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Everyone here knows how Ol' Elwood was hoping, wishing and asking for Alberta Clippers...He mentioned it several times, I can only assume that each night prior to his departure he knelt down and prayed for Alberta Clippers...and what do ya know...his prayers have been answered!
Atta boy Elwood!
Yea, and I wish he had this Alberta Clipper where the sun ..............., Oh well I'll stop, just joking around fellas, well sorta. Dannnnnng it's cold!!!!!!!!!! I love to catch smallmouth more than eating ribeyes and baked taters, and even more than ..., however it's waaaaaaaaaay to cold today for my rear end to be in a boat seat. It was 9 degrees here this morning with a wind chill of zero. :P
Got exactly what I wanted on Thursday and it was the best day of the week. Landed 11 with the biggest at 5-15 and a few more over 4. Sleet, snow, wind, little rain or slush, no sunlight, hands froze for 9 straight hours and only saw one other boat all day. Loved it or the fish were biting, my confidence level was sky high all day which both made it feel about 30 degrees warmer. I was actually colder Friday morning than Thursday, especially with blanking around Horse Creek for about 4 hours. Part of me was wishing that I had went back to Mid Lake that morning instead of scouting for the weekend tourney. I saw what I needed that morning to make me not fish the tourney. Sorry, but I chose to chase the big ones where I was on them instead.
Sometimes when you have these Get-To-Gether it's so easy to put the fishing ahead of hanging out and seeing folks. There ain't a fish in that lake that could compare to what I got to experience with these new faces.
The boys from Frankfort, Roadrunner, the teachers from Bell, Jim, Bob Coan, Steven...ect,ect,ect.
And especially my fishing partner...BJE.....
All these guys and thier company were better than any fish I could've caught. Even that 12lber.
Elwood a lot of these folks kept asking where you were and wanted to meet you. And the only answer I could give them was "I do not know".
Billy Elkins
[url]www.thecreekbank.com[/url]
Not everything that gets wet is pretty, but sometimes it gets pretty wet.
Yes the best part of the weekend was getting to meet some of you guys on this board and sharing stories and fishing techniques. Fishing was not ideal but it was still well worth the time.
Fred
It was a great weekend It was a great learning experience.Plus I got to put some faces with the people who post here. I thank redneckshadrap for his instructions on jig tying dang I wish I would have taken my new jigs to the boat Saturday, it is hard to catch them wehn they are in the car. Congradulation to the two winners. Hope to see you in March.
I did put fishing ahead of socializing with all the fellas and will be the first to admit it. Friday night started off with me being "late" to the meeting at the firehouse because it was posted on here it began at 7pm for all those days before I left on Monday. I live in Central Standard Time and Dale Hollow is in Central Standard Time and no where was it mentioned that it was 7pm "Louisville Time" until later on in the week and since I was at the lake since Monday and had no access to the board, I had no clue. I never knew it started at 6pm "Dale Time" until Steve Headrick told me as he was walking out the door at 5:50pm. We already had a pizza and a sub ordered that was in the process of being made, in full winter gear for we had fished until dark knowing we had until 7 to the meeting. We got our food, drove to the cabin, stuffed out bellies quickly, changed clothes and walked in 25 minutes after it started and I happily spoke to all those that came up to me, which was about 5 or 6 guys total. Bob Coan sat down and asked me a question. I asked if the tourney could be moved to launch out of Holly, Hendricks or the State Park where the lake was clearer and the reason for the event in the first place was to FNF which is better in clear water, and that request was denied and knew the Horse Creek area was still turning over and had black water. We left went back to Cabin #8, that everyone knew I was in, tied on new jigs and got ready for Saturday. Fished all day Saturday until Dark then back to the Cabin and packed up, left at 4am Sunday morning to fish then came home. For all these guys that were wondering where I was at, nobody came to the cabin and knocked on the door either Friday or Saturday night. When I go fishing, I go fishing. I fish 12-14 hours per day and even more in the summer time. I am completely exhauste at the end of the day much less the end of a full week. I never turned down talking to anyone be it the meeting or the One Stop any time during the weekend. I gave several points, tips and even gave one fella a couple of spots to fish Saturday night at the One Stop. So to answer your post, I did put fishing ahead of meeting the guys. Those that wanted to meet me, did so at the Friday night meeting. You are the only one that I "Planned" on seeing and I did so on Friday as well. No I did not tie a jig and maybe some day you will teach me, but I do fish from daylight to dark and then some. I am first launched and last out just about every day I go fishing. With breakfast at 7pm, tourney at 9pm and then the rest starting at 6pm, and I am fishing 25 miles away made it very difficult for me to do both. I chose to attend the one function I could and spend the rest of the weekend on the water with my best friend in hopes that he could land his first 5 pounder on spots that had produced 5 of thost bad boys for me last week. Maybe that was wrong of me but nobody on this board said a word about meeting me at Dale Hollow except 3sons, Mike, which we fished together all day wednesday from daylight to dark and you which I met at the meeting. No disrespect to anyone, but just because there is a get together scheduled does not mean that you have to attend every function or you are considered an outsider. I knew the water had not turned over at Horse Creek and knew I would be fishing Mid Lake but decided to stay at Horse Creek anyway to possibly meet some of the guys. I posted what Cabin I was in before I left and had no clue as to where the others were staying. Horse Creek office is closed when I leave and closed when I get back so no chance of getting a list of who is staying where. Yes I did put fishing ahead of meeting everyone and attending all the functions but I spent a lot of money last week and with that I chose to stay on the water as much as possible to catch that 12 pounder or at least my first 7 pounder. Wrong or right that is what I chose to do.
Calm down now....My bad, I have a little different outlook on these things I guess.
Live and learn...LOL!!!!!
We ALL spent money down there.
Billy Elkins
[url]www.thecreekbank.com[/url]
Not everything that gets wet is pretty, but sometimes it gets pretty wet.
I must respond to this post in defense of Elwood.
I was scheduled for four glorious days on Dale last week with a friend of mine that had to cancel because of a family situation. Elwood had stated he would be fishing alone mostly last week so I took the opportunity to give him a call to see if we could meet up sometime over the week to match wits with the ol' brown fish. Elwood responded immediately and said he would be interested.
I had never met Elwood and had no idea what to expect. In short, I had one of the most enjoyable days on the water I had ever had. Elwood is one of those guys that after being with him a few hours seems like you have known him for a long time. I really appreciated the time he took to explain some of the finer points of both the lake and the float-n-fly technique. I also found him to be very unselfish with his knowledge which is hard to find in the fishing fraternity.
Sorry Elwood, didn't mean to make you plush, but had to set the record straight on your social skills.
Mike Willey
Just a short/long note to say I thoroughly enjoyed the FnF weekend..my hats off to Jim Dicken of Fishin.com and Thomas Weaver of HorseCreek Marina for putting on and supporting such a worthy event...... I enjoyed meeting those that attended and most importantly, learning from the best like Bob Coan, Dale Hollow Guide Service, and Steve Headrick of Punisher Jigs.... I fished with my new found friend known as the Smiffster here on Fishin.com who is from Owensboro, KY on Saturday........ I thought I was going to freeze........ Good news is that we both hooked up on a brown fish and got them in the boat with our lerarned skills from the seminar on Friday night.....The main reason I attended the FnF weekend was the fellowship and secondly to possible get to fish DH...In defense of Elwood, I can appreciate his passion to fish while there and am also guilty for not fully participating this past weekend --- I had every intent to attend Saturday evening's dinner and seminar however after getting back to the room and thawing out from a hot shower, my creature comfort instincts took over and I hit the sack right after a quick run to the Dale Hollow 1 Stop to stock up on some FnF Punisher flies and goodies....... I didn't fish Sunday ---Smiffster returned back to O'boro and I decided to head back home..... Again, this was a productive weekend as a result of those who put it on and those that attended...... YES, I met Elwwod Friday night and saw him again Saturday evening when I met a quick trip to DH 1 Stop (got to hand it to Elwood, I was impressed ---he was talking with his family on the telephone and it brought back memories of my days in the service when I deployed and called home to speak with my family and children ...AND what I gathered, the DH trips are deployments for Elwood, weeks at a time but hey, who can blame him when you're Catchin' 5-pounders and not Fishin' for them... Tight Lines, Joe
I appreciate it Mike and had a very enjoyable day on the water with you as well. I was glad to hear you landed your first keeper before you left on Thursday. Wish it had been with me and hope it was on one of the spots that I showed you. I emailed you the pictures of the ones you caught with me on Wednesday. We will have to go again to catch some of the Bigguns soon.