"Damn Pelican"

[Mr. In2une]

Good morning saloon!

Most of you know from the PM that I sent out last week that I was heading to Lake Convict in the High Sierra's for opening day of trout season this last Saturday. I got home this last Monday and played catch up yesterday and wanted to post this morning on my trip.

We got up there late Wednesday night and slept in the truck with anticipation of being on the river at day break so no need for a hotel room. For the most part the weather was perfect, I fished in a t-shirt and shorts on Thu. and Fri. We were on the lake at 3:30 am on Sat. to get a good spot (which we did) and it was COLD! I caught a couple of trout within the first 30 min. and thought this was going to be a great day! WRONG! The temperature never got over 15 degrees and actually dropped below 0 with the wind chill factor. Not a good day to be fishing! This is where I have to agree that fish are brain food and that the idiots (including myself) haven't had any in a while, because we are fishing in freezing weather to the point that are pole tips are freezing from the water being on them and the fish are swimming around laughing at all of us. I finally gave up around 11:30 am and headed into the lodge for a few Bailey's and coffee to warm up the old bones.

We fished Lake Crowley (down the road from Convict) on Sunday and yours truly ended up with the biggest catch of the trip. The fish at Crowley were not interested in any type of bait what so ever. So, while I had one pole in the water with bait on it, I was casting out my second pole with a lure. I cast out this one particular time and out of the corner of my eye I saw a huge white flash. At this time my reel took off! Line was coming out of my reel like nobody's business. I looked down hoping to see my pole bent into the water and was surprised to see that my pole was actually bent sideways and up in the air. I looked up and saw that I had just caught a 40 - 45 lb Pelican! Needless to say the laughter from my buddies was so much that they had to stop fishing because they couldn't stand still. I finally was able to bring that bastard down about 75 yards out. Once he landed in the water he had this dazed and confused look on his face wondering what in the hell just happened. In the meantime, I'm still trying to reel him closer so I don't lose all my line. After about a minute, the damn thing took off again and this time completely spooled (took all my line) my reel.

This wasn't enough fun for him, as he had to come back and do a fly by and show me that I wasn't all that! When he flew by I noticed that he was the smaller of the 4 pelicans out there and he still had a 5 - 5 1/2 foot wing span. So my 4 lb test held up enough to bring him down the first time, but not enough to keep him down.

You see, when I go fishing not only do I catch as many fish as possible, I also take out my competition!

All in all it was a great trip with the boys! Caught fish everyday, pan size nothing too big, and drank WAY too much beer!

Even though we all look forward to vacations and going away, it's always nice to come home! So... I'M BAAAACCCCCKKKK!