Today was the Pezdeks' first outing wading for the spring season. About damn time I got out. The morning started out well. It was cool, foggy, and a little overcast. CFS was at 195, with visibility right around 8-10 inches. We got in the water about 6:30am with me, my dad, my brother, and Sam. I threw a black/silver Pin's minnow as soon as I got there, and about half a dozen casts in I was well rewarded with my first smallie of the year! I bumped a snag on a rock, and just after I popped it off the rock it got smacked hard. It just so happened it was also my only fish of the day, but it was an absolutely gorgeous 20 1/2 inch 4+ pound football! Sam has a couple other pics, but here are my two of the fish:





It's definitely a little shorter fish than the one I got last year. Also a little lighter, but wow did this thing have a belly on it already. I didn't get my girth measurement, I just wanted to get her back in the water, so that's what I did. I estimate the weight somewhere around 4 1/2 or so. Nursed her back, and off into the depths of her pool she went.

Shortly after I managed to snag into this nice carp.



That was all for me for today. Lots of casting, no more takers. Couple bumps, couple missed fish, but plenty of time to get out there and do it again. As for the rest of the day...

It got warm and turned into bluebird skies. The bite died completely for about 4 hours. Sam managed one small one right after my first football was caught around 7am:



then we caught nothing at all until Sam hooked into this feisty little gar around 11am. He looked like he shit his pants when he was holding the damn thing lol.



It was bright and sunny, and the fish just didn't wanna bite.







Then the cloud cover started to show up again. The fish started biting. We managed a few more:











And then we decided to pack it up and head home at about 1:00pm. The walk back we encountered numerous beaver-damaged trees like this one, which the beavers must have decided to abandon and lose hope on, because it tipped over and hung up in a couple trees next to it:







On the walk back we also encountered these trees that look like they adapted by growing themselves some of their own beaver-security devices.





All in all, a good day for the Pezdeks' first day out wading. A big football, some other decent sized fish in the 10-15 inch range, and all of them absolutely gorgeous colors. They were all VERY chunky already too. Dad got the skunk, but he'll get em' next time. We got plenty of fishing left this year. The water levels were perfect, the weather was nice, the company was outstanding as usual, and I couldn't have asked for a better way to start my season than with that big mama. Looking forward to being back out there soon, possibly tomorrow. We'll see what happens. Thanks for coming along Sam. We always have a great time when we get out there. Maybe I'll get out there with you tomorrow, we'll talk a bit more about it later.

Nice, the water didn't look that bad from the photo's at all.

With this warm weather all week, things could get even better by the weekend.

I can only hope.

Ya Ken, the water levels were perfect. The clarity was basically perfect. That river is prime right now. Can't wait to get back out there!

Nice report and beautiful fish!!!!

Ed was asking earlier on how to do some color adjustments on pictures.
If this were mine, this is how I would have done Nick's shot. A little different color, tighter cropping.
I do this for a living and have done this to thousands of images over the past 28 years.
It will be hard for me to put in writing, but I'll see what I can do. May take a while.

Ya I need to find me a cracked version of photoshop or psp. I used to have a disk somewhere, but can't find it. I'll look for a cracked one at some point. Honestly I'm just too lazy to go find a cracked version at this point. I like to edit and tinker with the pics, but need some better software than the free garbage that I usually use.

pezdek1 wrote:Ya I need to find me a cracked version of photoshop or psp. I used to have a disk somewhere, but can't find it. I'll look for a cracked one at some point. Honestly I'm just too lazy to go find a cracked version at this point. I like to edit and tinker with the pics, but need some better software than the free garbage that I usually use.

I'm in the same boat. I used to have a cracked copy of PS 6, but after so many hard drive crashes and windows reinstalls, that got lost.

If someone can tell me the name of some of the best software out there, I have a source for getting them. "trial" copies of course.

I should start a service. You send me pics, 25 cents a piece to make them look purty. I send the back to you so you can spread fishing joy world wide.

When I used to do computer consulting I could get you anything you wanted, for a Mac.

Those days are gone.

There has to be a way to come close even in the freebie stuff. They are all just ripping off Photoshop anyway.

This is the Weird Cult Church we found in the middle of the woods











big clams

That would be The Church of the Holy Fish. They only exist along flowing waters. Lakes don't count.

Services every Sunday at sunrise. Been promoting the services for years now, only no one ever shows up.

That's a Boy Scout emblem on the steeple, isn't it.

Hardly a cult.