Anti-Stressing at the Puddles (1/29)

[Latimeria]

Two days left before I'm done with dry January (as well as my annual pass expiring) and it's been a long and tough month.  I was supposed to fish with Josh for surf sharks, but he blew me off and took Nickt fishing in the bay instead...  I don't blame him.  lol 

Anyway, I decoded to get out and try for my 2025 Lightning and the puddles were empty.  Only a couple of anglers in each lake.

Fishing was really slow, but I saw the SI go flying and a trout launching like a space shuttle about 40 feet out!

This trout was dark and jumping like a tarpon.  It reminded me of the Nebraska Tail Walkers they used to stock.  Man, what fun acrobatics!
I get him to the shore then reach for the net.  The trout was the smallest I've caught this year and probably 1.5# at best.  I didn't really know if I wanted to take the time to fillet it at home and do all that stuff when the trout made up my mind for me and popped off.  Cool... It made my mind up for me.  LOL

I looked across the lake and saw a guy watching me fight the fish.  Just then he flopped backwards and it really looked like he was thinking "WTF...."  LOL  (sorry my cell phone camera doesn't do good long distance)



Then nothing.  Finally the Ranger was going around the lake to kick everyone out and I saw the SI drop like an anchor!  Fish on!

This one was quite a bit bigger, but not the one I was looking for.  I fight it to shore and said "This one is worth the effort of cleaning".  lol



Packed up my gear and got out at 5:00 on the button.  As I was passing the playground I looked over to see 5 police cars and a fire truck in the lot.  I saw them all around a car but couldn't make out what was going on.  I thought a kid might have hurt themselves on the playground, but them around a car made me think it was probably a drug thing or something... or an old man down. 

Oh well.  Got home to add some more fillets to the stash for the next smoker run.

Today I have a team meeting down there so I'm hoping for a few more.

[Tim524]

I got a chuckle out of the guy across the lake

Do you ever make Dip out of the Trout once you smoke it ?  (Cream Cheese and Peppers)

[jrodda]

It's good to see it's possible Tom.

What was this Nebraska Tail Walker era of trout stocking? Really interesting that such a characteristic could be bred.

[Latimeria]

I just checked the dates on my pictures and it all started in 2008 for the Nebraska Tailwalkers.