I be (beaver) damed.

[filletfetish]

I'll be honest, I really thought I had a good plan. In last weekends assault on the lake, I finally found some fish in the upper reaches of middle fork. I was thoroughly delighted...to point of near excitement for this weekend. Keep in mind, this lake has a way of taking any confidence that I have in my abilities and twists it up and bends it around, chews on it awhile and then spits it back out at me. It was nice to feel like I may finally have a respectable decision...

But, this is Monroe...

For those of you unfamiliar with the area that I was accessing this time of year, it's shallow, a lot of it very shallow. In fact, it's on the backside of a waterfowl nesting area, if that gives you any indication of the environment. The only option you have is to put in at this small ramp and use a dredged channel to access a deeper creek channel. This channel allows you to access some other secondary channels and a few other areas of deeper water, most of which are all less than 10'.

I had launched at this ramp before, but as long as the lake was at normal pool it wasn't an issue, just keep the motor trimmed up a little and take it slow. Most of the water in this stretch is about 2-3'. Last Sunday was no different.

As I was getting the boat ready to launch yesterday morning, another fellow angler came down to launch there as well. Being their first time there, I had enlightened them on a couple tricky spots to avoid any problems finding their way to a little deeper water. I remember one piece of advice I gave those guys, and it was to make sure they beared left where it looks like you can go right. Oh boy....

So, my partner and I set out for our commute to the first spot. Remember that place where I said bear left? Well, a beaver had decided that he had some different engineering ideas than the Corp. So, here I am on the upside of newly built dike in, at this point, less than 2' of water. So, remember the advice I gave those gentlemen to bear left? Why on earth would I not follow the same advice? Oh yeah, because one time when the lake was up a few feet I did make it through there.

Believe it or not, it wasn't the worst thing in the world. Being somewhat familiar with the area, I knew the upper reaches of a secondary channel weren't too far away. Surely it had a few feet of water it. Motor up and oar out, somehow we made it back into water that we would at least not be draggin bottom. Eventually, I was even able to lower the trolling motor. Soon after hitting the 4' mark and remembering where I was, i went to fire the big motor. Got her fired up and started to idle, and looked back and no water is coming from the pee hole. I must have sucked up a bunch of crap at the beaver dam!!! So, while I'm trying to do this, I miss the bend in the channel and end up beached again.

This time, it's a good one. After some futile attempts, things had to get dirty. I stared at the bait cooler and figured a minnow bucket full of water has to be lighter than 10 gallons of water. That wasn't enough...

I'll spare the details, but my partner ended up fishing in just his coveralls. 44 degree water is much colder than one would think.

Somehow we finally got a pole in the water just before 9. We caught quite a few fish and found the bite to be pretty good up until about 2 pm. Unfortunatly, we could never find more than one decent fish in that time. So as I looked at my partner and then the lone fish, we knew we had to get out and I was going out on top, one way or the other.

I knew the only way I was getting out was to dismantle the dam, and I still had plenty of vinegar running through my veins. Obviously, I've made it out of there, but I don't think I've ever worked so hard to catch a fish in my life. My body aches...


Can't wait until next time.

[TDHcrappiemaster]

Wow! Bret I had no idea that you went through all that..
Some people call us crazy others call us stupid... I call us addicted to a great sport!

Now be honest... If your like me you wouldn't have worked that hard at your job...Lol!
Glad you guy's made it out safe and nothing was tore up.

[filletfetish]

Tom, if I worked that hard through the week I'd be harder than hammered steel, not the twinkie I'm quickly becoming.

I will say this, my wife had no idea what had transpired, but sends me this picture at 4 pm. She always knows when I need a little extra...

[Hoosier Hog Daddy]

LOL... Bret. Enjoyed the play by play. Sometime just to test yourself you need to go back to that area and navigate at night. Just don't get scared when that beaver slaps his tail right in your face. That beaver dam probably held the winning tournament fish before you stirred it up with your boat .

HHD

[Locator79]

We all have days like that, I usually have a couple a year, and come home with something broken. Its kinda funny the extremes a man will go to, to chase those fish.

[sportsman223]

Sounds like it all worked out in the end, came home with some fresh crappie

[Tater140]

Good story.... I believe you when you say it was tough to tear apart. My cousin and I tried to tear apart a beaver dam one day behind his house in the creek when we were kids. We worked one whole day and made it about 2' lower. Those things are incredibly well built.

[TDHcrappiemaster]

It's simply amazing how well built a beaver dam is.... Funny thing is they can whip one up almost over night.
I use to lease some deer hunting grounds in Sullivan and it was low lands that had a couple of water holes on it with a small stream that connected to a large stream.
Well I hunted on a Friday all day and then returned for a Sunday morning hunt.. Well lets say I couldn't get to my stand because the beavers built a real nice dam and flooded 3/4 of our woods.... There was no way in heck I was going to be able to do anything about the dam so...
The next weekend I brought my duck decoys and whacked some ducks thanks to the beavers... Nothing like flooded timber and Mallards.
After a couple of duck hunts the ducks got wise so we worked our behinds off tearing down that beaver dam "all the way"... Not fun! Also kinda dangerous when the water gets to flowing fast.
Then we got back to deer hunting.

[Hoosier Hog Daddy]

OK, since we are talking beaver stories (lol), this discussion brought back a memory of mine about a fishing trip I had a several yrs back. I had caught a few eater crappie at Yellowood lake in Brown County while bluegill fishing, and got the idea that I should go over with my small boat a couple hours before daylight some morning with a lantern, and see if I could get some crappie to hit. I manuvered my small crawdad boat out in the shallow upper end of the lake and was fishing along when all of a sudden "KABOOSH" right beside me in the water. It was totally unexpected and it scared the crap out of me. I happened to be by the group campground which is a large grassy area where group tent campers set up. I thought for sure some smarta$$ kids over there were lobbing rocks at me and I was determined to get to the bottom of it. I had a spotlight and proceeded to spolight every tent sitting there, but could not find the culprits who were throwing rocks at me. Finally it started getting daylight, and all of a sudden a big beaver came up and slapped it's tail right by my boat. Later, I felt bad about shining my light on all the tents at 4 in the morning.

HHD

[gijimbo]

One dedicated outdoorsman!! Hats off to ya!