Fishing Report for Guntersville 4/5/13 with Vid!

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I'd had a pretty stressful week and I really needed some time to get away from it. Fishing is a great avenue for relieving some stress, though I am figuring out that it relieves OTHER stress in favor of the stress of fishing. I know it's not supposed to be that way, but the harder I try to make myself a better fisherman, the harder the fish try to stone wall me.

Anyway. You know, most people have stress in their homelife, or due to their budget, or due to work. I am an extremely lucky guy and don't really have stress due to these. No, see, it's the things that SHOULDN'T stress me out. Like, school. Or 8U softball. But, both of these have really tested me lately.

I am taking a distance education class at Auburn to learn finite element analysis. In this class, we learn how to use ANSYS for modeling. Bored already? Sorry. Long story short, they were supposed to send me the software at the beginning of the semester, unknown to me. Well, when the first project was assigned on 2/26, I started trying to figure out how I could do the project with no software. Turns out, I didn't have it. This set into motion a month long fiasco where the software didn't make it in the mail, then I was sent the wrong software, then the right software sat on a desk. It took a month and change to get it. The project was due 2 days before I even had the software to do it. I couldn't get in touch with my professor. So, I rushed through the project and skipped classes for 2 weeks to make it work. After all, I am on a very finite time line.

I ended up turning it in 2 days late and 6 classes behind schedule with an exam looming. So, I contacted Auburn to see what could be done. Options? Drop the class and take a GPA hit or extend the class into next semester. Neither are options, really.

Then there is the softball thing. Yeah. So, I try my best to teach my girls the fundamentals of the game at the expense of winning. Sound funny? Well, anyone can put their best players at pitcher, first, and second and never rotate. Not me. I want girls to play all the positions. I also don't believe in exploiting rules that teach terrible fundamentals just to win. Example, baserunning. In this league, play doesn't stop until the pitcher has the ball inside the circle. So, some teams will send baserunners regardless of where the ball is, forcing the defense to either give up on the play entirely, or to throw the ball. And, at 8U, you can imagine what trying to throw the ball around the infield looks like.

I know this doesn't seem like a big deal, but when your 3rd baseman is holding the ball AT THIRD BASE and and the opposing coach tells his baserunner on 3rd to run home anyway....what do you do? How can you teach anything? It's especially hard when the score is lopsided and you are getting drilled BECAUSE of this type of coaching.

Anyway..fishing....

So, Jon and I hit up Seibold on Guntersville lake. The fishing had appeared to be good for everyone, but I am finding out that by the time word circulates, either the fishing has tanked, or it was lies to begin with...ahaha. That's not true, my friend Jonathan from BassWhacker had caught 2 fish over 10 last week.

From the beginning it was rough. That 7-8mph was really a 15mph wind. THANKS WEATHERMAN!

I went directly to finesse fishing, throwing a T-rigged PowerTeam Lures 5" Sick Stick. This is a great bait for so many different types of fishing. It's square, unlike other stick baits, so the bottom traps air and makes bubbles as it falls. The fish can't stand it.

So, we fished a stretch and didn't catch anything. Moved to a slightly different spot and I had a bite. Didn't hook the fish. Cast back to the same spot and the fish hit it again. This time I snagged it, but the fish was running right to the boat. I stayed ahead of the fish as best I could. I got it to the boat, or more like a foot from the boat and saw that it was a solid 5 pound fish. The fish jumped, hit the side of the boat, and I guess that knocked the Sick Stick out.

No worries. So I made some more fan casts without a bite. I cast back to the spot I had the hits. Sure enough, another bite! I hit this fish HARD. And the line broke. Goodbye fish. Goodbye Tru-tungsten.

But, again, I took it in stride. At least I was on some fish. I figured that they must be active in this spot, so I tied on a 6" Gator and I put it on the rod with 20 pound test.

 Made a cast to the same spot and BAM. Another hit! This one was coming to the boat!

Well, at least I broke the curse, right?

Wrong. Few casts later to the same spot...hooked into another 5 pound fish. Got it to the boat, BROKE OFF! I thought maybe my knots weren't good. Wouldn't be the first time. But, no. It was frayed. Apparently, I had frayed a lot of line when I fished the Alabama Mountain Lakes Media Events. It makes sense. We were bumping the swinging hammer off of rock piles in current for 2 days straight. But, hey, it paid off!

Anyway. I stripped off a good bit of line and retied. In the meantime, I took solace in the fact that at least the GoPro was getting good footage of me screwing up. After all, that's more entertaining. Again, no such luck. The GoPro had quit reading the memory card. So, I spent the better part of an hour troubleshooting it. I'm telling yall, I have had more problems out of that thing. All I can say is, do your research before you buy. I didn't get any of the footage. Ugh.

It was slow. High skies. Windy. You know, the same type day I keep fishing....

We moved to another spot and decided to fish shallow. REAL shallow. I was flipping trees. Now, I BELIEVE I had said in my New Years Resolutions that I wanted to get better at flipping. I have tried real hard in the last year to get good at it. But either I am not doing it right...or I am doing it on days that the fish don't want to bite.

Well,  I hadn't been flipping long.....

I flipped this lay down tree, pulled it over some branches, bumped it, and one SWALLOWED it. I hammered it and she hammered back. I managed to pull her out of cover, which involved me pulling the toad over limbs. MAN WHAT A FISH!

I asked Jon to help me boat the monster and as he leaned down to pick it up...the line snapped. Sigh. Lesson learned. Folks. Never EVER flip with mono. Braid only. Take it from me. I don't want to speculate on the fish...because I don't like exaggerating...but I also don't want to think about it. Easily the best fish I have hooked this year. Now...she DID hit the boat...and yall know my rule.....

Talk about stress. I had under 10 bites all day and I hooked into 5 fish that  I bet had 25 pounds between them. But, that ain't how it works.
Check out the vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfsj0566ULY