Goodbye August!

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August was a tough month on my fishing confidence and frog fishing rods; I had three of them get broken. Two original Tatula 7'2" Heavy's at the rod tip and an original Tatula 7'4" Heavy above the first rod guide(picture). Hopefully, with the arrival of more moderate September temps, the fishing will improve.
 

My 1st Broken Rod Post

I didn't realize I only published this at the Fishing Log Blog, not here at mother ship blog.

I wrote this on 6-26-13

Kind of had a feeling this might happen thanks to my cat climbing were it shouldn't have been. He shut the Explorers rear window on it and 2 others. I'm hoping the heavy rod makes it through the season at least. The good thing is they were all St. Croix Avid's, so I can replace them with a new rod at more than 50% off what a new one costs. I'll have this rods replacement before my next tournament.

17.5"

I had caught this jumpin' bullhead, my best of the morning, and 10 others on it between this morning and my last two outings before the rod cracked and broke in two. 

 It was a good morning of fishing.  I hit the GOMH, the PRO Culvert, and the inlet getting fish at each and missing a bunch as well. I arrived at the GOMH at 5:50AM.  I started off getting them on topwater on a Lucky Craft Kelly J (12.5"), a Frenzy Popper (2x14", 15") and the Stanley Phantom (2x13", 3x14", 15", 16" and two little toothy bullheads).  Then I got them on the Fluke until the rod broke (2x14", 17.5",11.75" and a small toothy bullhead).  I got 1 (14") and yet another small toothy on a Chigger Craw.  I left to go to the culvert around 9AM.

There I missed my first several hits on a Horny Toad before finally getting a 13", I also got 1 (14") on a Chigger Craw and 1 (14") on a Subwart in the culvert.

I then headed to the Inlet and missed two good fish on the Grass Pig before connecting with a 15.5".  That was my last fish of the morning.  I quit at 11AM.

Best 6 Fish
17.5", 16", 15.5", 15", 15" and 14.25"
20 bass Total and 4 Pike

Broke The Heavy

Well looks like I'm replacing all 3 rods.  I broke the 7' Heavy St. Croix rod fighting a little northern that got down in the weeds.  The rod cracked and broke in two.

Here is the window the cat tried to climb out on resulting on the widow shutting on the 3 rods.

Unfortunately I caught the cat instead of the window. I was really hoping the Heavy St. Croix would make it.  I'm glad I found out now, so I can have the rod back by my next tournament.

Fishing sucked. I didn't get anything at the culvert, and the "new new juice" had two guys fishing it.  They were keeping some jumpin bullheads and letting some go. They were also getting some orange bullheads.  I got 2 jumpers on the SW side and that toothy that I broke the rod on.  I fished from 10AM to 11:45AM.

My Biggest Fishing Train Wrecks Pt 2

This story begins with a several trips into Gander Mtn in Maple Grove Minnesota. They had a 7'6" Fenwick HMG Medium Heavy spinning rod for 50% on clearance. That rod was calling my name and about the 4th time I looked at it I finally gave in and bought it. I thought it would make a great rod for my annual Fall Salmon trip to SE Wisconsin. I was right, the rod was excellent for Salmon fishing. On my third trip with the rod I was fishing at the dam on the Pike River in Kenosha WI. The dam, which is no longer there, was located in the midst of a golf coarse and there was a golf cart bridge over the river made of railroad tries right below the face of the dam. There was a small deep pool where the fish stacked up under the bridge. On the dam side of the bridge there was really only room for one person to fish on each bank of the river and you would either have to stand in the water on a concrete ledge or stand on the asphalt that made up the river bank.

The first time I ever fished at the dam I figured something out with a Mepps Spinner that was just a killer on the Salmon as I fished off the asphalt. On about my 5th hook up I had a beautiful coho salmon that was about 4lbs on. As I was bringing the fish up on the asphalt my rod tip caught on the bridge and my rod tip broke. Not Cool! I then grabbed my line to pull the fish up further on the bank and my line broke and the fish along with my magic spinner dropped right back into the water and were gone. At that point I had a meltdown that I'm sure was a source of great amusement to the other fishermen at the pool.

When I got back home I called Fenwick and told them what happened, much to my astonishment they said they would cover the rod under warranty. I sent them the broken rod and they sent me a new one. Cool!

Fast Forward two years later I was fishing with the rod in the same pool, but this time on the down river side of the golf cart bridge. I was having a grand old time catching Salmon when I hooked into a brute. I was using really strong 20lb test line and really laying the wood to the fish when the rod exploded under the pressure. It sounded like a gun shot as the rod broke in 4 different places!!! My line didn't break and I managed to hand line the fish which was about 15lbs. Now you would think I might be upset, but I thought the way the rod just exploded was pretty darn cool. I was satisfied that I got my money's worth from Fenwick on a rod I paid half price for and didn't bother trying to get another rod under warranty; I wanted what was left of the rod as a souvenir. I still have the rod handle.

See: My Biggest Fishing Train Wrecks