First Fishing Folly: 10th edition
The story
Jan 1st, 2013. I am home, I had a warm dinner and I think no body part is frozen any more...Time to type my story...
In the past few days, air temperature dropped quite a lot, wind started to blow, we had a heavy snowfall, winter was definitely coming. I prebaited my usual winter spot 3 days in a row, and topped up some chumming that Domm and Mike L did in two other spots. And... I tried to find a fishing partner. And miserably failed, all those MA/RI guys found an excuse or another, some even flying to CA to avoid me! My sons had other plans, this left my wife. Who looked so miserable when she said that yeah, she'd come with me if there was really no other choice... that I decided to fish just for glory today!
I left home around 11pm, I was on the bank around 11:20, with two brand new rigs on my rods. I threw some corn in the water to get the fish started, then started to play around with bread crumbs. Why did I have in mind to use bread crumbs in my mix knowing that I have very little experience with it, go figure. I quickly realized that the binding power of such ingredient is much stronger than that I anticipated! I had nice cement method mix balls ready by 11:40.
Anyway, no big deal, I usually do ok with just corn on a hair rig at this swim. So... I decided it was time to put corn on the hair rigs! With a needle. Which is in my tackle box. Which is in my rucksack. Or is it? Ohh... S***... Where is my F*** tackle box? And then I remembered... Brand new rigs, made at home earlier in the evening, using my tackle box, which I then brought to my car, which was locked, I put the tackle box on the roof, came inside to get the keys and... I had a senior moment, I guess? Yup, I drove off a bit later with the tackle box on the roof...
Panic settled. What should I do? Fish with corn on the hook? And that would make me catch a fish within minutes? Didn't seem likely, I've seen them sucking and spitting way too much on my videos, recorded at this precise spot!
WHAT TO DO?
Then I figured that my car wasn't that far away, and I should have a spare needle in there. I put my rods and rucksack behind a wall in a hurry and rushed to the car around 11:45. Fishing stuff, more fishing stuff, bait stops -ah yes, good point, take those-, more fishing stuff... YES!! A needle!! (oh, and no tackle box any more on the roof, of course)
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Rush back to the swim, grab the rods, S***, the lines got tangled... Took me one more minute to feverishly untangle the mess (did I mention that I love braided line because it always untangles easily - I would have been dead with mono!), and I was finally putting corn on my hair rig. One rod ready, check the time, 11:58, ok, let's do the second one, darn, can't see enough, find a lamppost (yes, headlamp wasn't ready!), 2nd hair rig ready when I heard some people screaming "happy new year"! Right on time!
I cast my first rod, hesitated about the second rod (I had thrown some 'cement' method balls in the water on the side), then decided to position my second rod close to the first one where I had chummed with sweet corn 30 minutes earlier...
Oh miracle, this 2nd rod quickly started to twitch! YES! I dragged the fish on the side where I could land it, while having severe doubts in my mind, this fish didn't really fight, was this a sucker or a goldfish or what? It entered the net, what a puny fish, looked like a carp though. I lifted the net, didn't feel any weight, I thought for a few desperate seconds that it escaped, then found it again. I quickly checked the barbels, yes, this isn't a crucian, this is a real carp. I checked the time, it was 12:04am. I made it.
I weighed it at 12 ounces, took silly pictures, and released it. And then figured the weight might not be quite right. It had to be more than a pound? Or maybe not? I'll never know...
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I kept fishing for a little while, I wanted to show this wasn't a fluke (although I did brag on Facebook right away!), it took me a while to get another one, actually - finally a more decent fish (7 pounds) was landed at 12:45am. Time to record the water temp. Where is my thermometer? Ah yes, in the tackle box. Where is my... S***. Oh well, forget it, I had already disqualified myself by not having a fishing partner anyway...
It was time to go home and get some sleep, mission accomplished, although not exactly as planned. When I arrived at home (not finding any tackle box on the road), I wanted to take the net out (it tends to stink!) and... ah geez, where was the net? No net. Must have fallen from my cart when I dragged my stuff back to the parking spot. Great.
Excited storytelling to my wife, go to sleep, late breakfast, read the forum, go fish mid-morning a local lake where Mike prebaited. Using a spare net. No Mike in sight, I set up, windy, chilly, 2 hours later, nothing moved, except annoying ducks (I learned afterwards that Mike did come to fish early in the morning of Jan 1st, and blanked too).
I decided to go home have a warm lunch, checked the forum, procrastinated a bit, then finally went back with a plan, make a Jan 1st underwater video. Yeah, well, except that when I parked near the midnight swim, I realized that I had forgotten to take the video camera. Geez, you have to be kidding me, do I have bread crumbs instead of brain cells or what? I gave up on the video, and good news, I found my (very frozen) net on the ground.
Some sweet corn, a more classic method mix, and I was quickly onto fish. Four in a row, actually. I became cocky, thinking that I could catch up with the Illinois guys, posted something on Facebook and jinxed myself for good. No action for a while and a seriously chilly wind. Then two more runs in a row, yes, I'm good, they are back... Well, I was jinxed again and that was it.
Two of those carp I caught could be contestants for the ugliest first fish of the year...
Finally, I moved to a new spot - where Domm was kind enough to chum for me before the event and I had topped up a bit earlier in the day, and... I blanked for an hour, it was nighttime by then, I was being quite cold, and decided to drive home for a WARM dinner.
Here are my frozen solid landing mat and net when I left the 2nd swim of the day. Both got wet (fish on!), froze, got wet again in a 8 fish cycle today!
Overall, 8 runs, 8 carp landed, not too shabby for Jan 1st.
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