earlier and arrive at the ramp before all the other boaters, this will help to insure, you don't have to wait.Remember, one day you will be in front of an impatient boater and what you have put out in the past will in fact come back to haunt you.

While there really is no set rules or secrets on launching your boat, a little common sense goes along way. So until next time, boat safely, and enjoy the "Great Outdoors!" See ya Out there!

How To Remove A Fish Hook, Painlessly

On my last post I talked about a neat little trick of removing a fish hook from your body! It is a really painless way to remove a hook, I know from first hand experience, this technique works!
Watch this video which last about 2 minutes and remember that this really does work and I didn't feel a thing when it popped out!

Who Is Catching Who?

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First off today, I want to apologize to my readers, and visitors, for my inactivity of posting! It is not like I don't take my readers seriously, because I value each and everyone of you as loyal readers and good friends! Things have been hectic and in the fast lane for me here lately and I haven't had the time to post. It appears to be slowing down to normal again and I am able to catch up on duties again. Honey do list about normal, so things are looking up and time to get to work again!

This past Monday evening it was threatening rain and I decided to take another round of wade fishing to the "Big Piney" once again! It is rather refreshing and relaxing, belly deep in the river and catching them fiesty goggle eyes and small mouth bass! Drizzling rain doesn't really matter and in the heat of the summer months a front coming thru definitely can cause a feeding frenzy especially just as it starts to rain a good shower, the cooler water usually adds oxygen to the water as it spatters and makes the fishing absolutely red hot!

I waded into my favorite wading water on the Big Piney and the rain was just drizzling and the water surface was rough, making the fish unable to see me as equally as me not being able to see them! I caught so many small mouth that it was impossible to catch anything else. Not that I am complaining but You can only keep one small mouth!

After about an hour it quit raining and I hung into a good smallmouth and tired him out and was about to grab him when he flipped real hard and buried the treble hook past the barb into the side of my right hand! Ouch! It hurt super bad and I grabbed the small mouth with my left hand and hang on for dear life. Now mind you this small mouth is still flopping and such that it was inflicting intense pain on my hand, I am trying to figure out how to get my hemostats out of my back pocket and my side cutters.

After about 20 minutes of struggling with this situation, I some how managed to grab the treble hook that by this time was buried deep and hurting intensely! I had just, believe it or not the nite before watched a video on u tube about a doctor who was giving a demonstration on how to remove a hook without the pain and damaging the penetrations area too badly. A pretty nifty trick, I might add, but never realized I would use his method so soon and on myself at that.

I grabbed the hook firmly, twisted, and yanked, It hurt for just a second but not nearly badly as I had imagined, and it never got sore, Like I have experienced before. After my mishap was over it was a relief to go back to fishing, It took me 10 or 15 minutes to recover from the experience, I really freaked out for a little while.

I managed a good keeper small mouth bass and 15 nice keeper goggle eyes! I know that the evening turned out great and fun, but it was quite an ordeal, for anyone especially if you are by yourself and about a half mile from the truck and besides with a hook and a pole in one hand and a floppy old small mouth int the other, well, I think you might be able to imagine trying to wade the river a half mile and then driving down the rode about 20 miles down a crooked road and rough at that!

If you have never seen any films on people removing hooks you should watch a few and remember, you might not have a friend with you and you have to figure out a way to do it alone. It would be tough with a friend to help you, but it is really, really tough for you to do it solo!

So until next time practice fishing and boating safely, and see ya out there, I hope!

Small Mouth Bass - Big Piney River

Yesterday evening, I was bored, it was looking like it was going to settle in and start raining. About 4pm,I loaded up my ultra light, a stringer, and a small box of my river lures. Now my lure selection for the piney , during the heat of the summer, is pretty basic, and fits in a small fly box, at least, that's what I call it! Several small spinners with different colored twisters or rubber minnows. About 6 or 7 small ultra light crank baits , like the rebel craw dad, bass magnets, to name a few, you should notice that I really down size my lures.

The river is only about a mile from my house, so it makes a short trip and a fast start at fishing. I had on some old sneakers, shorts, tee shirt and a hat! Into the river I waded. I had tied on a black and red crawdad crank bait, and about the 3rd cast, I snagged a nice goggle eye! Maybe I should say he snagged me! He was about a 10 inch goggle eye, and between the current and his pulling power, getting him on the stringer, was quite the challenge! Nevertheless, the fisherman , wins this battle!

This was a good beginning to start the evening, and I anticipated a successful event. It was still early, like 4:30 or so, as I didn't have my watch with me, I always seem to forget something! But, time really doesn't matter, when you're having fun in the outdoors, and especially when I am fishing! Time just seems to stand still.

It didn't seem to be a hot day,even though it was 85 degrees. There was a nice breeze a blowing , and the birds and frogs, where singing their songs, and it was just a down right , quiet, beautiful evening to be wade fishing and soaking it all in including the nice cool water, which is probably why I wasn't noticing how hot it was!

I waded on down a few shallow riffles and got into the little eddie, I call "goggle eye eddie!" The name I call it should be obvious as to the story fixing to unfold! I love to wade this quarter mile eddie as it has good current, lots of huge boulders and logs, it makes great cover for fish and the small mouth bass just love it! Maybe 5 or 6 ft deep at the most!

I had been just goofing off and killing time, trying to fish, this excellent water, the last 2 hours of sun light. Prime time for some nice small mouth and goggle eyes! But now the time has come to get serious, and I tied on a natural colored rebel craw dad, and proceeded to catch some nice goggle eyes and several small, small mouth bass! I had managed to keep 8 keeper goggle eyes and truly enjoying the fight on the ultra light. It really gives the fish the upper hand, but is a blast as these goggle eyes bend the ultra light rod double, wow, too much fun! Is it really possible to have too much fun? Not really!

I had waded back up to the upper end of the eddie and threw that crawdad crank bait into the back up swirl over by the bank and started the retrieval when , "wham" a nice small mouth had struck and was running all over the river at will! He wanted to go up over the riffle, but some how I managed to stop him and again ran, at will, wherever he wanted. He finally tired out and he was a 20 inch small mouth, not bad for the piney river and an ultra light battle!

The very next cast, another bigger, a lot bigger small mouth slammed me hard, and we fought for 5 or 6 minutes as he was not about to give up so quick and then he ran straight at me , and came off! In the next 30 minutes I would hook 3 more big small mouth bass, that came off! And a huge small mouth, did some tail walking and threw my lure back at me and slipped back into the river as if nothing had happened and left me standing there looking stupid!

I waded up on a raccoon, who was fishing for crawdads, in the riffle and he didn't even notice me for about 15 minutes. He was so busy catching, crawdads and eating them that I was able to sneak with 10 feet from him and observed him up and close, I guess you could say up close and personal! Very interesting, as I had never witnessed this in the wild before.

So to sum up the evening, man won a few, beast won a few, but all was enjoyed to the fullest! It is simply put, amazing what nature and the outdoors, has to offer! We have to help her maintain herself, and we have to do our part, and watch over her and manage her. In the end, we all, win!

So until next time, enjoy the "Great Outdoors!" See ya out there, I hope!