This week's lessons learned

[cassidyta]

It was an interesting weekend on the water. I was able to spend about 16 hours on the water over the course of a 3 day weekend.

Lesson 1. The bilge will not fail until you need it.

After a full year of being a boat owner, I finally launched without the plug in. My boat has 2 plugs, at the transom and one in the livewell. I had left the livewell plug out. I learned that the one time you leave a plug out is also the one time that the bilge pump won't work. Luckily, I found this out when I went to vent the gas tank while still tied to the dock. There was not too much water in the back and I was able to drain it while running to my first spot.

Lesson 2. It is possible to catch fish and not have a pattern.

I ended Sunday with 10 fish, 7 keepers, brought into the boat, and have no clue what baits to use for my tourney. Being that I was prefishing, I wanted to cover some water and try to find where the fish were and a bait that produced. The water is up 15' from the last time I fished this lake so in many ways it was like fishing a new lake for me. I spent as much time watching the finder as I did actually casting.
I caught 1 fish with a gunfish, 1 with a fluke, 1 with a frog, 1 with a jig, 1 with a crank, 1 with a brushawg, and 2 with a dropshot. 1 DS fish was caught in 22' of water next to some boulders and 1 was caught in 5' next to a tree. So after 8 hours, I have no pattern.

Lesson 3. Your drag should be set for your leader and not your main line.

I took a friend and his son out fishing for trout on Monday. Being that the son sometimes fails in the accuracy department of casting, I set him up with 20 lbs and a 4 lbs leader. This is a reel that I normally use for my ribbits and rage toads so I had the drag fairly tight. Well, he gets his first trout hit and snaps the line. I retie and watch him do it again. I am baffled at first because I have verified the drag. It then dawns on me that I am testing the drag against the main line and not the 18" leader. It was a dumb#$$ moment.