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Granny Fish · 02-20-2008, 02:49 PM

February 14th marked our 26th wedding anniversary. What a coincidence that Irvine Lake was actually the first official date we had after my room mate introduced us, over 27 years ago. We usually go away for our anniversary weekend, but I wanted my husband to have another chance at the Irvine Lake Master’s Invitational qualifier slated for the same weekend. So by mutual agreement we decided to postpone our anniversary rendezvous and go fishing!

Saturday, February 16th, was the first day of the President’s Day Trout Tournament at Irvine Lake. With high expectations for a great day of catching and my husband armed with his super secret atomic bait, we launched at 8:30AM. The water was stained, jade green, and was a chilly 50 degrees. With slight cloud cover and air temperature of 65 degrees, it looked to be a promising day.

First, we set anchor off Trout Island. This produced one fat crappie for me, which fell for a blade dancer worked in slow. It was my very first crappie, ever!

With no love from the trout, next on the agenda was a previous hot spot in the Sierra Flats. Still no love by 12:30PM, we head over to the J-Spot to watch the fishing clinic demonstrated by my friends One Leg and Barbie girl. They were the only people I seen on the lake catching fish consistently!

We had no bites all day, other than the one crappie, so we finally settled at Trout Island once more. With final weigh in quickly approaching, we resigned ourselves to enjoy the nice day as we cast our bait one more time.

Falcon at the top of Trolly’s Tree House.

I continued to play with my new blade dancer, hoping to, at least add another crappie to the stringer for dinner. Mr. GFish finally decided to forego his atomic mixture he had been using all-day and opted for a night crawler combo, we call the N/C Hammer, known by the locals as the Dr. Hook special.

Wow! Look at that crowd on the shore!

After many slow retrieves, I’m hooked up with the blade dancer… Granpa readied the net. Then all of a sudden, a fish that looked like Moby Dick’s baby brother almost jumps in the boat! No, it isn’t my fish! Almost at the same time we both look to the back of the boat to see Granpa’s little whippy, Eagle Claw pole bent in half over the side of the boat! For a spit second, he was as a deer caught in the headlights. Three times, the huge fish tried to jump into the boat, each time from a different side!

It was like a comedy at first, then almost a tragedy when the line caught on the empty stringer hanging off the boat and again almost wrapping around the anchor line! It seemed certain this behemoth would disappear into the depths! My heart began to sink as the thought crossed my mind. Granpa says, “I still feel head shakes” and then Zzzz-Zzzz-Zzzzz! It went running behind the boat.

I finally get my fish netted and Granpa is still fighting the beast at the back of the boat. It is apparent now who is winning the battle as the fish is now slowly being lead to the boat. My heart was pumping with excitement and fear. I knew we only had 20 minutes to get the fish up to weigh in. Like a pro, he led the fish into the net. With only a few minutes to spare, we raced up to the dock to get the fish weighed in at a whopping 10.3#!

Congratulations, on your personal best trout, Baby! What a way to finish!

Looks like there be a little family competition at the Master's event.

Tight lines everyone!

02-20-2008, 02:49 PM	#1 (permalink)
Granny Fish Fishmaster Join Date: May 2007 Location: Southern California Posts: 87 Rep Power: 13	In the Nick of Time! February 14th marked our 26th wedding anniversary. What a coincidence that Irvine Lake was actually the first official date we had after my room mate introduced us, over 27 years ago. We usually go away for our anniversary weekend, but I wanted my husband to have another chance at the Irvine Lake Master’s Invitational qualifier slated for the same weekend. So by mutual agreement we decided to postpone our anniversary rendezvous and go fishing! Saturday, February 16th, was the first day of the President’s Day Trout Tournament at Irvine Lake. With high expectations for a great day of catching and my husband armed with his super secret atomic bait, we launched at 8:30AM. The water was stained, jade green, and was a chilly 50 degrees. With slight cloud cover and air temperature of 65 degrees, it looked to be a promising day. First, we set anchor off Trout Island. This produced one fat crappie for me, which fell for a blade dancer worked in slow. It was my very first crappie, ever! With no love from the trout, next on the agenda was a previous hot spot in the Sierra Flats. Still no love by 12:30PM, we head over to the J-Spot to watch the fishing clinic demonstrated by my friends One Leg and Barbie girl. They were the only people I seen on the lake catching fish consistently! We had no bites all day, other than the one crappie, so we finally settled at Trout Island once more. With final weigh in quickly approaching, we resigned ourselves to enjoy the nice day as we cast our bait one more time. Falcon at the top of Trolly’s Tree House. I continued to play with my new blade dancer, hoping to, at least add another crappie to the stringer for dinner. Mr. GFish finally decided to forego his atomic mixture he had been using all-day and opted for a night crawler combo, we call the N/C Hammer, known by the locals as the Dr. Hook special. Wow! Look at that crowd on the shore! After many slow retrieves, I’m hooked up with the blade dancer… Granpa readied the net. Then all of a sudden, a fish that looked like Moby Dick’s baby brother almost jumps in the boat! No, it isn’t my fish! Almost at the same time we both look to the back of the boat to see Granpa’s little whippy, Eagle Claw pole bent in half over the side of the boat! For a spit second, he was as a deer caught in the headlights. Three times, the huge fish tried to jump into the boat, each time from a different side! It was like a comedy at first, then almost a tragedy when the line caught on the empty stringer hanging off the boat and again almost wrapping around the anchor line! It seemed certain this behemoth would disappear into the depths! My heart began to sink as the thought crossed my mind. Granpa says, “I still feel head shakes” and then Zzzz-Zzzz-Zzzzz! It went running behind the boat. I finally get my fish netted and Granpa is still fighting the beast at the back of the boat. It is apparent now who is winning the battle as the fish is now slowly being lead to the boat. My heart was pumping with excitement and fear. I knew we only had 20 minutes to get the fish up to weigh in. Like a pro, he led the fish into the net. With only a few minutes to spare, we raced up to the dock to get the fish weighed in at a whopping 10.3#! Congratulations, on your personal best trout, Baby! What a way to finish! Looks like there be a little family competition at the Master's event. Tight lines everyone! Last edited by Granny Fish : 02-20-2008 at 02:52 PM.