By Tom Claycomb III
Okay, you’re going to have to show me a little grace on this article. I’ve had to cover pressing topics since January so I haven’t been able to write a peep about fishing since the November/December issue. So I’m going to be like a squirrel running around an acorn tree trying to gather all the acorns in one pass!
Outdoorsmen are over-the-top blessed to live in Idaho. I’ve had some awesome fishing trips before, but this year was truly over-the-top. Let’s cover some of the highlights. Before I start though, let me list a few frustrations. I planned on hitting the crappie 2-3 times per week this spring, fishing for walleye, turkey hunting, and the list went on and on. There were so many good things going on that I didn’t get to hit the fishing as hard as I wanted. I guess that’s not a bad thing – it just seems like there’s not enough hours in the day. I got selected to be one of the writers to tour the Pulsar/Sellmark plant, then hog hunt on their ranch with their thermal gear. How could I turn that down?
Then at the last minute, I got asked to do two seminars and a demo at the Sawtooth Survival Gathering up in the Sawtooths. Then I had to hit the Professional Outdoor Media Association Convention that was held in Minnesota this year. Then I helped with a Rodeo Bible Camp over in Colorado. In May, I attended the Scooter Youth Hunting Camp, which takes a lot of planning. Then in July I had to hit the iCAST Show in Orlando, which is the largest fishing show in America.
I helped out lining up the Treasure Valley Men’s Conference, which was held August 29 at The Center at the Canyon County Fairgrounds. I had four people setting up outdoor booths so it had an Idaho outdoor flavor. Ed Sweet oversaw the Turkey booth, Scott McGann the Elk booth; Jim Combe did the old Winchester and old trap display, and I did the Knife booth. We held some great drawings: elk hunter, turkey hunter and a knife package, as well as a drawing for a Swedish hand-forged ax. So this event took a lot of time. And the list goes on and on.
It’s all good BUT the crappie were attacking kids at the school bus stops and I needed to be doing my civic duty to thin them out!
So in a nutshell, this year the fishing has been awesome, but I haven’t gotten out as many times as I wanted to. Well, let’s hit the highlights.
On my first crappie trip I took a couple of the Bowden boys that I go to church with. We caught something like 168 fish. Three days later I took their dad and their 12-year-old brother. We netted 268. About 10 years ago me and Ron Spomer netted 243, which at the time was the most I’d ever caught.
A few days later I took Orin and his son. I got held up helping my daughter so we didn’t get a jig into the water until 6:15. I thought, “Well, the fishing should be good, but we won’t set any new worldwide records.”
But by 7:30 we were hitting them pretty good; and by about 8:30 I told them, “Let’s try to break the new record of 268 and get 275.” We hit that by 9:15. So I told them, “Let’s hit 300.” We needed to pull up and take off by 9:30 so we could hit the dock and get the boat loaded. We netted 300 in 3 hours and 15 minutes. Unbelievable!
I’ve had some awesome crappie fishing trips in Idaho/Oregon before, but this year has been incredible. As I type this, I’m trying to get a few articles submitted so I can slip in one more crappie fishing trip tonight. If you’ve never crappie fished, you’ve got to go. We have large numbers and they’re great eating.
To add to the chaos, the kokanee bite has lit up, as if fishermen weren’t already busy. My neighbor Dave and I went two weeks ago and had a lot of hits, but had trouble netting them. Then in July while I was at iCAST, Dave called and said he had smoked ’em.
I flew home and we took off the next Wednesday and really got into them and limited out. I’ve got to hit them once more – but then what about backcountry backpacking/flyfishing? I want to do at least 2-3 of those trips; but then at the end of August after the TV Men’s Conference, bow season opened. Then I drew a coveted Owyhee bull tag.
Then on top of all of the above, Katy expected me to mow the grass at least once this summer, as well as plug holes in the roof and other minor distractive tasks like that.
CHRISTIAN TIP #11: I love the old saying, “I’ve found out the harder I work, the luckier I get.” But I’d like to add to that: “I’ve found out the busier that I am, the more opportunities I pass by and never see.”
Used to be that at the SHOT Show I’d schedule breakfast meetings, more meetings every half hour all day, and 2-3 deals after the show. Now I try to keep a few minutes free every day for God to intervene.
Here’s the kind of stuff I’m seeing. I took a 10-minute break to run up to the press room for a cup of coffee. A guy at the table had the logo of a knife magazine on his shirt, so I asked if I could write a knife article for him. Well, this guy was also an editor, so he roped in a guy passing by and told him to give me an assignment. Wow! I worked several assignments while on a 10-minute break.
So hit it hard, but don’t be so busy that God can’t intervene, or that you run right past opportunities or someone who is hurting. (I’m trying to work on this myself.)
For more information about anything in this column, contact Tom at [email protected].
