How to drive yourself insane in 2 hours

First of all...go fishing. Catfish in particular.

I go to the Ohio River, about a 20 minute drive from my house.

Go to the bait shop the night before, get your favorite, stop and get ice for the cooler, go home, get all the rods ready, make sure your tackle box is stocked. You got it all covered are ready to go.
Get up early. I mean before daylight and get the truck loaded. Wake up the wife [ oh so gently because she is NOT a morning person] and tell her it's time to go.
You get to the river and you can just feel the fish are ready to bite. You can already taste that catfish dinner.

Pack all the rods, bait, tackle box, cooler and a lawn chair for the Goddess down the bank to the water. You're set. You get baited up and cast out.
Sit and watch your rods for an hour. Watch them do nothing.
You think, "Well it's still pretty early, they'll start biting in a bit, but since I missed breakfast, now would be a good time to grab a sandwich"

You walk 30 feet up the bank to the cooler and about the time you get there, your wife looks up from her book and says "You got a bite "
Your rod tip is almost touching the water and you can tell it's a big'un. You get to the water...your hand is a heartbeat away from grabbing the rod....and it stops.
At this point, you're philosophical and still hopeful. You think "Damn, that was a good bite, he'll be back "

So, you reel it in, replace the bait and cast out, swearing this time, you're not gonna move.
Fast forward an hour. No bites. Not even a nibble and your bladder is telling you that you really need to pay attention and get rid of all that coffee you drank this morning. Being a man, we don't head for the trees, we just step a few feet away and let it go. There's no one else for miles and the wife doesn't care, so ....
You're 10 feet away with your back turned and you hear the drag zipping out on the reel.
This is a difficult time in a man's life. You have to cut it off mid stream, get everything back in and do it all while running to get back to that rod.
You get there, you pick it up.......and the fish got off.

This is another difficult time in life. You have to decide if you're just gonna chuck it all in the river or stay and persevere.

Of course, you go for the middle ground and just pack up and go home, vowing to give up fishing for ever and get a hobby that's easier on the nerves, like bull fighting.

Me ? Quit ? Oh hell no....I'm already packed up and ready to go again tomorrow.

I SHALL HAVE MY REVENGE !

a reply to: DAVID64

You’ll find great solace in watching the show ‘Alone’.

I’ve been watching it lately. What these people go thru is insane.

It’s actually harder for them than a normal person in a survival situation; because they have to abide by BS local fishing and game regulations.

a reply to: DAVID64

My pawpaw always said of both hunting and fishing, "If you bring some meat, that's just lagniappe. (We from South Louisiana.)

a reply to: incoserv

I loved watching Justin Wilson as a kid back in the 80’s.

a reply to: DAVID64

Love Catfishing, but we're obsessed with Speckled Trout (Specks) around these parts.

Great tale.

Since you didn't catch anything and you aren't bragging about the size of your catch, we know every word is true.

Not sure what the Ohio is like, but you guys have some MONSTER Catfish in the States...try to catch one, eh?

a reply to: DAVID64

Are you using circle hooks?, if not I would suggest that you start using them or at least give them a try. Their design is such that the fish essentially hooks itself. One of the things about using these hooks is you have to train yourself to not strike the rod, you let the pull of the fish set the hook. they also help to stop gullet and stomach hook ups.

a reply to: myselfaswell

Yeah, I been using them for years and they are a world of difference between those and the regular "J" hooks.

Gar are bad in the Ohio and they will steal bait and never set the hook, so maybe that's what was happening today. There are some monsters in there that hit as hard as a big 'ol cat.

Depending which side your wife sits. Keeping the pole in one hand and pulling out the pole with other is very simple. I'm a noob to this fishing scene but walking away from a baited line...

a reply to: DAVID64

Who says fish aren't smarter than us ?

Fish do smile...

Fish do point...

originally posted by: KKLOCO
a reply to: incoserv

I loved watching Justin Wilson as a kid back in the 80’s.

Did you know that he wasn't even actually a Cajun? He was a redneck from up Mississippi.

But he was funny and he learned the culture.

a reply to: DAVID64

Catfish are easy. Catch you a lizard hook him through twice. Throw the rod in and within 15 minutes you got a cat.

The river at my work I replicate this day after day and fish after fish.

Set the drag just right and I leave it and come back 10-30 minutes later and have a cat on the line. The only sweat is catching enough lizards to keep up with it.

a reply to: DAVID64

Catfish are easy. Catch you a lizard hook him through twice. Throw the rod in and within 15 minutes you got a cat.

The river at my work I replicate this day after day and fish after fish.

Set the drag just right and I leave it and come back 10-30 minutes later and have a cat on the line. The only sweat is catching enough lizards to keep up with it.

originally posted by: DAVID64
a reply to: myselfaswell

Yeah, I been using them for years and they are a world of difference between those and the regular "J" hooks.

Gar are bad in the Ohio and they will steal bait and never set the hook, so maybe that's what was happening today. There are some monsters in there that hit as hard as a big 'ol cat.

I grew up fishing the Ohio River in Northern West Virginia. We never had issues with gar when I was a kid (1980's)... we would occasionally see a longnose gar in the spring, but they were fairly rare. I was home 10 years ago, and they were everywhere. I was talking with my uncle (who is a brilliant dude, and avid fisherman); he thinks the gar population started to skyrocket in the 1990s, as a result of excessive silt from mining operations. The same problem is killing crawfish, which has caused a decline in both smallmouth bass and trout populations. This started in the tributaries, and s**t rolls downhill. He is probably right.

The best way to catch a gar, by the way (also a tip from my uncle)... tie off a short length of frayed white rope on the end of your line... when they go for it, the frayed rope tangles in their teeth.

When you land one... kill it. Kill it with fire.

originally posted by: incoserv

originally posted by: KKLOCO
a reply to: incoserv

I loved watching Justin Wilson as a kid back in the 80’s.

Did you know that he wasn't even actually a Cajun? He was a redneck from up Mississippi.

But he was funny and he learned the culture.

Yup, and made his fame off of cooking shows - but was originally a comedian by nature! 🍻

Some years ago I took my sons and their friend to a local canal not far from home for a quick catfishing trip. It was just something to do, and I had some clams already. The spot we went is fairly shallow. You know, like about 10 feet deep. We have all kinds of canals levies, and islands around here, and they all feed out into San Francisco Bay eventually.

Tossed the bait in and got some serious strikes right away! I said that's not a catfish. Within a couple minutes I set hook on one of those strikes, and he took the bait and ran real hard in the shallow water. Luckily, I had the bail set right, as I think I had 10 lb test on there, and it was a small pole. Finally got him in, and it was a two-foot-long striped bass fresh in from the ocean. We ended up catching three of them that size inside of 20 minutes and left right away to take them home to cook them up. Those fish were totally unexpected!

The fish usually hit just when I'm rolling a smoke.

Bally

How to drive someone insane in two hours?? Not fishing related. Get someone bursting for the toilet, put him in a barrel and ask him to pee in the corner.