Monday, December 11, 2017

When you lose the biggest, baddest fish right at the boat...

I had that experience with a Walleye or a Northern Pike. Never did find out what it was. It happened when I was a teenager in Michigan... I had just built my first fishing rod. It was an Sage ultralight spinning rod. I was shore fishing in an eddy on the Muskegon River that was known for really big walleye... one had been caught in that hole that was 46 inches.

I was casting a Mepps Spinner - one of the early Black Fury Yellowtails. I was bringing it in and it passed over a deep spot with a large submerged rock. Something grabbed it but I couldn't see anything so I thought I'd snagged the rock. Then I got a big thump...thump and I knew I had a fish on. I started pulling and then proceeded to watch a monster fish roll in my line - a typical trait for pike type fish. I only had 8lb mono on with an ultralight rod. So yeah, the line snapped. But as the fish rolled, I saw more than 2ft of fish, but saw neither head nor tail. The width of the fish I saw was a good 8 inches across.

So yeah, I've never seen a Walleye that big since, but I can still remember that scene as if it were yesterday. I can tell you where the sun was, what I was standing on, what the temperature was, what that rock looked like, the clarity of the water, the type of reel used, the size and color of the lure, and the color and shape of the fish... 30 years later.

You don't forget that kind of thing. Ever.

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Update: What happened to Geeks Fish Too?

Just wanted to update y'all on what's going on with Geeks Fish Too.  We have not dropped off the face of the earth. As many of you know, my wife and I live full time in a 5th wheel RV but due to the house sucking all the life out of our bank accounts, we've been very restricted over the past year on how much we could get out an fish and for me, fishing is my blogging inspiration.  If I'm not fishing, I'm not writing.  Plus, over the past few weeks, we've been very busy.

One big thing that happened recently is that we finally have a serious buyer for our house and we're supposed to close in June.  This has gotten us scrambling to finish up a couple projects that needed to be done before the house closes.  Essentially our weekends are pretty much full and we have only gone fishing a few times since the beginning of March.  I know I know...  that's really BAD.

And we feel it!  We miss our 1-2 times of fishing per week.  The bright side is that once this house is off our hands and our projects come to a close, we should have much much more time to fish than ever before!

For those of you who don't know, we are planning on traveling all over Texas and beyond.  At the moment I am tied to my office in Georgetown where I work for Georgetown Mortgage as an IT Manager.  But once we get the green light to start traveling, we hope to be able to spend a significant amount of time on the road visiting prime fishing spots across the country.  We also want to meet up with other anglers along the way so be sure to let us know if you want to join us!

So with that, I apologize for my long absence and promise to at least write something to keep everyone up to date on the next adventure!

For more info on our RV Fishing Adventures, be sure to check us out on Instagram:  @RVFishingAdventures  and of course @geeksfishtoo

Tight Lines Y'all!

Mike



Monday, March 6, 2017

Pics of the day - On the Llano near Mason

Caught this nice 16in+ bass in the hole in the background.  There were 3 bass in that hole, I caught the biggest first,
then a 15.5in, and then a 12-13in bass.  The female was full of eggs so they were likely pre-spawn. I paddled away laughing
my head off though because I almost gave up since I couldn't even paddle back there due to the water being too shallow.

Amazing cliffs on the Llano River.  At the base of this cliff is where I caught a very pregnant female bass: 19.25in and 4lbs.

And here's the fish mentioned from the previous pic. Very nice fish for this stretch of river though there are some pretty
deep holes on this stretch so there might be a bigger one somewhere.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Report: Llano river at Llano delivers once again

Going fishing in the winter can be an exercise in futility.  It's the only time of year we get skunked and I'm ashamed to say I haven't got the magic-bullet to solve this problem.  I'm fairly convinced there are days when the fish don't bite because they don't need to and the conditions are just too uncomfortable for them.

That said, this last trip to the Llano river was an exception to the winter time rule.  It wasn't a *great* day as in crazy good, but it was a good fishing day with several fish caught - enough to where as I sit here, I can't quite remember how many.  That's a good fishing day in my book.  :)

The day started out really slow...

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Pic of the Day: Lake Somerville NOT Lake Summerville

Pardon the play on words. But considering this day was extremely windy and relatively cold, it definitely was NOT summer time.


Actually, in all fairness, this lake looked to be a good lake for Spring and Summer time fishing. The water was a chilly 60 degrees in the main lake but was 55-56 degrees in the coves where the creeks ran in. When we first got there it was windy but doable, but after we got in the water, the wind was blowing 20+ mph and the 3ft white caps were prohibitive.  It would have been intimidating to all but the toughest kayakers.  Even then, you'd need an anchor and well...  I haven't installed mine yet!

We will definitely go back though.  And if the KATS tournament day looks to be warm, we'll probably register.  Otherwise I think we'll skip it.  The lake has been fluctuating a lot so the water is murky.  If there's any rain between now and then, it will just get worse.

At any rate, that's the pic of the day.

Tight Lines Y'all!

Mike
@GeeksFishToo

Friday, January 27, 2017

House still for sale??


Yep,  our wonderful house is still for sale!

We have had a contract on it twice now.  The first one was unable to make the financing work for the property since the property is on a private road and their lender wouldn't work with that.

The current contract we are on is a contingency - which means they have to sell THEIR house before they can buy ours.  yay... whatever.

The fact is, the house is still on the market.  It's in a beautiful spot and it's a prepper's dream.  It's got a water tank that's just aching to be used and a garden that's fenced off and has been fallow for several years.  Not to mention that the entire property is fenced and *cross-fenced* for animals.  Part of the property is flood plain where there is plenty of food for the animals. The other part, where the house is, looks out over the valley from a high point. Add to all of this, the property is evenly split between woods and grasslands.  If someone could finish what I started in removing the cedar trees, they'd have some prime pasture land!   Oh, and this property is a shotgun or bow-hunter's dream...  Until the neighbors moved in, I even shot deer with a rifle from my *living room*.

Check out the link to the House for Sale at the top of this page!

Feel free to send me any questions you may have!


Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Kayak Fishing: Nature's best weight-loss plan!

Over the years I've found that I've told my story quite a few times but I don't believe I've ever fully explained how and why I got into kayak fishing in the first place.

Here is the story of how I got to where I am.

It was a dark and stormy night...

Pic of the Day #2

To all the geeks out there: Sometimes you gotta do what ya gotta do even if you look like a dork doing it!  Don't be afraid to embrace your inner geek and let everyone laugh. They'll only laugh until you catch all the fish!

It was a cold day and while I didn't need the jacket on my shoulders, it sure helped keep my legs warm after they got wet getting in the kayak...  even if it did look odd.  :)

Tightlines!

Mike

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Pic of the Day #1

This picture recently got a ton of likes on the Yak Tribe Instagram account.  This is a picture of our cat Stealth.  Between him and Shadow, he's the most curious.  He's constantly on the prowl when we are out fishing.  This is a common place for him too - on top of his kennel looking at everything going on around him.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am trying to post more with smaller posts and pictures.

Enjoy and Tight Lines!

Mike

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Full goTenna Review - Why goTenna?

I'm what most of my acquaintances call a "gadget geek".  Through the years I’ve seen a lot of gadgets come and go without making a lasting impact. One of the gadgets that has ended up being a staple is my goTenna.  This device may not need to be used on every trip, but it's included on every trip.

Monday, January 16, 2017

Report: Fishing at Menard County Park on the San Saba River

We recently took a trip out to Menard Texas to fish the San Saba River at the Menard county park.  This report will detail some of the things we found and hopefully help you determine if you want to make the trip yourself and if you do, help give you some info that will give you an idea of what to expect.