Senior Trip Monday, September 12, 2011


I had another blessed opportunity to take a couple of seniors fishing today. I was hoping to take them salmon fishing in a fresh water setting somewhere on the Green River but in the sections closest to the center, I could not find any place I thought as not only wheelchair accessible but also safe.

As a result, I concluded that my best option was to take them fishing for bass and pan fish on Lake Washington.

It was a cool, an overcast day and definitely a relief from last week’s heat. Gene Coulon Park is the name of the place we fished and the quarry was anything that would bite.

I spent the first part of the day teaching one of them to use a spinning rod and reel and got her started. The other participant had the experience to carry on independently.

Unlike the last trip we had here, we were going to go with artificial baits and fortunately there were no objections.

It was pretty dead in the first spot so I recommended moving to another spot. They both decided to stay where they were so I moved on to the next spot and tied on a Marabou jig that I made for pink salmon and thought, “Why not?”

I pitched it out and after working it back a bit, I saw a torpedo like silhouette gliding around my jig and my heart stopped, it was the largest trout I had ever seen. It was definitely over 20” and the largest one I ever caught was exactly 20”. I jigged it, I twitched it, and I even dead-stuck it and ripped it, but to no avail. All it did was encircle the jig for a while before nonchalantly swimming away. I told the other two what had just happened but they were stilled inclined to stick to their spots.

After realizing that there probably wasn’t anything I could do coax the trout (it never returned or at least stayed out of visual range) I decided to put away my casting rig with the jig and break out my spinning setup, which was ready to drop shot. Overcast or whatever, my gut was telling me that the handy sniper snub and 6# Invizx was going to ensure we weren’t going away empty-handed. Well, it was my hope anyway.

I pitched it down not far from where I tossed the jig and didn’t even had to drag it two feet. I felt the take it was at that moment I remembered how awesome fishing for smallmouth bass could be. I haven’t targeted smallmouth since May. While it was hooked and fighting something interesting happened. A smallmouth about twice its size was trying to “steal” what the one that was hooked had gobbled.

Score one for the team! Tag it and bag it, Danno! It was pan sized for sure, frying pan sized!

I had to catch the second one, which was bigger than the first one, before the two other anglers finally decided to come over. It was about time.

The lady in wheelchair tossed her drop shot rig into the spot I told her to put it and before she knew it, she had one on. I got filled with a lot of excitement and thinking about it now, I think I was pulling an Iaconelli. It grabbed the attention of others close by.

She was doing fine bringing the smallmouth in, and my polarized glasses gave me a front row seat to the fight. Unfortunately, less than a foot from the water’s surface, the smallmouth came unbuttoned before I could grab the line. This bass was bigger than the second one we caught.

I thought I was excited. Despite losing the fish, she was pumped and ready for another round. The loss didn’t even faze her. Now that’s the right attitude!

She hooked into another one about ten minutes later but unfortunately, but she lost that one too.

The rest of the day proved to unfruitful for fishing, but still a relaxing time and great way to spend an afternoon for both of them.

They were fishing for keeps and so the two fish caught were taken home to enjoy. I am thankful to have had this opportunity to take them. So while they had a great time, being in their company was a reward in itself.

Conditions: Overcast and cool, after a week of temperatures in the mid 80s

---