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I didn't have anyone to hike with today, so rather than cleaning house, I decided to go jumbo hunting.
The day dawned clear as an alpine lake. The temperature ... 22 degrees.
I didn't know where the boat launch was, so I went to the park, inflated my raft, and carried it to the water. Despite my crack of dawn arrival and the frigid temperatures, there was already a crowd. Probably 10 guys there and boats already in the water. I saw a dude hook one up with powerbait on the bottom just as I arrived. I was fairly let down. He was telling me about catching 14 and 15 inchers. I caught a 15.5 inch brook trout last week. Why was I here again, freezing my butt off, for frankenfish? I wasn't sure. Despite the obvious slow leak, and the heckling from a guy on the shore about my impending swim, off I went.
Well, I pounded that dumb lake for 4 hours until I was so cold I just couldn't take it any more. Castmaster, wedding ring, drifted worm, in the sun, in the shade, in the shallows, in the deep .... I did not get a single bite. Not even anything I thought might be a bite. I could see fish on the fisherman's TV, but they were not buying what I was selling.
I did see a guy at the boat launch when I stopped to re-rig who had 2. Said he caught them trolling 10 feet down in 15 feet of water, and the bigger and brighter and shinier the better.
As he butchered them, I saw the thick layer of freaky yellow fat inside them. Again, I questioned what I was doing there. But he was quite convinced they tasted good. And the meat was well colored.
Long story short, I'm still unconvinced of the value of frankenfish in my life, and apparently I only know how to catch non-hatchery fish. Or those that have been in the lake long enough to remember how to be real trout. I've slayed at Bosworth, Ballinger, Cottage, and 5 lakes requiring a hike, hell even Greenlake I've caught the frankenstockers, just in the last 6-8 weeks. And couldn't even buy a bite at Beaver. I'm just not willing to throw synthetic frankenbait and let it sit on the bottom to catch frankenfish. I tried that this summer, and only managed any of it because I was drop shotting for perch simultaneously. I'm not interested in sitting still, and I want to catch fish, not someone's pet. Which is really what they are. A dog or a cat would be no less confused if thrown out of the house and expected to survive on it's own and act normally, so I guess I shouldn't expect these hatchery fish to do so.
Lesson learned. Maybe I'll hit Beaver again around February, see if the pets have reverted to real trout.
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from whorde.
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