Dammit, This Forum Needs a Fishing Thread

[skypigeon]

Just got back from a week in Canada (Lake Chapleau, with my dad and three brothers). Rained all week; still caught a few pike and walleye, most of them too small to keep.

We stayed at a cabin in Kanipahow Kamps (www.kanipahowkamps.com). It's a lot more, errrrr, "rustic" than the website makes it sound, but it's still pretty nice--a lot better than I expected. We even had a TV set that pulls in three Canadian networks, two of them broadcasting in English, one of them even showing good American programs.

Only 120 km up the road from us was Timmins, and the Shania Twain World Fan Fest, where 35 devoted fans (not us) showed up.

What does Shania Twain and Canadian TV have to do with fishing? Nothing. But I don't care. I'm so happy to be back I'm rambling for therapy.

[KevMcNJ]

Does Track Forum REALLY need a fishing board?

Theres enough posters trolling here aready!

The fishing part sounds a bit dull, but the spending a week in a rustic cabin in Canada sounds pretty good to me.

Throw Shania in and I'll rent it for a week next summer!

[dog-ring]

Poll Pigeon ?

[cheeseczar]

www.haywardlakes.com

Treeland Resorts.

You don't need Canada.

[PHJIndy]

Do anyone say FISHING!

[roach]

Let's just all hope Doc Austin never sees this thread, or no one will ever get a chance to get a word in edgewise!



jcr

[Frank Capua]

Nobody gets a word in edgewise around Doc already...

[Esquire59]

Avid Bass angler here, all for it!

[Frank Capua]

I'm not into fishing myself, however during my college days before I got married I spent a few summers as an assistant to renowned Bass Master Moe Miller... my title was that of Master Baiter.

[Doc Austin]

Originally posted by jcroche
Let's just all hope Doc Austin never sees this thread, or no one will ever get a chance to get a word in edgewise!



jcr

It just couldn't have been a nicer day, no way. A little bit of a cool front had come in and it was quite nice. The humidity was down, but the water temperature was still aorund 85 degrees or so. It just couldn't have been nicer on the gulf of mexico.

It was a small group. We had two guys who came from Canada and Scotland, respectively. We also had a group of local diving nurses on board. They were regulars who were always a blast. Generally, they are extremely qualified and I never have to bother with them except just be friendly and join them when I'm not babysitting other divers.

On Wenesdays, they would charter the entire boat and become the nude nurse's diving club. As the captain was my buddy, he always insisted a dive guide would be on board should they need me. I always found a reason for them to need me.

But, sadly, this was on a weekend and I was forced to dive with guys instead. The scotsman wanted nothing more that to see a sea turtle. As barren as the sea is where he comes from, I would have thought he would be thrilled to see anything merely alive, but he was pretty specific that it was sea turtles he was interested in.

We had seen the turtles mate nearly all summer. They would come to the surface, and the male would come up behind the female and bite her on the neck, I suppose so they wouldn't drift apart. Then they would thrash and splash about until they were, errrrrr, done. We saw it hundreds of times.

The Canadian guy wanted to see an eagle ray. He didn't care about anyting else. So, we headed out to the Sheraton, a 150ft long tug, sunk in perfectly intact shape. We had seen them all summer long out there, so it was a good bet.

And we saw almost everything we could have dreamed of, and a school of eagle Rays came in for a look and circled us for about 10 minutes. The Canadian guy was in heaven.

It was a great dive, but no turtles. Since the Sheraton was a deep dive, we needed to stay out about an hour and dive in shallower water on our second dive. Otherwise, we would risk decompression sickness, something you don't want for sure.

The cable barge was an old cable laying ship that was put down as part of the artificial reef program. Over the years, Green turtles have come to make it their mating grounds. It also sat in only 44ft, making it perfect for a second, shallow dive. And, we WERE right in the middle of green turtle mating season. We couldn't miss.

So, we headed in to the shallow water, ate lunch, soaked up the sun and changed out our tanks. And, of course, flirted with the nurses.


We were nearly 45 minutes into the cable barge dive and no turtles. We saw everything else including more rays, but no turtles. I was really feeling bad for our scottish buddy. To make matters worse, the visibility was going bad as the tide was going out. Our odds were getting pretty long. When the visibility got to around 6 feet, I knew it was only a short time before we would be virtually blind, so I called the dive off.

As I turned to my scottish buddy, a big green came up behind him, out of the murk, and went straight for his neck. I pulled him as much out of the way as I could, but the turtle got his high pressure air hose instead of his neck, neatly sliceing it into two pieces. Suddenly 3000lbs of pressurized air was spurting out in all directions.

The big turtle freaked out and ran square over me in an attempt to get out of dodge. He bounced me off a big head of fire coral and rolled me along the bottom until my mask and fins were ripped off, and my air supply was yanked out of my mouth. My swim trunks were also yanked down around my knees, but I didn't notice because I was more worried about getting my air supply back.

I reach for my regulator, but the hose is tangled on something behind me and I can't get to it.

So now, I am blind, crippled, stunned and out of air. And drowning. I can't see my buddies, but they are in their own little disaster with air blasting out of the scotsman's hose and the canadian trying to share his air with him in a swirling blur of buddles. I am on my own.

My scuba instructor in the '60's told me I might just die scuba diving through no fault of my own, or I might live forever, but the first time I panicked it would happen right then and there. It was a good lesson and thankfully one I remembered. I was forced to take my tank unit off in order to find my air supply. After that, I pulled my pants back on, and found my way back to the boat blind and finless. I could have been happier.

Now firecoral never bothers you until the air hits it. Fire coral is similar to a jellyfish sting except it is much, much worse. When the air hits it, it is like a burning match. I mean, we are talking about agony here.

It wasn't until I got on the boat that I noticed I must have been sitting, bare-azzed, on a big batch as I was taking my tank off. My azz was on fire.

And the only treatment is to put some meat tenderizer (really) on it and let it air out. So I was forced to bear the humiliation of having the nurses tend to the wounds on my bare keyster, then to ride into the docks with it sunning nicely in the breeze. The VISION, indeed.

And my buddies had a beer and laughed about their adventure. If only The Scotsman knew how close he came to being a 500lb turtle's lover...

[cheeseczar]

Geeze. THAT didn't take long!

[cheeseczar]

g

[Jimbo7]

Originally posted by Esquire59
Avid Bass angler here, all for it!

Plastic worms. Preferably the ones that are blue or green with a flourescent orange color on the end. I've always had good look with them.

[fivehundred2go]

Where do you find the "tenderloin" of a trout?

[Taxpayer]

post from fivehundred2go:
Where do you find the "tenderloin" of a trout?

I think it was described on one of those Iron Chef episodes. You know, one of the shows where they macerated the filets for broth and saved the head and liver for solid food.