  Gene’s Fishn Stories 2
Fishn's For Children .......??
  Better take another good look. These guys
might want to argue the point. As you can see by
these photos, fishn seems to go on forever with some
folks. I know I still like to wet a worm now and
then.These photos were contributed by Joe Garrison of Seafish Charter Services in Sitka, Alaska. Good thing Joe is a good photographer and is taking the pictures of the folks as they bring in their fish. Looks like nice salmon, too.
 Joe tells us that the excitement level is
very high with these young old-timers. He says some
of them are not really fisherman in the sense of the
word which we are accustomed to but they get their
fish and sometimes you can hear some whoopn' and
hollern'. Heck, if I caught fish like that, I'd be
whoopn' and hollern', too! The one little 'ol lady helping her Granddaughter hold up the fish is 87 years young. Now, that's a regular trooper, getting into the boat and out onto the water which is not always nice and smooth and then hanging in there and getting her fish - that's dedication to the job at hand and is good enough performance to be listed as a true fisherman, anywhere. Maybe Joe just attracts the better fishermen?
  April on the Detroit River and it appears to
be cooler than Sitka Alaska. But you have to go when
the walleyes are biting so you just get the duds on
and maybe some gloves, too, and get out on the water
and try not to stir up too much wind. But then, of
course, you have to get there first so if you can
bundle up warm and arrive at the good spots in good
shape, you'll catch your fish. The boys from Detroit seem to do pretty well with their walleyes but I'll bet they have a nice hot coffee mug that'll help warm their hands up and some brandy to help them stay in the boat. The guys in the big boat seem to be getting pretty close. Must be kind of curious of the fishin action the boys got going. ANYWAY ..... Now that's fishn! And the fish taste much better from the cold Anybody seen any lake perch?
  Now here is something a little different. We
have this fellow, Jim Dowell, from Cottonwood, CA
who reports that he does not do much fishn but that
does not mean he does not like being around fish.
He has as one of his hobbies, fish raising. He has several different kinds of fish besides the Koi Carp shown here. They are certainly colorful. I visited the Botanical Gardens in Des Moines, Ia a few years back and its quite a place and they have the Koi Carp there. S'why they
are called KING Salmon ....!! Ever wonder why they are called "KING" Salmon? Well here's one good reason! This is a fiberglass representation of the alltime big salmon taken in the Petersburg, Alaska region. Its reported the salmon was taken in a fish trap somewhere in the area there and it weighed right at 126 lbs. Now that is a big fish, salmon or no. Most salmon I've seen were about 5-10 lbs but then I only went fishing the one time while in the Army at Ft Richardson. Interesting, some of the salmon I had caught I had cleaned and was taking back to Anchorage to give to my aunt and would you believe, that when we left Seward that I forgot the fish and when my buddy went down there the following week he was going to bring them back but they were gone from the freezer, so I had nothing to show for my trip and my aunt didn't get salmon. The salmon that we took on that trip were generally just under 10 lbs. Nice fish and I broke my line 2-3 times the first time out so the next day, I got a little heavier rigged line and didn't lose any after that. And one day it was a little windy so we couldn't go out and we fished from the pier in the area there. We caught mostly cod and one flounder, several different kinds of fish, can't remember what all but we didn't keep any of them.
  Can the little guys catch fish? Yes sir, you bet! Look at this little guy's nice bass that was caught in first trips out of Sitka this year for Joe Garrison and his Grandson, Ray, who not too long before attained the ripe old age of 5 years. That's a pretty hefty fishn tool that he's holding up there and the fish must not be very light and between the tool and the fish, it must be pretty heavy for the little fisherman but he handles it ok as you can see. Then, in the picture on the right, Ray has a couple of nice silvers. What an experience for a young man who, I don't believe has even started school yet. Ray had some fish from a previous trip also, but I think he might have had a little help on these, of course, don't want the little guy pulled overboard, now. Here is a Cod and a King Salmon caught by Ray. What a fisherman .............
Joe seems to have been able to pass his abundant fishn and shootn skills to his grandson as these pages do attest. Sad State of Affairs .......... Since we had the terrible assualt on the Trade Center in New York City, there have been security concerns throughout the USA and they have impacted no less than ......... our fishing holes here at home in Iowa.  Yes, sir. In the space of one
morning, our best fishing hole was closed off and
"No Trespassing" signs were put up. There is no
hiking, fishing, hunting, strolling through the
timbered area since the closing of the outlet to
prevent poisoning of the water. The lake proper can still be accessed but not the areas at the dam/outlet. A highway goes across the dam, of course, but it has been prepared with gates also, and it can quickly be closed off. So it appears we will become lake fishermen whether we want to or not. I know I certainly enjoyed and preferred the high water and its roiling, fast current as it was going through the "rip-rap" along the banks of the outlet. The walleye sure liked to collect there also along with some other of the fish family. There were some times when catches were low due to low water but in the main, and especially during the spring months, nice catches could be had by the average fisherman. Good eating fish, too. As you can see by the above photo, the lake is presently at planned levels or just slightly lower. Generally, the lake is low in the fall of the year and high in the spring from snow melt and the "spring" rains we generally get around here. Well, lets pray everybody will get all of their problems resolved and we can get back to fishing. Addendum to story ...... Well, they have got things settled down finally, not back to where they was - they'll never get there again, but they are back to half-way normal now and at least you can access everything and fish. EC 6-14-02 WhalePlay Or ForePlay .........? Well, why not just let Joe tell this one himself, he's right here ....... "OK, well, today wasn't too bad. I caught 2 kings and one silver. The adventure of the day is when this hump-back whale thought it would be fun to play with the boat.   He came over and started swimming around the
boat then he would dive under the boat coming up 5
or 6 feet beside us and blow. He could squirt water
in the air 20ft . Then it was back around and under
again and then up so close I could just about touch
him with my hand. Its OK to be close to a whale but
that's just a little too close. The wind was doing
about 20MPH. And he would swim down wind and just
lay there on top of the water. Now this guy is about 40ft long and I was just running the 15 HPR motor and with the wind at our back I didn't think I could turn around him. I put the motor in reverse but wind was still pushing the boat. I said to Bob 'here we go we are going to hit that sob.' Then he just slid under the water and we went right over him. We were glad when he finally found some thing else to do." Joe Garrison, Seafish Charter Services. |
