I've been finding myself falling behind when it comes to reporting our fishing adventures... Hey, it's summertime and a lot has been happening around the homefront. But enough excuses, let's move on to Monday evening's fishing outing with Zach on Lake Aldred.
I thought we would have a milder Monday with less humidity. Well, the humidity was lower, but the temperature actually hit 90 degrees once again... HOT, HOT, HOT!
We arrived at the ramp around 4:00 p.m. and worked on preparing to unload the boat. There were two other boaters at the ramp. One boat was exiting from a day on the water and the other had just arrived after we did. It's nice seeing the new PPL Pequea docks and ramps being used by families on such a beautiful summer day.
We decided to change up on our normal routine and head down river towards the York Furnace launch instead of running north to the Safe Harbor Dam. There are some really nice rock formations in and around this area that often hold decent amount of fish. When we arrived, there was a large youth church group pulling into the parking lot for an evening of canoeing on the river... Pretty cool activity for the kids and their counselors on a hot summer night. Not only that, but it takes a lot of responsibility with such a large group. I used to be a camp counselor while I was in college and understand the importance of control and responsibility among such a large group of children.
The campers were very well behaved which made the counseling job a lot easier for the church leaders. Zach and I got to talk to a few of the campers as they prepared to head out in their kayaks and canoes. They were very pleasant, courteous, and respected our fishing.
Zach and I began to fish as we watch the youth group prepare to launch their canoes. Within a few casts, Zach had our first smallie of the evening hit his War Eagle spinnerbait! I no sooner turned to watch the action when the big smallmouth took an olympic-style (timely description) leap into the air and came unbuttoned! "Dang!"
I was tossing a 3/8th oz Cotton Cordell Big O in Firetiger. And immediately after Zach lost that nice smallie, I had a hit...
My first bluegill in years! I can't remember the last time I caught a bluegill on Lake Aldred. My oldest sons are now 28 years old and we used to catch bluegills on worms when they were youngsters. But as the years passed, so did the bluegills and crappies from the lake.
I know that a lot of Flathead anglers use bluegills for live bait. So, I was wondering if this bluegill might have been a fugitive from a Flathead angler's livewell (?). Whatever the case, I was certainly surprised to see this little bugger hanging onto my crankbait.
We soon left the York Furnace area and headed down river to one of the islands and fish the rocky point along it's front end. Casting for about thirty minutes without a hit, we decided to move on to the Power Lines a bit further south. We fished the shallow area along the York County with our lures and then jumped over the the Lancaster County shoreline. We had a few hits on tubes, but absolutely no takers.
It was pushing 6:00 p.m. and we decided to head off to the Safe Harbor Dam. Boy, were they pushing water through the generators! At least four gates were open and dumping water into Lake Aldred. Although there was a lot of water in that general location, as we moved south, the water level dropped rather quickly and it became shallow. That usually means that Holtwood Dam is also dumping water at the same time and not holding back.
We only had a few more hits, but no takers before deciding to head back to the ramp...
On our way out of the rock garden, we saw a younger man and woman (husband and wife ?) fly fishing from a G3. They had two platforms set up - one on the front deck and one on the back deck of the boat. The man was fishing with the long rod while the woman observed. They were both dressed in all-white shirts, shorts, and hats. I haven't seen them here before, but they certainly were dressed as seasoned fly-anglers... :)
It certainly was a slow evening with very little action. The fly-angler was the only other fisherman we even saw on the water Monday evening.
On Tuesday morning, Julie had her surgical dressing removed and we got to see her incisions. She has one on the back of her hand and a second longer incision along the side of her right arm where the plate and seven screw were placed.
The incisions looked very good and healing well. After the nurse removed the dressing, Julie was sent for x-rays.
Once she returned to the examining room, Dr. Peart, the orthopedic surgeon, came in to see her and evaluate her healing. He was rather pleased with what he saw and ordered a cast for the next four weeks.
This is Julie's second cast due to her fall back on July 7, 2011. Check out this tye-dye cast!
Julie calls this color... "Summer Splash"! :)
Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad
