Friday and Saturday night report

[carl schenk]

After watching the weather report I decided to fish Friday night.  While trolling in un13 I started to notice lightning in the distance so I made a few phone calls.  My daughter checked the weather on her computer and said everything appeared to be to the north.  My wife had just finished watching the 11:00 news and told me the same thing.  Lots of lightning but no thunder so...thirty minutes later the rain starts gently coming down. Suddenly there is a lightning bolt followed almost instantly by LOUD thunder.  I decide to bail on 13 and head up towards Frenchmans and make it halfway when the sky opens up and it is coming down hard.  I put on my rain gear top and continue running upriver, get to Frenchmans and the thunder is almost blasting me out of the boat.  I'm unwilling to cross the open water to head to the launch and hug the shoreline.  Lightning is freaking me out and I am now sitting in a puddle so decide to run along shore to the International bridge where it isn't raining at all.  Hovering in the current under the bridge I feel more secure and give my daughter a call to say WTF.  She rechecks the radar and tells me it just keeps building out of nowhere and is growing worse to the west and looks like it will be hitting me hard soon.  Lightning is going off steadily and twice I hear almost a ringing sound from the railroad tracks above me.  Now I'm getting poured on again and for around 15 minutes I stay under the bridge with my wife and daughter both calling me and telling me to GET OFF THE WATER but I can't even see Strawberry through the rain and lightning is all over north of me.  As soon as I see a break and the rain lessons I decide it's time to haul as fast as my little 14 ft boat can go, get to the launch and head for home.  Wanting to wipe Friday nights experience off the books I went out again last night and was rewarded with a water measured 46" fish sliding over the lip of my net.  I tried to get it on the GoPro and had my grip on the handle so I could bump board it but it rolled away from me and I had to let go. I slide my hand up for another attempt but this time the fish clamps down on some net and does another roll, entangling itself over both corners of its jaws.  As I work to get it free I don't notice that the net edge has dipped a few inches below the water and the tail of the fish is no longer inside .  I free both corners and the fish opens it mouth and the net is free and in a slow motion flash (if there is such a thing) it is gone.  Adrenaline carried me through another hour of fishing but I had had enough and was home early. Upon viewing the R-rated video I discovered the camera was aimed too high and only a few glimpses of the fish appear.  I am putting this week-ends debacles behind....

[Stephen Glassic]

Wow Carl. I think I would have been messing my pants.

[John Jarosz]

WOW!! and double WOW!!  Glad you made it out of all that OK, well physically, you did.  I don't know how your nerves are. The glasses & dishes in my kitchen were rattling during that storm.  I can't imagine what it was like sitting in an aluminum boat under a metal trestle in the middle of a rainstorm.

We might have to call you "The Flash" from now on.

[carl schenk]

I'll admit it was a bit nerve wracking.  First time I was glad to have a cell phone.  Just talking through the worst of it was a big help.  I pictured bad things when thinking about crossing over to the American side, although I did think about going back out again when I was safely ashore.  Fishing with Tommy right after a thunderstorm last year gave us our best night together on big fish, but seeing more lightning in the west made me do the sensible thing and go home.  I put the boat away in a downpour that started again as I got half way home.

[Scott McKee]

Holy (expletive deleted)!!!! I was joking with Carrie Friday night about going fishing. It was kind of like whistling while you walk past a cemetery as I've been out in stuff like we had Friday, and I never want to be in that situation again. EVER. I'm sure you feel the same way. It's scary enough in the daytime in a boat that goes really fast. I would have needed new raingear at night and in your 14 footer. Gang, important safety notice: Lightning can travel a long way. If you see lightning flash, head for the launch immediately. We don't need any members getting fried on the water. No fish is worth the risk, and I can't believe I just wrote that. I must be getting old, or maybe with age comes wisdom. Either way, let's be careful out there. Carl, I am so glad you made it back okay.