oh i cant wiat until the pictures of me in the bikini show up. they are pretty bad...but i definetly felt obligated too.

I am sort of gald that not many girls showed up. the weather was not good for most girls.

I have called all the girls that canceled and the feeling i get was that they didnt understand the importance of NOT flaking out. they thought it was just some camping trip. They didnt know how much time and money went into this. incidentally i am not friends anymore with a few of them. just outright flakiness i cannot stand. They committed over a month ago. oh well.....we had a great time. got some decent pictures...yes...of me ina bikini. Vince wouldnt let it die..." strip strip!!!" thats all i heard all day. hohbomb and i were starting to wonder. It was cold and wet most of the time and poured down rain towards the end of fishing on saturday.


Steve Rieter.....that guy is the most prepared SOB i have ever seen. Everytime we were like " [censored] i forgot the..."

steve would say..." oh no big deal i brought 4 spares and some different kinds" i am hiring him for a company trip in october for silvers. absolutely amazing guy. very fun.

...I wasn't involved in hyping this, so I don't feel right posting the pics. They are in my possesion, however, until I can get vhawk the dvd. Suffice to say that you all WILL be seeing merg in a bikini...

The weather sucked. The girls were too few and wore too much clothing. Didn't even see any of the hundred or so boats catch anything "oversized".

Other than that, the company was good. The camping was awesome (thanks in large part to Steve). The shad fishing was the best I've ever seen (having only shad fished one other time)... slaying 'em with the dart-divers!!

Thanks for the good times and for all the work everyone did to put this together! It will take a few days to get Vince the pics (very large jpegs impractical to email), he can sort, edit, resize, and post as he sees fit...

Thanks

I'll chime in with a brief report. We all met up at Beacon Rock State park on Friday. After unpacking and setting up camp we consumed many barley pops. After swapping a few stories, some secrets were reveiled about Mergantroider who was the last to arrive. We stayed up way to late to get an early start plus my head didn't feel too good when I got up at 6 AM. We launched after a brief breakfast and were on the water by 9 AM. Having never fished the big river in a boat I followed Vhawk up river eating his two cycle fumes.YUMMMM. We anchored up and fished for about an hour and a half before one of "my girls" had to head back due to her work schedule. Oh did I mention that all the women who showed up were in my boat? At this point we hadn't caught a single fish. When we returned to our spot the other boat ( Vhawk, Hohbomb 73 and Mergantroider) had figured out the "secret method" dart 24" behind a bait diver. After we set up our rods that way we began to hit fish. After boating several shad for bait we headed down river to mile marker 85 to fish for sturgeon.
We gave this a very brief try as the wind was starting to blow. We decided to pick up and return to the protected channel on the north side of Pierce Island. We anchored up in 24 feet of water and as soon as we put out the darts we had fish on. We caught some really nice shad there and were out of the main part of the wind. About 3:30 PM the weather turned on us and the rain drove us off the river. I must say that the women in my boat were real troopers for staying out and fishing. Mergs girlfriend may even wat to go fishing again and Jhawk , Vhawks better half, is always a sport and loves to fish. I think that we all had a good time and although the event was a "little" over hyped I would gladly do it again.
Now as an after story I was involved in a hit and run accident on S.R. 14 after I left Saturday evening. No injuries and only slight damage to my truck. The other driver was later arrested for drunk driving.
WARNING!
The whole story is below and don't read further if you aren't interested.
Below is a brief narrative of the accident and what happened afterwards.

After I left the Beacon Rock state campground and got onto Hwy 14 towards Vancouver, between Cape Horn Rd. and Oregon View Rd., I was driving up a twisting turning section of the road, in a no passing zone with blind corners, I was side swiped by a pickup that was passing me and several other cars. It happened so quickly that at first I didn't even know what happened. I thought that I had been hit by an oncoming car. My side mirror exploded and shot across my windshield. All I could see at first through my side window was silver almost like a flash bulb exploding. The truck kept going as I laid on my horn. I saw it pull in ahead of the car in front of me then pull out and pass the next four or five cars in a row. I got on my cell phone and called 911 in the same minute and gave them a partial description of the truck. I described the truck as being either silver or grey with a hard tano cover that was slightly ajar. The 911 operator instructed me to meet the State Patrol at the next major cross road which was S.E. Evergreen Blvd.
While I was waiting there for the State Patrol, I was out walking my dog and the truck that had side swiped me went by, still heading west on 14. I grabbed the dog and got in my truck and went after it. I got on the phone again and gave the dispatcher a better description, a silver Toyota ext. cab T.R.D. with a hard tano cover that was slightly ajar. I couldn't catch up to the truck as I had the boat behind me but I could see the truck pulling away still west bound. The dispatcher again instructed me wait for the S.P. in Washougal. While I was still on the phone with the dispatcher I saw a S.P. U turn ahead of me and give chase to a vehicle. After waiting on the roadside for 15 minutes the S.P came back and said that they had pulled over a truck but that it wasn't the right one (canopy instead of tano cover). Well by now there was a second S.P. unit and the Washougal city police was cruising nearby. I filled out an accident report and then the S.P. let me go. I drove down the road about 3 to 4 miles and one of the S.P. that was on the scene pulled me over and said that they had the truck and could I identify it. I said sure I could and turned around and followed the S.P. back to almost the same place I had made contact with the S.P before. There they had the hit and run driver alone in his Toyota with a broken passenger side mirror.
After administering a field sobriety test which he failed they gave him a Breathalyzer which he also failed. The driver was hand cuffed and placed in the back of the patrol car. At this time I was instructed that I free to go and left the scene.

sounds like wsp did there job hope your truck wasnt damaged to bad and the other guy had insurance?

gawd...thats horrible. TRD's are nice trucks too. Not to mention he hit your truck...with a boat behind it...whew...on those roads...lucky you didnt end up at the bottom of a very high cliff. wow...sucky buddy.

yeah.....if i were to do this again...i would require some sort of 20 dollar deposit from the girls for gas for the boats or something. like a i said..they had no idea how important this was. Must be the hair over the ears that blocked the long conversations we would have about going : )

i have organized a lot of "nights out" but they always involved clubs/bars of some sort and free entry. They know about clubs and how fun of a time it is and its at night so theres no real infringing plans that could deter or make them cancel

on a sober side note....it would have been close to a nightmare if alot had shown up. the campground was not near big enough, or the campsites large enough to fit any amount of people. Dont get me wrong the sites were nice in and of itself. the bathrooms were clean and the showers were also. Just the size of them was for like...a couple...or a family of midgets ( yes vince...midgets) i believe that the whole campground was sold out also. not to mention, just us four or five people got noise complaints. if there had been more....who knows. The rangers were complete miscreants. absolutely rude, condescending bungholes to everyone. We never said a bad word or had a bad attitude but they treated us like garbage.

i think had there been a lot of people it would have been close to a disaster. now a few more....like 4 or 5 may have worked. But we would all had been at our wits end listening to the complaining. Also need to be bringing more supplies....i didnt take into consideration of all the little things...i had essentials

-rum
-more rum
-coke
-tent ( with no rain fly, freak dumping accident going down I-5 )
-woman ( girlfriend? nope. just met her last week. i got rid of my girlfriend two weeks ago)
-snacks for the day on the river ( that i forgot at the tent)
- lots of blankets
- pillow
-coat

Now if i had to do it again....i would just call steve and ask what he packs...and then pack all of that. the man had vaccum sealed up gravy for biscuits and had the bisquits in tin foil ready to go on the grill....spare EVERYTHING. If he would have whipped out a collapsable kitchen sink i wouldnt even have batted an eye.

" dang steve....theres a tree down on the road here...says the campgrounds closed for the summer"

" no biggee, got my ax and splittn' maul in the back and my chainsaws in the boat. works out good anyway because i only brought enough firewood for a few days"

seriously....

By the way steve i have your LED tiny lantern still.


it was fun. Wish we could have caught an over size though....

hohbomb....that guy brought all sorts of different cheeses..and pepporni/salami for the day on the river....stuff was great. coming back out....not so much. but hey cant have cheese and not feel it too right ?

you know...i really dont recall...started with an "S"..slippy...slappy...swanny...swanson? SWANSON?

The S.P. gave me his insurance number and I have already started a claim. Damage was minor. Lost a side mirror and some scraping on the driver side door and front fender. Startled the sh!t out of me and it took a few seconds to recover and find the phone but I stayed in my lane and on the road. Dog didn't even wake up.

It would be a funnier ending to the story if Merg had been the one driving the Toyota truck and was hauled off to jail, drunk and in his camo bikini.

Well I was on the river with my own "hot girls" from Vancouver. Vhawk when you call a guide on the river ( or in the case have Jess do it cause your busy removing a shad dart from your finger LOL) and he calls you back, IT HELPS TO HAVE YOUR PHONE CHARGED so you can answer it. Nothing but Voice mail 4 times. My intention Vhawk was to get you down there next to me cause we were into Large Gators!!!!

Just wanted to hook you and the Hotties up with some Oversize action!!!1

My Saturday report was lots of shad right in front of Beacon Rock boat launch over in the channel. We then went to marker 85 on the Washington side and got into 2 oversize about 1 hour before the wind blew us off around 2 pm. The afternoon bite has been way better thab the morning bite.

Vince got to ADD about fishing sturgeon...he was more interested in getting me to strip. he would look around...see no fish on and then say" no ones catching fish we should leave." i think total effective fishing for oversized was maybe an hour....i was dissapointed because thats what i came there for...but hey...it did look pretty dead. Not to mention we took shad fishing to a whole new level. Everyone was always turning to see our antics and loud voices. Hohbomb had this technique down where as soon as the shad was hooked...it would peel a little bit of line and then jump...he would do another hookset in midflight and try to JERk the shad straight to the boat. all i saw happen the few times they would jump was a fancy fly fishing back cast. the stuff would come flyin back from 40 feet out where the shadling had jumped...and end up 20 feet behind our boat back in the water fishing.

Jerry,

I got so many calls that morning my phone went dead. If I have any regrets at all, its that we didn't meet up with you. I can't believe you got into gators like that. I'm muttering to myself, and cursing Cingular. AHHHH ffffffffk. Makes me almost want to cry.




Your the mouthiest boat servant I've ever had. If we're ever out on a boat again I'm putting a bark collar on you. I don't know how Greg puts up with it. Maybe we can form a support group.

Seriously though, we need a talk on deckhand etiquette. This goes for anyone I might invite to come out and fish with us. Setting an anchor in that river requires 100% of your attention on the task at hand. Unless you see a safety hazard, I don't need any opinions from the guy handling the anchor rope and buoy. Once I've picked my line, I don't care if you think the water is too deep, the seam too far away, the seagulls are calling your name, or that the buoy is a pretty orange color. I need you to let out line until I ask you to throw the bouy over and tie off the boat. I can't be reevaluating how a spot is going to fish when I'm concentrating on not running over anyone else's anchor lines, or swamping the boat.

Crap happens so fast on that river, that it only takes 2 seconds of not paying attention to lose a boat, or someones life. After the anchor is set, and the boat chocked off, and the anchor socks are out, then by all means entertain us. I can be irritable sometimes, but if you remember the only time I raised my voice was when we were setting the anchor.

And thank you though for pulling that heavy SOB into the boat all day. I've had that job, its not easy on your back.

ADD or not, If after an hour of fishing, 3 rods aren't getting bit, and none of the other 20 boats in sight aren't hooking up either...thats about 23 rod hours per fish. Moving along, I'll be moving along. Same goes for the shad. If the waters too fast, or too deep we wouldn't hook up. We got into all those fish because we moved in a little, and you tried the diver and dart rigging. I'll make adjustments until we start catching as many or more fish than the people around us. I think we pulled together and got that done.

So Hohbomb, and Merg, If Dumbluck goes back down this week for kings, I'll see if we can bring you two along. I think we can bonk at least a couple of em.

Merg, I give you crap because you need it. But I keep you around 'cause your funnier than me. Let me know what days off you have this week.

VHawk

If you brought more coke, more girls would have showed up.

Vince,

All I can say is cell phone car adapter....plug it into the cig lighter on the boat and your good to go LOL

Seriously you are correct when it comes to anchoring and being serious. I am all business when anchoring in that section of the Big C. When I anchor between Bonneville and Cape Horn I do the whole task by myself, much easier as most clients aren't comfortable doing it.

June Hogs? We hooked one today at the Shad Rack on a #1 Dick Nite with a Fetha Styx HSR 9000 rod on 10 pound test! Thru the Buoy and it was over before it started........broken leader. Oh well chance you take fishing for Shad.

Report from Marker85 today was very good, 3 oversize hooked between 11am and 2 pm on the Washington side.

Shoot me a call if you want to go this week or next.........

Where i learned to drop anchor was down by the kalama in fast A$$ water with an undersized anchor...so my dropping anchor was a 30 feet OVEr what you thought you needed for line out, then drop and let line out...so the slower water threw me a bit...plus where we were anchoring wasnt bad at all people wise. down at the kalama....if you misjudged your line out by inches...you were ramming another boat. So my " ummm i think we should go a bit further up" was because i always like more line out than less.

i am no guide or anything...but i think i hit upon the most idiot proof way to shad fish ( i know its been used but i never knew that so i thought i ws the coolest man alive when i looked down and saw this diver floating around the bottom of the boat and tied it on)

i tied on a diver . Vince and Hohbomb had wiggle warts...lazy Ba$$turds never even took off the hooks. run a 2 foot leader off the diver and fish with whatever. the diver puts action on those little shad darts i can t imagine it being different with dick nites. i would let my diver out and then sit and video tape or fart around with vince and hohbomb, eat...oops got a fish on...see the shad leaping the marathon out in the water. a blind , retard could fish this way. plus no droppers, no paying attention or anything. i dunno, seemed like the way to do it to me. but i am just one idiot...we seemed to catch 4 times as much shad as anyone else though.

So...four pages of blabbing is all fine and good, it's not like it doesn't happen regularly here...but where the hell are the pictures? Isn't htat what this shindig was supposed to be about?

Fish on...

Todd

thats the way Todd right to the meat and tatos

There's three commands I give in which I don't want any opinions, or back talk:

1. Pass me another beer
2. Spread 'em
3. Drop the anchor.

Did we have any problems with any of my anchor spots? Nope. Even when you were crying that we were going to ram Steves' boat at that last spot we fished. We slipped in right next to them and effectively corked Jessie. And did our anchor ever slip? Only when you dropped the buoy before I told you to. If you'd drop the damn anchor when I tell you, instead of getting mouthy while we drift, we'd have an extra 30 feet of line out. When your wearing the bra and panties, and I'm wearing the Captains Cup and Jock strap, you'll not be rewarded for thinking independently.

Pay attention when I use my big person voice.

Vince dude take your lumps on this thing and tell the story/show the pics (leave out Merg in chicks stuff pics).