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| our dock - Jonathan Creek |
The vacation bells were ringing as five overworked individuals (sixth was retired - he used to be overworked) got a much needed break from the 9-5 grind and converged upon Kentucky Lake in southwest Kentucky for fishing and as Bob Seger says, "cleansing the soul". We had all the preparation necessary in making sure all of the necessities of a fishing trip weren't missed. Accommodations? Check. Boats? Check. Fish supplies/license? Check. Maps? Check. Food/supplies? Check. Beer? Check, ummm, kind of a check.
With respect to the latter, we did buy beverage supplies enough for about a day or so with intentions of running up to the local party store to buy more when we got there. Well, we roll into town last Sunday giddy as 4th graders on the last day of school and hit a local grill for a beer and a burger before we moved on to the lake house. As I didn't see any people drinking beer when we walked through the place, I started to get a bit curious. Once we asked the question to the waitress, we found out. We were staying in a dry county! What's with that? I see no positives to anyone. A minor flesh wound to morale, we made the drive to Paducah (30 minutes) the next day and stocked up quite sufficiently for the week.
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| the Och boys |
Back to the main intention of this trip, the fishing. From the fishing reports that are available via the Internet, we all had intentions of getting that six-plus pound trophy bass that we had read so much about. I had visions of catching a fish at least every five or so minutes from all the talk. Well, our six pounder became a four pounder (nice catch Doke) and every five minutes happened in spurts but not as much as I was expecting. We all caught our share with a good representation of the fish family though so no complaints. In the boat came largemouth, smallmouth, sunfish, bluegill, white, striped, crappy (lot of crappy fishermen, we were the minority), catfish, drum, a few turtles, and Jerry grazed a gar pike. The lures that seemed to be doing the trick were the lipless crankbaits along with moderate success with the wacky style; green being the ideal worm color. Doke even pulled out a new weapon to the arsenal, the Alabama rig; and got his share of fish using it. That lure takes the "most hooks" theory to a whole new level.
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| final day find |
The lake itself was beautiful and besides one day of clouds/rain, which turned out to be Tigers' opening day so it was a win-win, we had blue skies the entire week. Our accommodations were outstanding with a very short walk to our boats. The ping pong championship goes to Al as I got taken down on a late Thursday evening. That darn serve! For the wives reading this, all of your husbands broke even in poker throughout the week. We had a visitor on Wednesday as former Redskin Buddy D. made the drive up from his home in Tennessee. Buddy was gracious (???) enough to bring a gift with him. A mason jar of clear liquid that definitely wasn't water and will give you the tequila/jager face beyond all tequila/jager faces. Holy holy!!! John gets a gold star for another prize winning fish fry on Thursday. Good eats.
The week was great and yes, my soul was cleansed!
Trail Head
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| the posse |
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| striper |
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| no, that isn't water |
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| John cooking up the day's catch |
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| no, didn't make it to Sassyland |
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| stress just oozing off this boat |
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| Jim going for air off the edge of the dock |
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| nice bluegill |
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| snorting catfish |
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| the crib |
