Waking up on August 21st to a weather report featuring clouds was a little disappointing to say the least. Meteorologists predicted that the clouds would clear up around 1pm but with the way the sky looked, I was not hopeful.
This being a great astronomical event, I took the opportunity to get some fishing in. Not only did I want to be on the open water during the eclipse, I wanted to see how the fish and other wildlife were acting before, during and after.
I loaded up the boat and headed to Jim Edgar Panther Creek, to fish for some bass and try out some new techniques. During my last tournament on this body of water, I fished a spot that was a little disappointing. I decided to cruise the choppy waters and head back to that spot to test my luck yet again. It still ended up being a disappointing spot, but I was optimistic. It was the eclipse afterall, there had to be a 'biggin' out here.
As I was fishing, I was continuously, observing the cloud pattern and there looked as if a rainstorm was on the horizon. I was reaching for my raingear in preparation when the sky openned up and a bolt of lightening struck in the distance. It seemed as though this was a microburst, winds picked up, leaves and tree limbs were flying and the sound of rain was intense. It was amazing and nerve-racking at the same time and as I watched the rain make its way across the lake towards me, I knew I wasn't going to be able to make it back to the ramp, so I beached my boat.
Fifteen minutes later, the storm was over and I headed back out on the water to darker skys in hopes of catching the 'Eclipse Biggin'.
With my new boat, I started fishing a little further from shore because I don't want to accidentally hit something, she is 'my baby' after all. I am hitting the shoreline with a medium diving crank bait, when i stick a short at about 10 inches. I am always trying to improve my fishing game, so after some small catches, I decided to move to deeper water to work on my deep water fishing techniques.
It seemed at about this time, things started to change. It was late morning and it was very very quiet, even for Jim Edgar.
The usual sounds of birds chirping was non existent, and there was an eerie feeling across the lake.
My deep water fishing consisted of a texas rig with a green pumpkin worm, dragging and twitching off the bottom. Today, it didn't matter what you were doing, they were biting and it was loads of fun.
My shortest fish was about 8 inches, and my 'biggin' of the day was about 18 inches. It was a great feeling being able to catch my limit over and over again. I never experienced a day where I was catching so many keepers.
After awhile of fishing, I decided to head home hoping that the sky was clear for viewing. As I got home the look of disappointment was on my wife's face was all I needed to see to know that she had not been able to view it all day.
However, our wish was granted as the sky cleared. Watching the end of the eclipse with my wife was icing on the cake to my Eclipse Fishing trip. I'm not sure if the eclipse had anything to do with how great the fishing was or if I was just lucky, but this trip was up there with some of the best fishing days I have ever had.
Did you go out fishing during the Eclipse? If so, how did you do?
IDNR to Allocate Sangchris Lake Trapping Permits on Oct. 14
