I caught a clam

[Fran Myers]

After the news of Buck's passing, I have been in a mood that has me feeling like I am walking through mollasses.

I am spending a couple of weeks in Hickory next month. While there I am going to the National Outing and I have an Advanced Spoonplugging Course with Terry while there. Meeting Buck was a really important part of this trip. I spoke to Terry a couple of days before Bucks passing and I was told that the last week had been a real good. Having had grandparents fall to alzheimers, I know the value of good weeks. I have gotten and hope all the rest of us get some comfort from this news.

So as kind of a tribute to Buck and actually some strong guidance from WMK earlier about being at a cross road, I decided to spend a day mapping a section on river that has been good to me this season, but that I had no knowlege in the form of drawings or line sights.

So with a pad and pencil I started with the basic out line of the two shorelines (river). Then using my flasher I followed the 5 to 6 foot contours. After I made the complete pass, I drew my line. Then I went back to where the line went farthest into the river and I drove from the shallows and went straight out into the river and wrote down the breaklines. I started over mapping the shoreline again using the breaking depths. This took me about 3 hours and I pulled out the paper and pencil after every pass.

I did the same proceedure on the opposite shore . When I got to the point of going from the shallows to the center of the river, I found a place that went from 16 to 31 feet. Further searching revealed a slot. The Deepest water in the area. I spent another hour or so making passes up, down, and across the river so I could find the line sights. I have gotten to the point that I can get the middle of the slot using line sights in both directions. I know where it starts (for sure) and where it ends (not so sure).

It's all on paper with what I think are the trolling passes. I found the deepest water in the area, which is a very small stretch (100' long by about 8 to 15 feet wide) within a 1/4 mile of river and it took 4 hours to find. The exercise was worth the effort.

When I tried to fish the slot, I used an 800 with wire. I was able to get good bumps at 30' but the issue is I can't dump enough line fast enough to get into the deepest part of the slot, in either direction.

I have also found that my Cabelas line counter reels have a very big problem. The wire line gets behind the spool. I was lucky once in that I pulled the line clear but this time the line is really rapped up inside the reel. Scratch one reel. So good bye Cabelas reels and I have sent 4 - 109's to Penn for refurbishment.

I tried dragging the 800 with enough line to get to 30 feet in 18 feet of water. I think I got pretty close but as the lure was coming up out of the slot I got a clam that had some fishing line snagged through it.

I did not fish until the picture was mostly finished and then I would make a pass and draw a line. I did not catch any fish that day, but I came away with something I think is much more valuable. I know that I have to perfect the map over time but I have a good start.

As a former teacher I always smiled with pride and felt as good as the student when the light bulb of understanding flashes on for the first time. Even the simplest tasks require real effort to get correct the first time. I think getting the knowlege about a 1/4 mile of river is pretty cool. While I never met or even spoken to Buck, I think using his teaching's and methods isn't a bad tribute.