Andrew and his fishing buddy Robby are good fishermen as they always seem to have a great day on the water. Many others do as well as they do however, it is that Andrew takes pictures and sends then into us as a courtesy, a courtesy we certainly appreciate.
What is most enjoyable about his fish talk is the detail he presents that is completely unavailable or ignored on fishing videos that seem to believe all they need to show are frequent numbers of fish being pulled in the boat. The only problem with this beyond my bifocals is my memory cannot seem to capture all the subtleties and nuances he brings to fishing. It is these slight edge advantages that he has that makes him the one in the boat regardless of who the other may be in the other seats to be the one that catches the most and as we again see here today the largest fish at 7 pounds, 5 ounces on a scale. This was made even the more frustrating in that on this trip I left all my gear in the truck and mirrored Andrew using his rod, reel and tackle, some of which the $28.95 late lunch helped compensate him for, darn weeds. Now I'm not complaining that he can catch fish and I can't, I did catch some. It is that when you are with someone like Andrew that has this seemingly mysterious ability to out perform mere men of flesh it just makes the rest of us feel hopeless and having to settle for second class status. Now just not to tout Andrew's horn too much he is also a very accomplished upland and waterfowl hunter that has one of them pointing dogs with a breed name that defies common English language pronunciation and that dog not only points pheasants and quail but has on more than one season broke ice to retrieve ducks and geese. Now with all of this and he being a lawyer on top of it all it just seems that some folks must just live better than others to deserve all this good fortune and makes the rest of us to wonder why not me? Oh, by the way, all the fish that day were released. Even that hog of a bass as it was smaller than what Andrew already has on the wall. What was also enjoyable is that during this one late morning, early afternoon trip I saw more bass in that boat that was so small I could hardly answer nature's call than I did during the last bass fishing tournament. If we had the fish that day in that last tournament we would have won in half the time it took those pros with their $30,000 boats and fine sponsor logo covered clothes to get done the entire day. Thanks Andrew for sharing the day with one of the lesser fishermen. Authored by member and guest web page writer, Harry Oreintseen. Yes we finally got it right it is "steen" not stein. Read another of Harry's field accounts, this one is on Kansas deer habitat. Or, another on turkey hunting. |
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BBA has sent in so many fishing pictures over the years we started this second web page to hold them all as if we were to put them all on one page the opening time would simply be too long.
Andrew does share his fishing techniques, but not the places he fishes and we don't ask. He is one of those spinner bait, artificial bait or casting rod fishermen (however the many descriptions there are to describe those that enjoy testing their skills against the fish) and he does so with light casts employing a multitude of lures until the right combination of size, color and action earns a strike then it's to the wall with all of that variety. He also casts far fewer times than what many will see in fishing videos of pro fishermen attempting to find that elusive bass on public waters that may just get too much pressure. His boat is also not like the pros. Andrew's boat is easily lifted into the back of his pickup truck. And, if the electric trolling motor battery should die (which it never has) then its an easy paddle to shore. He also says boat movement is to be at an absolute minimum. This I didn't mind at all as it meant I could sit back, relax and watch the day go by without a care in the world at all were he placed us, not that I could tell one spot on this farm pond was any better than another.
Andrew doesn't write much in his notes he emails, something we find very unusual for a lawyer, but he is easy to talk to and down to earth as much as any fisherman and hunter can be. He'll openly talk about surface and subsurface conditions, sunlight, vegetation and temperature and can account though the early spring to late fall how the changing conditions, natural food availability and the water itself will change along with his fishing techniques. These talks are enjoyable to someone such as myself where a day's fishing seems always to include a nap and probably because of that I never quite seem to catch on to the subtleties that Andrew sees. And, he can see these minor deviants of nature as readily as most mortals can read newspaper print. But, he doesn't need the bi-focal glasses that most of us use to read the newspaper while he proved this day how most of us are blind at how he reads the water.
