Pickwick 3-24-26-2011

Sometimes I hate to blog. Was looking forward to meeting my brother-in-law, John, and fishing Pickwick. All reports were that it was ready to break wide open. But, of course, a front whistled through on Wednesday. Thursday was cold but with a really high wind. When we put in I noticed that one of my runners had come loose.

We fished in Yellow Creek anywhere that wind would allow which was mostly nowhere. We decided to go out of Yellow Creek across the lake. Hah! The mouth of the Creek was rolling, and I mean big rollers. Looked like a caravan of cruisers had just gone through but none in sight. The wind was building monster rollers. Not really wanting to get drenched, (we didn't have our storm clothes on) we turned back and fished in the Creek. I caught 1 dink and 1 2 lb on a lizard and gave up about 3 pm.

Friday morning was 34 and fairly calm. We zipped over to Dry Creek and got Zero bites. We fished sand and gravel points from just above the islands to Panther Creek. Couple of nibbles, no fish. Fished in Panther. No bites. Wind has now picked up to just under gale force. Crossed the lake and fished a couple of coves on the opposite bank. A phenomenon that I have never figured out. No matter what direction the wind is coming from, it will follow you into any protected cove or cut. We finally gave it up again about 3 pm. We did have a great steak at the Country Squire in Iuka while we licked our wounds from the day.

The rain started about 1 am. When we got up at 5:30 am our decision as to whether fish in the lake or go to the river was made. With a hard downpour and cold we said,"Nawwww". Had our coffee and tenderloin biscuits and drove to State line ramp and then to State Park ramp to see if the big tournaments had put in. Only 3 trailers at one ramp and none at the other. Apparently the tournaments had canceled. There had been a lot of lightning earlier. We were vindicated and decided we were not TOO wimpy.

Several boat issues came up. The runner was tied up with rope for a temporary fix. Noted I still have a leak in the bilge probably from a pump or line. The auto bilge float is stuck again. Requires the manual bilge to pump out a couple of gallons of water. A slight leak of oil from somewhere. Idle set too high makes shifting hard. The joys of boat ownership.

Very disappointing fishing but a very satisfying visit with John.

Bill