By Sunday's end, they boated another 19 fish! Monday morning it was so windy, after boating four fish, they headed into shore to wait for the wind to die down. Today, because they were land-locked, which is a rare occasion, Lori, Joanne and I talked more fishing and Lori said that they have now pretty much fished every spot that Jasper has to offer and caught fish out of every last one of them as well. Jasper has 4.1 miles of shoreline and the Wilson party knows it and all the spots in between probably better than most.
The Wilson party came here for several years in the past, but with kids, school and college and activities, they had dropped off the Northwind Lodge yearly return-roster several years back. But, one day, out of the blue, kids done with school and on their own, Lori gave us a call and they showed up for vacationing once again at Northwind Lodge. At the time, I recall Lori saying to me that "it had been too many years" and they looked forward to staying here again. We were more than happy to have them back this time with the addition of friends Mike and Joanne. As I recalled, they used to fish, but I couldn't remember anything truly notable with their results of years past. I'm sure they caught fish back then, but nothing really notable stood out with me.
Then, one day, a few years ago, Larry, husband of Lori came in to Red Rock to look for a bait-casting rod & reel. Having been in the business of fishing and selling gear for my entire life, I felt it was my duty to inform my customer about what he was planning to do. Over the years, I felt that I'd seen far too many people buy a bait-casting combo with not enough info and then they would go home and stick it in the corner after experiencing their first major backlash - which usually occurred in the first cast. So, I told Larry to test mine out first. I had a $350 outfit with Pflueger Summit reel on a Falcon casting rod and 20 lb. test braid (the ONLY way to go with a bait caster - mono really does not work nearly as well), and suggested Larry go out and beat the water to a froth with it. I just happened to have Jig-n-Pig rig tied on that sales rep for Booyah Bait Co., Yum, and Pradco (which stands for Plastics Research and Development Company) Tim Fogarty set me up with to try for largemouth bass fishing "because it is a TON of FUN". I left the lure on and told Larry that it is weedless and he could cast it right into the lily pads or cabbage weeds and it would crawl right through the thickest ones with little difficulty. It was a fun bait to use because the little Crawbug arms flip like a crayfish through the water. The other cool part about that jig is that you can let it hit the bottom just about anywhere and it come right to you when you retrieve it. As far as catching fish with it, I had no real luck partly because I am more in the store talking about fishing that actually fishing these days. Larry disappeared out the door, and other duties called me to action. I forgot all about Larry and the bait-caster.
About 4 hours later, Larry showed up with that fancy-schmancy bait-caster and jig-n-pig in tow. I asked him how it went as I saw the reel was devoid of a bird's nest and showed no signs of sword-fighting. Larry handed it over, thanking me for being able to demo it. He also added that he's glad I set him up with the demo and he no longer wants to buy the bait-casting combo because it wasn't for him. "BUT", he added, "where do you get more of these?", he asked pointing to the Jig-n-Pig rig. Well, as luck would have it, I knew precisely where he could get more. I asked him if they were working and he said Lori told him to get some more and return quickly. I grabbed one off the shelves and showed Larry how to rig it up. Then, he grabbed a bunch that I put on the bill and disappeared out the door.
It was "Game On" from this point with the Wilson party. They turned into fishing fanatics! They'd be gone all day long on Jasper, rain or shine. I'd see all four of them in the boat, plugging the hell out of the shorelines, working the weed beds and lily pad rafts . The women would make an occasional visit to the store for a Jig-n-Pig resupply and they weren't excessively wordy. They got to the intended point of their visit and then back out the door they went. I was amazed at how hard the fishing focus combined with the competitive nature of their fishing. (!) Man, you talk about serious, butt-kicking, take-no-prisoners attitudes about putting fish in the boat, measuring them, releasing them, and winning. Apparently, they've had a rather serious competition going for the last few years and from the calm quiet intensity of it, I would contend that they are betting their homes, cars and maybe even gold doubloons. In reality, I think the prize is simply bragging rights which makes it even more spectacular. Annette and I remain fascinated by it all. I would have to conclude that they are now harder-core fisherpersons than our hard-core guys and I thoroughly enjoy them proving what this particular lake is capable of producing when one goes out and works at it. After all, they pulled in 19 fish in under 20 hours time here and while that doesn't sound impressive per hour, you gotta remember that they slept, ate dinner and breakfast during that time as well.
So, it's off to the races with the Wilson party in Cabin #6 for another year. They are on to a solid start on Jasper for 2014!
