Thread: The champ becomes the chump

North of Atlanta..Saturday 7/7/07
The "ChattahoocheeChamp" is now dubbed the "ChattahoocheeChump"...the saga continues.
Got there early....fog still on water. Loaded for action with worms, minnows, and all equpiment ready to kill yellow perch and shellcrackers.
9AM....begins to wonder if there are fish in the river anymore. 0 fish.
12noon.....begins to wonder if he's even ON the river. 0 fish
2PM....begins to seriously consider golf or ornithology as a pastime. 0 fish. (but hooked an old beer can which put up a terrific fight in the channel)
4PM....calls for a priest to deliver the last rites. 0 fish
5PM...begins to wonder if this is one of those "microcosms" some idiot was babbling about on here a few weeks ago. 0 fish.
5:30PM...locates a new breakline, breaking from 8 feet into 12 feet with some unusual looking signals on it. (half heartedly lobs a dropshotted worm down into it and almost loses rod and reel as a "mad as hell" shellcracker swallows the bait.)
5:45PM....counts 14 very nice crackers in the live well and the fish stop just as fast as they started. Pulls up anchor and heads for ramp.
MORAL OF THE TALE: Hang in there! The whole day of fishing success or failure had been determined by 15 minutes of fishing. I would've missed it all if I'd thrown in the towel earlier.
Regards,
Douglas Bush

Hey Doug thanks for sharing your trip with us. just one more cast. How many times have I said that. You just have to beat the bushes and not give up. Glad it turned out good. Jimmy S.

DougBush,
You should have been a writer!!! (maybe you are??) I truly love to read your posts. LOL!!!!

Doug. talk about a great story teller and a great story!!Keep up the good work.i would have went home a long time before then..You are no chump!

yep, ya can spin a yarn for sure. Love your postings! Some days the fish just ain't in the right mood but you kept at em and took a mess to the house anyway. That is a good fisherman...

Originally Posted by Hookem Cookem

DougBush,
You should have been a writer!!! (maybe you are??) I truly love to read your posts. LOL!!!!

Thanks to all of you for your compliments, I'm happy my posts are interesting for you.
Yes, I majored in journalism in college and wrote a weekly fishing column for a county newspaper (back in the stone ages), a daily political satire column, and also wrote a regular monthly article for Fishing Facts Magazine. I was the editor and publisher of The Georgia Outdoorsman (a forerunner to Georgia Outdoor News).
Literary critics (whatever that is) described my writings as...."a caustic style intermeshed with a razor sharp wit and the ability to ferret out the truth".
For my money, that sounds like the guy at the pool room who knows exactly what "shot that guy should've played next", but can't make the 9 ball sitting 10 inches from the pocket himself.
I do have fun with it though...especially now since I am a mellowed out old man.
Stay happy and regards,
Douglas

It is absolutely amazing how the fishing can change from week to week. I took my boss fishing (we both played hookie) on a Friday back in April on Oconee and I caught one dink crappie. The week before on exactly the same docks I limited out in a couple of hours with a live well full of 1 1/2- 1 3/4 Oconnee Giants. On that Saturday and Sunday my brother and I slaughtered them again. Those fish can take you from a HERO to a ZERO in just a few hours. It also never seems to help calling your boss on Monday and telling him how you killed them over the weekend. He was a good sport about it and said he is bad luck on every fishing trip. I am scared to invite him again until I am sure the day I take him will be one day before a front hits to make sure we catch fish. I have also learned when you brag about how many fish you will catch before hand, you never catch squat. Mr. Doug Bush, you are a man I admire because you take just one more cast, change baits and techniques, and do whatever it takes to catch fish. My brother and I rarely do not catch fish because we hang in there and do whatever it takes to catch fish. So often times I see people at the ramp complaining after one hour of fishing that they just were not biting. They only fish once or twice per year, don't catch anything and call themselves fisherman. You have to love it like we do to understand what joy it brings us. For those days that you just can't seem to catch a fish no matter what you do, at least you were out there doing what you loved and enjoying the great outdoors.