So, church this morning was great; sermon was about the Gate, the narrow way and the wide way, but that's not what you're wanting to hear about- today I went fishing, and here's what happened.
Bullshoals Lake is one of three big lakes in Branson, and it was here that Brett Potter, mad keen angler and one of the founders of a new Outdoorsman's "fresh expression" style church called "True North" took me and Dave for an afternoon's fishing. The lake contains largemouth, smallmouth and kentucky bass, walleye, gar, perch, trout, crappie and several "panfish" species. By British standards it's an enormous body of water (certainly compared to the average day-ticket pond or "commercial"), and Brett's Dad's shiny bass boat was going to be our ride, and the means by which we could cover a lot of water, and there is a lot of water.
As is the American style, a vast number of rods were on board, allowing various rigs to be made up, giving us an instant range of tactics and options to try. We shot off accross the lake at 58 miles per hour, leaving spray in our wake, and with faces whipped by the wind, before switching to the electric trolling motor and gently drifting in the deep water not far from the shoreline. Initially I tried a plastic worm, but on changing over to a deep diving crankbait had a hit from a bass, which dropped off tantalisingly close to the boat. A few minutes later I atoned for the loss with my first ever bass, not a big fish, but a kentucky bass none the less. I was delighted- my ambition had been to catch a bass, the iconic fish of American angling, and now I was holding one in the boat. It even jumped for me a couple of times during the fight.
I lost another fish, before the action really hotted up. Brett hooked a gar, a strange prehistoric looking predator with a long snout full of vicious teeth. The gar leapt clear of the water a couple of times, before shedding the hook. Minutes later Dave was into a gar (pictured below while in the water), which this time did make it all the way to the boat, although for reasons of angler safety, it was unhooked with pliers while still in the water. Brett left us in no doubt that getting it into the boat and having it thrashing around and snapping its jaws wasn't a good plan. The fish must have been about three foot long- a real "clonker".
The fishing wasn't easy, and we switched between trolling (both the gar took deep diving trolled crankbaits) and casting, with Dave and I opting for crankbaits and Brett utilising a plastic worm approach. I caught a tiny, but beautiful bluegill, (pictured below) again on a deep diving plug and lost a fish which took line strongly from the clutch before coming adrift.
Brett caught a couple of nice largemouth bass on his worm rig, and I added one more kentucky bass after changing to a surface popper.
All too soon, it was time to pack up as a glorious sunset morphed into dusky gloom. It had been a a wonderful afternoon, a great learning curve and insight into American bass angling- fast boats, echo sounders and the challenge of locating fish in vast areas of water, and a session shared with two men passionate about the potential of using the outdoors and fishing as a means of sharing the Gospel with folk who otherwise might not naturally connect with Christians or church. Days like this make the memories that take root in an angler's consciousness.
Bullshoals Lake is one of three big lakes in Branson, and it was here that Brett Potter, mad keen angler and one of the founders of a new Outdoorsman's "fresh expression" style church called "True North" took me and Dave for an afternoon's fishing. The lake contains largemouth, smallmouth and kentucky bass, walleye, gar, perch, trout, crappie and several "panfish" species. By British standards it's an enormous body of water (certainly compared to the average day-ticket pond or "commercial"), and Brett's Dad's shiny bass boat was going to be our ride, and the means by which we could cover a lot of water, and there is a lot of water.
As is the American style, a vast number of rods were on board, allowing various rigs to be made up, giving us an instant range of tactics and options to try. We shot off accross the lake at 58 miles per hour, leaving spray in our wake, and with faces whipped by the wind, before switching to the electric trolling motor and gently drifting in the deep water not far from the shoreline. Initially I tried a plastic worm, but on changing over to a deep diving crankbait had a hit from a bass, which dropped off tantalisingly close to the boat. A few minutes later I atoned for the loss with my first ever bass, not a big fish, but a kentucky bass none the less. I was delighted- my ambition had been to catch a bass, the iconic fish of American angling, and now I was holding one in the boat. It even jumped for me a couple of times during the fight.
I lost another fish, before the action really hotted up. Brett hooked a gar, a strange prehistoric looking predator with a long snout full of vicious teeth. The gar leapt clear of the water a couple of times, before shedding the hook. Minutes later Dave was into a gar (pictured below while in the water), which this time did make it all the way to the boat, although for reasons of angler safety, it was unhooked with pliers while still in the water. Brett left us in no doubt that getting it into the boat and having it thrashing around and snapping its jaws wasn't a good plan. The fish must have been about three foot long- a real "clonker".
The fishing wasn't easy, and we switched between trolling (both the gar took deep diving trolled crankbaits) and casting, with Dave and I opting for crankbaits and Brett utilising a plastic worm approach. I caught a tiny, but beautiful bluegill, (pictured below) again on a deep diving plug and lost a fish which took line strongly from the clutch before coming adrift.
Brett caught a couple of nice largemouth bass on his worm rig, and I added one more kentucky bass after changing to a surface popper.
All too soon, it was time to pack up as a glorious sunset morphed into dusky gloom. It had been a a wonderful afternoon, a great learning curve and insight into American bass angling- fast boats, echo sounders and the challenge of locating fish in vast areas of water, and a session shared with two men passionate about the potential of using the outdoors and fishing as a means of sharing the Gospel with folk who otherwise might not naturally connect with Christians or church. Days like this make the memories that take root in an angler's consciousness.
Really enjoying reading your blog Jon, really interesting and great to see you are having such a good time!
ReplyDeleteThanks mate- I'm off to see some Christians who have a hunting se-up for disabled people today, and off to an evangelistic wild game supper for a bunch of duck hunters tonight!
ReplyDelete