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To my fishing guysm

Bad enough that the first two hours of the family camping trip at Baker Lake were spent setting up camp in a complete downpour, but in the hour or so that the rain broke on Friday, the kids asked that I take them fishing. So my two kids and the nephew and I head down the trail until we find a suitable place to fish. Before I can even get my kids in the water, my nephew has managed to catch his lure in a tree and is asking for help.

It's in there pretty good, so the only course of action was to break it off. So I aimed the tip of the rod at the snag and pulled straight back as you do, averting eyes to avoid the line snapping back, when I hear the snap of a branch instead, then a size-large Rooster Tail with giant rusty treble hook flies into my shin at 100 mph, sinking two barbs balls deep. It's at this point I notice this kid must have last been fishing for barracuda or something, as there's a steel leader at the end of his 5,000,000 lb. test line. No wonder it didn't just break off...

So I fished with the kids (read: unsnagged them, untangled reels, and donated half my lures to their cause) for about an hour or so until it started pouring again, Rooster Tail dangling out of my shin the whole time, then headed back to camp and tried getting the hooks out. Yanking it out was a non-starter, so I disinfected my camp knife and tried cutting the barbs free. Turns out stabbing your own shin is WAY more painful than I had thought it would be!...

So off to the ER in Sedro Woolley (cool fucking city!°) for lure removal. Never been operated on with side cutters and bull nose pliers before, so that was cool. The doctor said it was his first lure removal but had those tools on hand for when he had to extract taser barbs. After seeing how much cutting into me he had to do to free the barbs, I'm glad I didn't continue trying to do it myself. On the bright side, I stayed dry for three hours while my family continued to be dumped on. Also am now up to date on my tetanus shots...

So what did I miss while I was gone? How many five-stars committed?
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Comments

  • 1to392831weretaken
    1to392831weretaken Member Posts: 7,696
    dflea said:

    csb - did you pander your way into some good drugs?

    Yeah, barbs because--even with barbs--I drop more than I catch. I'm not a technically gifted fisherman, although I do quite a bit of it.

    As for drugs, no. Not even stitches, as he preferred to leave it open and let it drain. Interestingly, it never hurt. Not going in, not dangling there, not even when I tried tugging it out. Only hurt (like a MOTHERFUCKER) when I started stabbing a hot knife into my leg. Doc numbed me for the cuttin', and I was sure I was going to feel those cuts once the lidocaine wore off, but nope. No biggie. Looks like a giant snake bit my leg.

    Oh, and I always fish with glasses and always look away when hung up on something.
  • YellowSnow
    YellowSnow Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 37,319 Founders Club
    I had a buddy who back in college who used to say he had barbless nuts.
  • DerekJohnson
    DerekJohnson Administrator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 68,536 Founders Club

    Get this: This afternoon, I'm out in my yard hosing down all my nasty wet camping gear and leaving it out to dry because fuck camping, when a bee decided to sting me right in the soft webbing between two of my toes. The camping/fishing trip that just keeps on giving!


    image
  • chuck
    chuck Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 11,685 Swaye's Wigwam
    chuck said:

    I've had some close calls just like that.. my own gear has bounced off me a few times but i was lucky enough not to get hooked. I watched my friend get stuck by dual, barbed trembles one late, drunken night in a little boat. The steelhead he was trying to bring in jumped into the boat, hit him in the chest, and hung there for a few seconds before dropping and leaving him with a plug stuck to his chest. That was an ER visit.

    Change your lures to single hooks. Treble hooks don't hold fish well sans barbs, and mangle the fuck out lof them with barbs. Single hooks may miss a strike or two, but stick way better once in there, with or without barbs. They also have a longer shank than the individual hooks on a treble, which makes it a lot easier to rotate them through skin and cut off the barb when something like this happens.

    I hate taking kids fishing. I don't have the patience for it.

    I should note that trout lures with tails, like rooster tails and panther Martin spinners, lose some appeal if you switch to single hooks since the tail is attached to the original. I only use those spinners if fishing for brook trout, and don't switch the hooks or clamp the barbs. I never release brook trout so fuck em.
  • 1to392831weretaken
    1to392831weretaken Member Posts: 7,696
    edited August 2020
    Rooster Tail just happened to be what the kid had on there. I find that brand of spinner stops spinning and gets shitty a lot faster than others. If I'm spinning, I like the Mepps with the gears on the inside for rattling. 90+% of my fishing is lake trout. I'm at the point where I almost never take off my 1/4 oz. rainbow Kastmaster. I've caught just about every kind of trout and the odd accidental smallmouth bass here and there with that lure. Can throw 'em out a mile, too.


  • YellowSnow
    YellowSnow Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 37,319 Founders Club
    chuck said:

    chuck said:

    I've had some close calls just like that.. my own gear has bounced off me a few times but i was lucky enough not to get hooked. I watched my friend get stuck by dual, barbed trembles one late, drunken night in a little boat. The steelhead he was trying to bring in jumped into the boat, hit him in the chest, and hung there for a few seconds before dropping and leaving him with a plug stuck to his chest. That was an ER visit.

    Change your lures to single hooks. Treble hooks don't hold fish well sans barbs, and mangle the fuck out lof them with barbs. Single hooks may miss a strike or two, but stick way better once in there, with or without barbs. They also have a longer shank than the individual hooks on a treble, which makes it a lot easier to rotate them through skin and cut off the barb when something like this happens.

    I hate taking kids fishing. I don't have the patience for it.

    I should note that trout lures with tails, like rooster tails and panther Martin spinners, lose some appeal if you switch to single hooks since the tail is attached to the original. I only use those spinners if fishing for brook trout, and don't switch the hooks or clamp the barbs. I never release brook trout so fuck em.
    Those brookies are some over populating little bastards aren’t they?
  • greenblood
    greenblood Member Posts: 14,560
    This is why I fish from a boat in the middle of a lake.
  • 1to392831weretaken
    1to392831weretaken Member Posts: 7,696

    This is why I fish from a boat in the middle of a lake.

    You sound rich.
  • chuck
    chuck Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 11,685 Swaye's Wigwam

    chuck said:

    chuck said:

    I've had some close calls just like that.. my own gear has bounced off me a few times but i was lucky enough not to get hooked. I watched my friend get stuck by dual, barbed trembles one late, drunken night in a little boat. The steelhead he was trying to bring in jumped into the boat, hit him in the chest, and hung there for a few seconds before dropping and leaving him with a plug stuck to his chest. That was an ER visit.

    Change your lures to single hooks. Treble hooks don't hold fish well sans barbs, and mangle the fuck out lof them with barbs. Single hooks may miss a strike or two, but stick way better once in there, with or without barbs. They also have a longer shank than the individual hooks on a treble, which makes it a lot easier to rotate them through skin and cut off the barb when something like this happens.

    I hate taking kids fishing. I don't have the patience for it.

    I should note that trout lures with tails, like rooster tails and panther Martin spinners, lose some appeal if you switch to single hooks since the tail is attached to the original. I only use those spinners if fishing for brook trout, and don't switch the hooks or clamp the barbs. I never release brook trout so fuck em.
    Those brookies are some over populating little bastards aren’t they?
    We call them river rodents at work. Once there, they're in there forever.

    I know of a few lakes where they are abundant enough to usually have good fishing, but the population is controlled enough that they get big. They are the only resident trout that I keep as a rule as theyre the only real tasty ones.
  • chuck
    chuck Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 11,685 Swaye's Wigwam

    Rooster Tail just happened to be what the kid had on there. I find that brand of spinner stops spinning and gets shitty a lot faster than others. If I'm spinning, I like the Mepps with the gears on the inside for rattling. 90+% of my fishing is lake trout. I'm at the point where I almost never take off my 1/4 oz. rainbow Kastmaster. I've caught just about every kind of trout and the odd accidental smallmouth bass here and there with that lure. Can throw 'em out a mile, too.


    I use the same in a variety of colors If I'm not after brookies. I also have a few other spoons..Rebel, Krocodile, and Little Cleo that work. Rainbows and cutts love spoons.
  • YellowSnow
    YellowSnow Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 37,319 Founders Club
    chuck said:

    chuck said:

    chuck said:

    I've had some close calls just like that.. my own gear has bounced off me a few times but i was lucky enough not to get hooked. I watched my friend get stuck by dual, barbed trembles one late, drunken night in a little boat. The steelhead he was trying to bring in jumped into the boat, hit him in the chest, and hung there for a few seconds before dropping and leaving him with a plug stuck to his chest. That was an ER visit.

    Change your lures to single hooks. Treble hooks don't hold fish well sans barbs, and mangle the fuck out lof them with barbs. Single hooks may miss a strike or two, but stick way better once in there, with or without barbs. They also have a longer shank than the individual hooks on a treble, which makes it a lot easier to rotate them through skin and cut off the barb when something like this happens.

    I hate taking kids fishing. I don't have the patience for it.

    I should note that trout lures with tails, like rooster tails and panther Martin spinners, lose some appeal if you switch to single hooks since the tail is attached to the original. I only use those spinners if fishing for brook trout, and don't switch the hooks or clamp the barbs. I never release brook trout so fuck em.
    Those brookies are some over populating little bastards aren’t they?
    We call them river rodents at work. Once there, they're in there forever.

    I know of a few lakes where they are abundant enough to usually have good fishing, but the population is controlled enough that they get big. They are the only resident trout that I keep as a rule as theyre the only real tasty ones.
    There are some lakes in southern Utah that grow huge brookies. Many 16” plus fish. I think my all time PR for brook trout is like 14”.
  • chuck
    chuck Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 11,685 Swaye's Wigwam

    chuck said:

    chuck said:

    chuck said:

    I've had some close calls just like that.. my own gear has bounced off me a few times but i was lucky enough not to get hooked. I watched my friend get stuck by dual, barbed trembles one late, drunken night in a little boat. The steelhead he was trying to bring in jumped into the boat, hit him in the chest, and hung there for a few seconds before dropping and leaving him with a plug stuck to his chest. That was an ER visit.

    Change your lures to single hooks. Treble hooks don't hold fish well sans barbs, and mangle the fuck out lof them with barbs. Single hooks may miss a strike or two, but stick way better once in there, with or without barbs. They also have a longer shank than the individual hooks on a treble, which makes it a lot easier to rotate them through skin and cut off the barb when something like this happens.

    I hate taking kids fishing. I don't have the patience for it.

    I should note that trout lures with tails, like rooster tails and panther Martin spinners, lose some appeal if you switch to single hooks since the tail is attached to the original. I only use those spinners if fishing for brook trout, and don't switch the hooks or clamp the barbs. I never release brook trout so fuck em.
    Those brookies are some over populating little bastards aren’t they?
    We call them river rodents at work. Once there, they're in there forever.

    I know of a few lakes where they are abundant enough to usually have good fishing, but the population is controlled enough that they get big. They are the only resident trout that I keep as a rule as theyre the only real tasty ones.
    There are some lakes in southern Utah that grow huge brookies. Many 16” plus fish. I think my all time PR for brook trout is like 14”.
    14" is pretty big. I caught one a few weeks ago that, while I didn't measure, had to be 16+. It had about 4-5" and probably close to half a lb over any other that I had caught in my life. It was shaped like a football. We were camping and it was all my GF and I could do to eat it all that night.

    I'll keep and eat any brookie over 6", and just kill the smaller ones and feed to the lake or creek out of meanness.
  • 1to392831weretaken
    1to392831weretaken Member Posts: 7,696
    So you're saying that the trout that's the tastiest is also basically a weed? Sounds like a win-win to me. Personally, I love a fresh rainbow, particularly if caught in cold moving water. High lake rainbows in particular are amazing with nothing more than some salt and pepper and butter. Not sure I've ever eaten a brook trout. Probably have.

    Where are you catching these monsters?

    Speaking of eating rainbows, had an interesting experience last week. Prior to the camping trip with my wife's side of the family, we met up with my bother's family and my dad and his wife at a rental on Chelan for five days. I've never thought of Chelan as a fishing lake (more drinking, swimming, drinking, floating, drinking, and boating lake), so I didn't even bring any gear. My dad did, though, and first night he's right on our dock with nothing more than hook, slip sinker, Power Bait.

    And he absolutely killed it.

    First couple of fish, I didn't even know what they were. Had to do some research to figure out they were mackinaw--just smaller ones being that close to shore. Intermixed were several nice rainbows. Cooked up two rainbows and a mack just to try out mackinaw. No contest. Either you have to cook it differently to be good or mackinaw is just fishy and gummy. The rainbows were really good, though.
  • chuck
    chuck Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 11,685 Swaye's Wigwam

    So you're saying that the trout that's the tastiest is also basically a weed? Sounds like a win-win to me. Personally, I love a fresh rainbow, particularly if caught in cold moving water. High lake rainbows in particular are amazing with nothing more than some salt and pepper and butter. Not sure I've ever eaten a brook trout. Probably have.

    Where are you catching these monsters?

    Speaking of eating rainbows, had an interesting experience last week. Prior to the camping trip with my wife's side of the family, we met up with my bother's family and my dad and his wife at a rental on Chelan for five days. I've never thought of Chelan as a fishing lake (more drinking, swimming, drinking, floating, drinking, and boating lake), so I didn't even bring any gear. My dad did, though, and first night he's right on our dock with nothing more than hook, slip sinker, Power Bait.

    And he absolutely killed it.

    First couple of fish, I didn't even know what they were. Had to do some research to figure out they were mackinaw--just smaller ones being that close to shore. Intermixed were several nice rainbows. Cooked up two rainbows and a mack just to try out mackinaw. No contest. Either you have to cook it differently to be good or mackinaw is just fishy and gummy. The rainbows were really good, though.

    Cool about the Mackinaw, aka lake trout. Those things can get crazy big, like 50+ lbs. I didn't know they weren't good to eat, as most char (dolley varden, bull trout, arctic char, brook trout, lake trout) are pretty damn good.

    Not telling where I fish specifically, but I'm talking about high lakes and I live in the gorge so there's a general idea.

    Most lakes that have brook trout are polluted by them. They reproduce in lakes (other trout do not and need an inlet they can go up and spawn, that's why lakes didn't have fish in the PNW until us white devils went around playing Jonny fish seed), usually overpopulated, and stunt. Its a decent win where that doesn't happen, but I know dozens, maybe hundreds, of water bodies full of stunted brook teout and only 3 that I can think of where they're not.
  • 1to392831weretaken
    1to392831weretaken Member Posts: 7,696
    What does stunted mean in reference to trout?

    I'm learning a lot today.
  • dflea
    dflea Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 7,287 Swaye's Wigwam
    Runt fish. Stunted from not enough food for the population.

    There are big chinook in Lake Chelan - but you need to fish deep with downriggers.
  • 1to392831weretaken
    1to392831weretaken Member Posts: 7,696
    dflea said:

    Runt fish. Stunted from not enough food for the population.

    There are big chinook in Lake Chelan - but you need to fish deep with downriggers.

    Doctor told me to keep my lure wound dry on Saturday at Baker Lake, so I threw on some waders and did some float tube fishing all morning. After four hours of beating the hell out of the water with not so much as a bump to show for it, I was convinced that the only possible explanation was the lake being completely devoid of fish (me sucking never crossed my mind), then a really nice sockeye jumped clean out of the water about 100 feet from me. I believe they closed the season early this year after smaller numbers than the last couple of years.

    I've always fished for salmon in rivers and off beaches on Whidbey, but I'm just now learning that there are pretty decent salmon runs in several in-state lakes. Never owned a boat, so most of that is pretty off-limits for me.
  • dflea
    dflea Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 7,287 Swaye's Wigwam
    I'm heading up to Sekiu at the end of the week to do some light gear coho fishing. Maybe run out to Neah Bay for some ling cod and rock fish, too. Hopefully nobody gets a hook in the eye or the leg.
  • greenblood
    greenblood Member Posts: 14,560

    This is why I fish from a boat in the middle of a lake.

    You sound rich.
    If you saw my boat you’d say no.
  • 1to392831weretaken
    1to392831weretaken Member Posts: 7,696
    Another one of those fucking bees just stung the SAME FUCKING FOOT under my pinky toe!!! Hurts like a motherfucker!
  • chuck
    chuck Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 11,685 Swaye's Wigwam

    Another one of those fucking bees just stung the SAME FUCKING FOOT under my pinky toe!!! Hurts like a motherfucker!

    Haha same thing happened to me a couple of years ago. I got stung 3 times under my big toe over the course of a week.