The jug fishin’ buds in their bib overhauls.
Heavy rain kept us from casting the jugs for the second evening in a row. Note that both Oscar and Poco are showing signs of anxiety because of the storm that is in progress.
We had lunch today at Little Italy in Glenwood. The fettuccini Alfredo was superb !
Pete will leave out for the Bluebonnet rally down in Texas right after breakfast in the morning.
All photos in this blog entry taken by EARTHDANCER IMAGES.
Last night was the first night of the full moon. Our catch went well this morning. We had two nice large channel catfish, four opelousas catfish and one blue catfish.
The large blue channel cats weighed fourteen pounds each. Here is a look at them.
One of the channel cat’s had traveled several miles down the lake towards Chimney rock.
Cleaning fish was a bit of a chore this morning, but the yield of so many pretty fish fillets made it worth while.
The Mothership has arrived ! Our friends Chuck and Geri Hajek came to Lake Greeson from Apalachicola Florida. They are camped just across the street from us. Here is a look at the Mothership.
A friend out in TorC New Mexico made the grapics.
They are also Escapees.
Cool matching graphics on the Truck and the fifth wheel.
After picking up the jugs this morning, we spread breakfast at their campsite.
Geri and Oscar in front of the mothership.
Friends from down on Lake Millwood will be arriving Friday and Pete will be leaving on Thursday. And so it goes at jugfest 2011, friends and family coming and going almost daily, as their busy lives permit. Got a couple of days ? Come fish with us !
GOOD MORNING LAKE GREESON ! Loud and clear it rang out over our FRS radio base station. It was 0600hrs., the usual revile time. The various camping trailers began to check in and get ready to go pick up the jugs with the night’s catch.
Family Radio Service. You know, those little hand held radios that come in so handy for lots of things.
Whether we are out in the boat, Pete is out in his kayak, walking the dogs around camp, or watching Bumpy Springtime weather, these radios are just the ticket.
As we located and recovered the last jug that we had cast the evening before, Chuck retrieves his radio from this pocket and says, “we’re heading in, we have them all picked up”. Geri says, “ Ok, I’ll put the bacon on !”
Here is a look at our set up.
The small handheld radios on the left are in their charger and take up little room there or in a hiker’s pocket.
The base station, on the right stays permanently mounted on the wall of the office slide and is always on channel 7, with no “pl” tone for privacy.
We also use the radios daily when out in Colorado managing a campground. Often times Betty will be at one end of a 50 site campground and I will be at the other. They have proved to be a great safety and management tool !
It has been windy for a couple of days now, making casting and recovering the jugs difficult. The National Weather Service had put out lake wind advisories, but we had a plan to be able to cast the jugs.
Pete took this photo of Betty and I on one of the beautiful calm mornings.
We avoided the wide expanses of open water where the wind driven swells were large and made for rough boating . Instead we traveled to a area that we hadn’t cast the jugs yet, by staying in the lee of the islands . We managed to get the jugs put out alright, but it wasn’t a pretty thing.
Recovering the jugs the next morning by the same route, we were once again damp from lake spray, and cold to boot. The jugs were tangled, hung up and driven up into shallow water. Yet, we had two good fish on.
We kept a very nice channel catfish, but photographed and put a 24 pound blue catfish back in the lake. A fish that size can really thrash a crappie boat’s live well ! Here is a look.
Here is another look at the pretty blue catfish, taken just before I returned it to the lake.
Riding in a spray washed boat can cause a guy to have to dry even his backside at the fire !
This photo was taken by Pete after a different wet seat episode !
It was a wonderful evening when we cast the jugs just before sunset. The lake was absolutely slick, except for an occasional light breeze that hardly “troubled” the surface of the lake.
Here is a look as Betty baits up the hooks with a bream, and Pete casts the jugs.
Carefully the baited hook is passed from Betty to Pete.
Pete is in mid cast, note the hook is in his right hand as the 1 ounce egg sinker is swinging up to the front, slightly behind his hand. His left hand is ready to pitch the jug at the right time for the line to land on the lake surface fully deployed
Pete has been doing this with us for several years now, and has a smooth cast that almost never lands tangled up.
After completing the cast, we slowly idle back down the line of jugs to make sure they are set right and to see if we have something on a line before heading back to camp.
Pete took this photo of a young buzzard as we picked up one of the bait traps, before beginning the cast.
Here is Pete’s lake surface view of the Boat and jugs. The camera sure gives a good look at the very calm lake surface.
Here is a short video of a jug being cast.
During a fishing trip, some repairs need to be made, but with larger catfish, even unlimited class tackle needs some repair.
We are constantly changing our line set up to meet current needs. Some things we try, work, some don’t.
For example, this bank sinker tangles up in nearly anything it comes in contact with. Even the bait fish can foul it until a feeding catfish can’t be hooked.
But this egg sinker doesn’t hardly ever tangle up. This set up will often times pass through a brush pile with no hang up.
As we recover the jugs, we turn the ones that need repair, with the cap towards the outside.
Fresh hooks and new sinkers are in order.
After the storm, all hatches are open to facilitate drying out.
We put the live holding box up on the shore for the storm.
After our recent storm, the water in the cockpit was deep enough that the bottom tray of the tackle box was full of water this morning !
