Float Tubing with Frank

This past Sunday was just what the doctor ordered…I must admit that I didn’t get to sleep until late on Saturday night; something about winning a sectional volleyball title with a young and gritty group of girls that gets me all pumped up? So…when I woke up on Sunday morning I was a bit tuckered but we made it to church on time and per usual it was a great service and I was thankful I had attended….oh, and I knew that I would be seeing my buddy Frank at 1pm to go fishing!

It is no surprise that fall is my very favorite time and to pinpoint a specific time…it would be mid to late October. The color this year is exceptional and I can only guess that the late rains we had put a lot of moisture into the ground whereby it was judiciously soaked up…resulting in some of the most beautiful oranges, reds and purples I have ever seen. Just knowing that for a few hours I would be out on one of my favorite lakes, casting and hunting for a big musky made all the stress of the previous day just drift away.

Like clockwork I heard my dogs bark a couple times and looked up to see Frank puttering down my driveway….for today we would be making our way about an hour west and a little south to Bass Lake which is located in the Greene-Sullivan State Forest, specifically in the East Dugger Unit. I have written a few times about Bass….but it is one awesome body of water; in fact it is the largest of all the lakes in the area…about 220 acres. I knew it was going to be a windy and tricky day of fly fishing and gave some serious thought as to which way the wind was blowing as I was going to be dropping Frank off in his float tube and wanted him to be able to use the wind and drift as much as possible.

As it turned out the wind on Sunday was blowing swiftly from south to north and a bit of southeast to northwest; that being the case I put my boat in at the blacktop boat launch and Frank pumped us his tube, jumped in his waders, grabbed a pair of fly rods…and took off from the same point. A few minutes later I too was aboard my Twin Troller with my big 10 weight rod in hand and a new white streamer…being a new fly I usually spend a few minutes trying to gauge how it looks in the water but it was clear to see that this fly was a keeper as it had great motion and the white color stood out well against the background of the water. The only question left was….would a musky show up?

I kept my eye on Frank and caught him playing tug of war with one of the thousands of stick ups that point up out of the water at Bass. I knew that he would have issues because on any given day I have to un-hook myself several times and the windier the day is….the harder it is to become free from the underwater structure without donating an expensive fly.

After about an hour and zero signs of any fish, I trolled and drifted my way towards Frank and he told me that he had caught a few blue gills but nothing worth talking about. I too had not caught a thing….neither of us seemed to worried about it as the color and the beauty of the afternoon was just too good and no way could either of us gripe.

Once again we split up and agreed to meet at 6:30 and I shoved off to one more spot in search of a big fish. I was making long, downwind casts, parallel to a weed bed when I felt a jab on the other end and gave one huge strip set….excitedly I continued to strip in the fish hoping to see a big musky appear when up from the depths came a 16 inch bass and while I was appreciative of any fish…it was a momentary let down from a musky.

By 6pm we had the place to ourselves and I could see that Frank had ported at the blacktop boat ramp. I made one more long drift between the fishing pier and the large weed bed…but to no avail as this would be my first Bass Lake experience where I didn’t catch, hook up with, or raise a musky. The sun was setting on the lake as we loaded up our things and it made for one awesome picture and as I pulled away I took a minute to stop and be thankful for just such a day; a great day on the water with a good friend as we both stopped from our busy lives to Enjoy the Great Outdoors.