When Hal and I went fishing the last time in the Garhole, the river was forecast to just barely get in. After that the forecast gradually but steadily went up, finally ending four feet higher than the first forecast. Usually I will pull the boat out when that is forecast but not this time. Thought I was going to get by without that. When the water finally went down, I ventured down to look and this is what I found.

It had a front end that was full of water, some rodent had chewed on the front deck in a couple of places, and where the water was the slime had made it too slick to walk on. A general mess. Add to that the gnats and mosquitoes were swarming. I had come prepared for them however because they had tormented me a couple of days before so I broke out a head net.

After dipping most of the water out, I put the plug in and pushed it off into the water. The winch was in the wrong spot so it had to be moved by tightening up the chain that secures it to a tree. Then the rack had to be put into alignment, and a brand new rope installed on the winch. Hardest part was pulling the two concrete blocks on the bottom of the winch up the bank. All that done, I winched the boat up onto the rack and pulled the plug and drained out the last of the water.

It looks ready to go but it is going to have to be repaired. Where the rodent chewed on the deck will let moisture in and soon cause the deck to rot. Going to have to put on a new deck. I put this together in 2011 so after 10 years, most of the time sitting on the bank out in the weather, it has had a good run and is about time for a little work to be done to it.

Mickey and I went to big bass Lake X this morning about 7 and fishing started at 7:30. The fish were very close to the bank and Mickey proved it quickly by catching two in the three pound range right off the bat. Anything under 16 inches went into the ice chest and the “overs” went back. By the time we had figured out the lay of the land the wind had picked up. Lake X is not protected by any type of windbreak, so the wind caused serious problems. I had planned to use a small worm with a light weight but the belly in my line made it impossible. The spot lock on the trolling motor made it possible to fish some . Sit in one place and fish the area and then move up the bank to the next spot. Soon my line broke on a hookset. I figured I had just tied a bad knot and retied. Not long later another line snap. The realization came to me that my line was rotten for one reason or another , most likely age. I backed off on the drag and continued to use that rod but with caution. A new spool is sitting in my room just waiting. Close to noon Mickey set the hook on a good fish that jumped to show us how big she was. After a good long fight where the fish pulled drag, it became tangled in a submerged log. I could reach the bottom with my pole with the hook and proceeded to try to unhook the lure because by this time Mickey nor I could feel the fish on any longer. Finally we decided to break the line and continue fishing. Mickey took the cut off hoe handle to wrap his line around and pull to break the line and was pulling when it came loose and the fish was still on. FOD 7 1/2 pounds.

We kept fishing around the bank but by 3:00, it was just about over. We caught 11, 5 of which we kept and 6 we released. We found out later a 9 – 9 was caught there yesterday.