First River Trip of the Year

[Schoe]

I talked shortly to Wewaser this evening and he said Ray and his buddies all caught Flatheads. Grats guys as it took me 4 years to catch my first Fla, Flathead.

Schoe

[Stump Bumper]

Hey Corndog.... Welcome to WIF! Sure am glad that you and Jim along with your dad all got a chance to experience Flathead fishing for the first time. As soon as I can figure out how to download the video footage we took of the trip, I'll get it to Schoe to post ( the "Computer Fog" surround's me ). Also ask Lamar if he would mind emailing me copies of all the pics he took of the trip...... Thanks

[Stump Bumper]

Well, we rolled back into Tampa late Monday afternoon after one of the best river trips we've had so far! Steve Collier and I pulled into the Dead Lakes Campground early Tuesday afternoon and started setting up camp. Dave and Sam Short were already set up at the next campsite over but were out catching bait. Late that evening they launched at Gaskin Park and headed upstream to Flathead fish. The next morning they displayed two (5) pound Flatheads.... not a bad start. Wednesday afternoon we went down to Willis Landing to try to catch up some bait. While we were there Bream fishing, "Baby the Owl", showed up waiting for us to feed her a small Bream. This time we were able to capture her on video. We only caught six really good bait..... so that's what we left Gaskin Park with. We got set up on our hole at around 9pm and by midnight we had landed two Flatheads and missed two. Steve caught a (11) pounder almost as soon as we started fishing and about an hour later I wrestled a (25) pounder into Steve's landing net. Two Flatheads...... six baits...... worked for us! Dave and Sam also had a second successful night of Flathead fishing, Dave caught a (20) pounder and his brother Sam caught a nice (15) pounder. They also each caught a smaller Flathead in the (5) pound range. Thursday morning, Lamar Brown, our next door neighbor at the campground came over to see what we caught. We were talking and found out that he was (65) years old and had never been Flathead fishing his entire life.... so we invited him to go fishing with us that night. When we got set up on the hole, we baited lines and got them in the water. We told Lamar that he was in the "hot seat" and no matter which pole got a bite.... it was his to hook and land. Well wouldn't you know it.... five minutes later the rod directly in front of him bowed into the water, he set the hook and the fight was on. After a hard fought battle, I netted a pretty (25) pound Flathead.... Lamar's first Flathead ever! Well needless to say, that sealed the deal for him. He laughed and said "I can't believe I've been eat'in my bait all these years"! Over the next two hours Steve managed to land an (8) pounder and I caught a (20) pounder and a (10) pounder. Four Flatheads.... nine baits! When Lamar's son, Gary (aka "Corndog") and his Army buddy Jim, saw the Flathead his daddy caught the night before.... both Gary and Jim went out and bought Flathead rods so they could fish Friday night. Well long story short, Gary landed his first Flathead around (15) pounds on Friday night and both Jim and Gary landed a Flathead on Saturday night. All us old guys just hung around at the campground Saturday night. Don and Angie Minchew along with Brandon came over for a visit and we got a nice fire going and talked til about 2 o'clock in the morning. Sunday morning, Lamar, Gary and Jim headed back up towards Alabama. Steve and I went over to visit with Don and Angie and while we were there, one of Donnie's friend's found out that we were gonna do a fish fry and donated close to (100) pounds of Flatheads. Needless to say, between Donnie, Jimmy and Brandon.... there was some fish cleaning going on. It sure was a shame to have to leave for home on Monday but.... did I mention...... I can't wait for the Gaskin Park Flathead Tournament, the end of June! Thank's again Don and Angie for all of your help and your warm hospitality. We will see you in June.... Ray

[Stump Bumper]

I will try to download some new pics and videos. Well it wouldn't allow me to download the video clips from the trip so I will burn them onto a disk and mail them to Bob so he can have Tim post them for me.... Ray

[Schoe]

Thanks Ray, looks like you boys had a great trip . Thanks for the post and photo's and I will be waiting for the Video.

Schoe

[Corndog]

Ray, I have started my 1st Blog of my Flathead trips. I have posted all the photo's of our trip to Wewa.

Corndog

[dipper69_2000]

nice looking fish.