Woke about 5 this AM and it just seemed as if I needed to go fishing. I've been thinking about lake X down there is Marshall County and was torn being that it is a Friday and the ramp and all may be a zoo. I thought if I got there early enough I should be OK. Packed the truck, boat and a few snacks and loaded up a fascinating podcast about John 18 regarding the conversation between Pilate and Jesus regarding the truth and headed out. The eastern sky was radiant with variegated clouds and beams of light penetrating through. The chick magnet (Suburban) was humming and it still blows my mind that I got 18 mpg towing a 17' boat for an hour. I clearly remember my old chick magnets getting 17 miles to the tankful it seemed. They have done a great job with fuel economy on these trucks. So, I get to Culvertown and was in a great mood following a nice drive and a good sermon and as I approach the ramp, it doesn't seem too bad. A few rigs parked in both directions and two rigs waiting, in line, to launch. So, for anyone who has been to this ramp, you know the common turn around when you come to the ramp from town is right at the ramp. I clearly saw the two rigs ahead of me and had no plans to do anything but turn around and go down the lane, pull over, and get my boat ready. The first guy in line is out of his truck, talking to someone in a boat on the lake and I swing wide right and then through the boat ramp lane and I hear... Today is a bad day to be an a@@hole. I had my windows down and that compliment was followed by can't you see I'm trying to launch my boat. I should have kept my mouth shut but I said it is pretty hard to launch your boat when your outside of your truck talking. I am just turning around. So, I proceeded down the lane and prepared my boat. I get launched and I had installed a new Garmin 93SV over the 4th of July and once out on the water, I was amazed at how easy it was to use and how accurate the lake mapping was. So, I head down to the "kettle" area and decide to troll around the perimeter of the kettle and follow the mapping in 10-15' of water. Again, I was amazed how easy it was to learn and also between the garmin and the terrova, I was just elated the way everything performed. So, I'm going a wopping 1.1 mph trolling jigs/twister tails/crawlers and I clearly see a Lund Rebel about 50 yards from me, meandering around with a live scope arm down. Again, I am following mapping so I decide to go off course a bit and give this boat more space. No wind, 1.1 mph, no wake and this gentleman yells over to me... Hey, you inconsiderate b@@turd, can't you see I'm fishing. I chose not to answer and continued veering wide. He intentionally turns his boat my direction and starts to cast at my boat. I was out of reach for him and I heard him tell his boat partner -- H@ll, he won't even argue with me... So, I continue trolling and keep a casual eye on this joker. I see him pull up his trolling motor and his livescope, start his engine and he had a 90 hp engine and comes on course, just in front of my boat at full speed. I completely ignored him as he took off but I wonder what in the world is going through his mind. I have no clue what kind of a morning he has had or maybe yesterday or maybe life in general but just so miserable. I chose not to respond because you never know when people are carrying a weapon. But, this did not affect my day or my fishing. It may have just been the day but the lake was magical. I am a very simple fisherperson. I am basically lazy and troll for the most part unless I find a herd of fish. Today, I trolled three lines - two with 1/16th oz jigs/twisters/chunks of crawler and one with an 1/8th oz jig/twister chuck of crawler. Most every hump I trolled around the perimeter at 1.1 mph, I hooked up with smallies, perch, rock bass and big blue gills. Now, I only caught 3 big gills but they were very chunky. The rock bass were fun and the smallies were out of control. The biggest was a wisker shy of 18" and those fish just don't give up. I caught more smallies today than I usually catch simply trolling. It was a bright, beautiful, sunny, windless day and I started with such positive expectations, thinking I was gonna fish all day. By about 3 pm, the sun had taken it's toll and enough was enough. Over all, it was a good day. This Garmin is too fun and going to improve my trolling a great deal. Loading the boat and the drive home were uneventful. I would encourage anyone interested to go visit and fish lake X. Keep it simple and you will probably have some luck and certainly will have fun. I have been skunked on this lake in the past but today it was productive and just too much fun...
