TR: Frank and the Smallies

Frank showed up at my place Friday afternoon. The weather forcast for
Saturday was poor and when we got up Saturday we decided that it was not
the best day for it. Instead we went shopping for sneaky pete's as Frank
had an accident which cost him his supply.

Sunday was supposed to be better. On rising Sunday the forcast was
acceptable, rain early with sun later and low wind speeds. River level on
the gage looked good, actually about normal for this time of year.

Headed up to the river, Frank chose the easy take out, one that's a bit
furthur downstream from the bridge. Staged his truck and went to the put
in.

The water looked high to me, more like early June. No matter we launched
and started out.

Coming around the first island I took a 19" smallie on a sneaky pete,
Frank had inadvertanly gone the wrong way around the island and I met up
with him downstream.

Fishing was very slow IMHO, but Frank enjoyed the fish he caught.

Not long after we got on the water, as the sun broke through the clouds
the wind came up, howling and gusty, thankfully it was a downstream wind.
The wind made casting a challenge and it was blowing us downstream at one
hell of a pace. So much so that we ate lunch on the last island rather
than the ledges a couple miles upstream where we usually stop. Coming off
the tip of the island I managed another real nice fish just to make Frank
jealous. :-)

We picked up the odd fish along the banks headed to the bridge. I crossed
to the other side and started working along that bank, Frank came over
and just took it easy.

Twice we saw fish chasing bait right up onto the banks, just a sudden
explosion of bait getting out the way. I managed to pick up one of those
fish as I went by.

After the bridge I worked the left bank, hitting the occasional fish here
and there and even one little dink of a bass, unusual to catch one so
small.

The take out was indeed easier than the bank climbing at the bridge.

It took us about 7 hours to run the 7+ miles, record time.

When I got home I checked the river gages. After we left in the morning
the dam opened up and the river flow went from 2600 CFM to over 5000, and
the gage height went up a good foot. Explains why it was so high and a
rising river isn't the best fishing river until the level settles so it
explains why I thought the fishing was slow.

I'd say that I boated perhaps a dozen fish, most of them in the 17-19"
range, Frank may have done better as he was leading us down the bank most
of the day. I had a stretch where I didn't see a rise for almost 2 miles,
almost unheard of on this water.

We came back to the house and were treated to a clambake, 8lbs of
steamers and 2 1.5lb lobsters each. SWMBO can be quite a sport at times.

Fly

Flyfish wrote in
7.142:

snip a TR that saves me alot of typing.. :-)

I can't add much to Dave's TR, except I caught around 20 and lost at least
half that many, (2 to a dulled hook before I thought to check it)
Except for a period of high winds it was perfect weather for this float, we
waited out the rainy Sat. and our patience paid off. Donna, as usual,
was a most gracious hostess and fed us well, *really* well after the Sunday
float. Steamed clams and lobstah...first I've had in several years.
Dave saw to it that I was well taken care of, as usual. It is always a
trip I look forward to and has already become a ritual with me, heading for
Maine and those great Andy smallies! Already looking forward to Sept.
The "accident" Dave referred to my losing my flies was a 'senior
moment' that cost me dearly in the loss of all my Sneaky Pete bugs but 2
full fly boxes full of bass bugs, some were from previous swaps and I'll
never be able to replace. Anyway, I had place 3 fly boxes in the zipper
pocket of my pontoon boat on top of my truck. It was getting hot and I
stopped to let some air out of the pontoons (didn't need a blowout) I
unzipped the pocket to get to the air valve and forgot to close it back
fully. And there you have it, they blew out somewhere in the last 50 miles
to Dave's house. Once discovered, and more than a few naughty words later,
Dave promised to tie me up some replacement Sneaky Petes. He did, and one
of those caught all the bass I took that Sunday. Dave used a 5 wt rod he
had built (I believe) and I used my favorite 5 pc 5 wt Stowaway kpos. Eat
your heart out Kenny. ;-)

Frank Church
....who will tie up SP's this winter, for sure.

Frank Church wrote in
9.11:

....I just love to re my own post but forgot to add that I sent some shots
of the float to Timmy so he can post them, hopefully he will let us know
when they are up.

Frank Sr

Frank Church wrote:
Frank Church wrote in
9.11:

...I just love to re my own post but forgot to add that I sent some
shots of the float to Timmy so he can post them, hopefully he will
let us know when they are up.

Got 'em Frank, nice looking shots (if it wasn't for the old geezers in
the photos.) ;-) I should be able to get them posted tomorrow.
--
TL,
Tim
---------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj/

Frank Church wrote:
Frank Church wrote in
9.11:

...I just love to re my own post but forgot to add that I sent some
shots of the float to Timmy so he can post them, hopefully he will
let us know when they are up.

http://css.sbcma.com/timj/roffpics/2005_andy_maine/

Really nice photos, Frank. Thanks for sharing.
--
TL,
Tim
------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj

"Tim J." wrote in news:11dfdo7it8dr418
@news.supernews.com:

http://css.sbcma.com/timj/roffpics/2005_andy_maine/



Good job Timmy, thanks for setting this up for ROFF. Actually, I'm thinking
of asking Dave and Donna to adopt me so I can help Dave ketch all them
fish. I mean, how much can an old fart eat anyway? Love me, love my cat.
:-)

Frank Sr.

"Tim J." wrote in news:11dfdo7it8dr418
@news.supernews.com:

http://css.sbcma.com/timj/roffpics/2005_andy_maine/

Really nice photos, Frank. Thanks for sharing.
--
TL,
Tim
------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj



FYI, my add blocker on ZA seems to think your thumbnails are
banner/skyscraper ads-- had to allow ads for your site.

Scott

Scott Seidman wrote:
"Tim J." wrote in
news:11dfdo7it8dr418 @news.supernews.com:

http://css.sbcma.com/timj/roffpics/2005_andy_maine/

Really nice photos, Frank. Thanks for sharing.

FYI, my add blocker on ZA seems to think your thumbnails are
banner/skyscraper ads-- had to allow ads for your site.

That's just my Seidman-aggravation code. ;-) Seriously, I've no idea
why you'd have that problem. Maybe one of my geeky friends (Stan?) can
help. Are the thumbnails not showing, or is it that you can't view the
photos once you click on the thumbnail? Since the photos appear in a new
browser window, maybe it's registering as a "pop-up" in your browser.
--
TL,
Tim
------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj

On Fri, 15 Jul 2005 09:15:44 -0400, "Tim J."
wrote:

Frank Church wrote:
Frank Church wrote in
9.11:

...I just love to re my own post but forgot to add that I sent some
shots of the float to Timmy so he can post them, hopefully he will
let us know when they are up.

http://css.sbcma.com/timj/roffpics/2005_andy_maine/

Really nice photos, Frank. Thanks for sharing.

Very nice guys

A question for you pontoon users. I got a chance to use one once and
it felt like I was rowing in mud. The owner later claimed it was
underinflated. Was he right or giving me a line since he wanted to
sell it to me?

Peter

turn mailhot into hotmail to reply

Visit The Streamer Page at http://www.mountaincable.net/~pcharl...ers/index.html

Peter Charles wrote in
:

A question for you pontoon users. I got a chance to use one once and
it felt like I was rowing in mud. The owner later claimed it was
underinflated. Was he right or giving me a line since he wanted to
sell it to me?

....I suppose that it could have been underinflated Peter, but it seems to
me that (a) you would have noticed the semi-flaccid pontoons, you know,
shrinkage and wrinkles, or (b) if this guy was trying to sell it to you he
should have pumped it up for your demo. The new one I have now fairly
scoots across the water with minimal effort on my part. These were
Flyfish's pontoon boats we were using which have 8 ft pontoons and weigh
around 65# empty, yet I had no problem whatever rowing mine. I'm absolutely
sold on P/boats and use mine more than my power boat. If you're looking by
brand name, his are WaterSkeeters and mine is a TU Madison which weighs in
at 46# and has 7 ft pontoons. Cabelas carries both I think.

Frank Church