Thanksgiving Overnighter 2012

View from the road

Well I guess this post is a bit overdue being that its now March and I'm writing about a trip that I took back in November of 2012.  But no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to get this trip out of my mind.  It was one of my most memorable trips taken, with good company, an absolutely humongous and breathtaking lake, and some of the most memorable runs that I've ev
er had.  My buddy Nick and I had decided to try a new lake which looked promising for large buffalo and large carp.  In fact, an 85lb buffalo had been bowfished out of this particular lake - which is bigger than my PB of 56lbs.  So I was excited to say the least!  We had the trip scheduled for the Monday-Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  First light at Monday morning, Nick picked me up and we packed his Ford Edge all the way to the brim and headed to the lake, about a 3 and a half hour drive from Houston.  With all of the excitement, it felt longer.

Baiting up the swim in the dinghy

When we got to the lake, we immediately pulled out the rods and started marking the potential swim we found.  We found a nice looking swim about 100 yards from shore - 20 feet deep, on the other side of a weed bed that was about 15 ft deep with a few ledges in the swim.  It was close to some very deep water further out as well.  The campsite we were in was also pretty nice with picnic tables, bathrooms, showers, and you could park relatively close to your campsite.  There was a nicely mowed lawn that we set up camp on, and walked down to the beach to set up our fishing rods and bait up.  On this particular trip we had brought an inflatable dinghy and roughly 25-30 gallons of bait in 5 gallon buckets comprising of 15 gallons of maize, 10 gallons of chick peas, and 5 gallons of small particle mix.  We set up the marker float and then took our H-buoys and marked out a long section of swim.  We then went out in the dinghy and dumped about 7 gallons of bait in between the markers, figuring we'd blank for awhile and then the fish would move in and we'd haul.  We also took a fish finder that I made portable and confirmed the features we had marked with the marker floats.

Fresh catfish - yum! 

After getting all the bait in the water and rigging up our rods, we set up camp and settled in for the long haul, with alarms and rods set and method made.  As I said, we were fishing roughly 100 yards out.  I was just able to hit that distance with a 3 oz method lead and a small method ball with my 3.5TC Daiwa Black Widows.  Nick was able to hit this distance easy
with his 3.5 TC Gilbert Huxley Rods and a larger method ball.  To me, that really shows you get what you pay for.  We had to wait a few hours and Nick got his first run.  Unfortunately it was a channel cat, and not the monster we were hoping for.  But it was legal size so we decided a fresh fish dinner was in order.  It was the perfect size for us each to have a nice size fillet.  What an awesome shore lunch!

One of my all time favorite sunset picures

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, with no more runs.  As we settled in for the evening, the sunset became spectacular.  It offered some great photo opportunities which we took.  We decided to settle in for the night  If you've ever fished overnight with alarms, you know that feeling where your ears are super sensitive to any noises as you're waiting for that alarm to go screaming off.  As I went to sleep that night, it sounded like big rocks being thrown into the water - a sure sign of big buffalo in our swim.  At 1AM my alarm beeps once.  My rule is that I won't get out of my tent unless the alarm beeps 3 times.

Delkims at dark

My alarm beeps twice a few seconds later, and a third time after that.  I start getting up out of my tent and my alarm turns into a solid ring!  I have my first run and it sounds like a screamer!  As I run down to get to the rod my reel is in full melt down just singing away as the fish runs.  I pick up the reel and engage the drag and to my surprise the fish does not stop running at all.  It's like there's no pressure on the fish!  I give the drag a full turn in hopes of slowing the fish from its monster run, but to my surprise it speeds up.  I'm now to a point in my reel that I've never been before.  With roughly 300 yards of line on my reel, I'm starting to get worried about this fish.  As I tighten the drag a half turn more I feel the dreaded "pop" of a lost fish.  Reeling in shows me that I had bent my Daiichi 2571 Boss Hook - NOT a good feeling.

Looks like paradise to me...

The rest of the night was quiet, with no more runs to speak of.  All I could think of was that monster run that I had.  The next morning Nick and I cast my line out and we walked out the distance that the fish had run in that short time.  It was 80 yards and I was kicking myself for having 120 yards left on my reel and pressuring the fish too much.  I tried not to think about it too much.  After having a breakfast of sausage and eggs, we decided to top up the swim with some more bait.  We went back out in the dinghy and topped up the swim and then settled in for the day.  We waited, and waited, and waited with nothing to show for it.  Before we knew it it was already dark and time to go to bed again.  Oh yeah, and it was getting cold too!  That night we had high hopes that the fish would move in and we would haul.  Unfortunately, it was to no avail, as the lake was kicking our butts.

Fog rolling in on the lake

The next morning we were feeling pretty discouraged.  We had put out quite a bit of bait with nothing to show for it except for one lost fish and a small catfish.  We had set a time to leave of 2pm, and our hopes were dwindling.  On the plus side, the lake looked amazing. A fog had settled in over the lake in the early morning that made for some really neat pictures.  We decided we weren't going to take the dinghy out and put any more bait out unless things started going nuts.  For some reason I decided to top up my swim with my spod rod and redo my method.  After putting out 3-5 spods and redoing my method, I sat down without really expecting much.  The wind had started to blow up in our faces and was churning up the weeds which made it interesting fishing as well.  However, within 10 minutes I had a screaming run and a fish on!  As I played the fish, I felt the familiar "pop" of the line.  Not knowing what happened, I reeled in to see that the fish had snapped my 20lb Spiderwire EZ Braid Hooklink.  Needless to say, I was not happy.  Nick and I tested the hook link to find that it was breaking at 7lbs....complete garbage!

Tools to try to conquer the sea

We tested some other braid that I had, 50lb powerpro, and it was showing to break between 26-30 lbs...definitely good enough to handle large fish.  I started immediately tying new rigs, but left my old rigs out there.  While in the middle of tying my new rigs, I got another run on a second rod.  Not wanting to bend the hook or break the hook link, I let the fish take a lot.  This third fish ended up running through a snag that I could not get it out of.  We decided to go out in the dinghy and head to the other side of the snag to see if we could free the fish, but to no avail.  To make matters worse, the only leverage I could get on the fish was to bend the rod, and I ended up breaking my 3.5TC Daiwa Black Widow!  That makes 3 for the fish, 0 for me!  The rest of the day was uneventful as we broke down camp without another run and broken hearted as we left all of the monsters in the lake.  We didn't catch the fish we had come for, but it was an experience and a challenge that I need to take on again.  It's hard for me to get that many days in a row off work to spend on a fishing trip, but the lake still calls my name.

Moral of the story: Make sure your gear is up to the task.  I could have lost 3 fishes of a lifetime (and I like to think I did!).