May 11 - 15: JP Griffon 2005

Koll, Kunz, Guess and I got to the Port on Wednesday...great way to hit "hump day".  Hit the extremely rough water about 3:00.  Soon into our fish we discovered a power problem with the boat.  Took it to Chuck, from which no diagnosis arose.  Per his advice..."I mighta done some good...run'er tomara...she should blow out!"  We did...all the way to the landcut @ 4200rpms.  After fishing the morn, we were about to head south (caught some decent trout...lost a very big girl on spoil outside landcut) when I discovered we burned 3 times as much gas as normal...a symptom of losing a power pack (discovered much later).  We were very lucky Brown's boss (Rex) was in the landcut at the same time (Brown arrived Wed. evening).  We informed him of our situation, and he agreed to run the shore looking for us on the way home.  As predicted, the little Oak Motts ended up our anchor point for 3 hours.  Rex towed us for 1/2 the distance home, then release and had Brown's brother bring us gas.  Thank you Mark, Rex, Loy and Blake for saving our arses and lending us a boat to continue our weekend.  Huge step up to be repaid someday.

As for fishing, we decided to hit the landcut again, despite our poor luck the previous day.  We had caught just enough to say, "One more day and the runners may arrive."  So Friday we drop the same pattern...and by 12:00, we have 2 keeper trout (22" and 23").  So we make the arse beating trip against 25+ in the shallow sport to try and recover from a poor morning.  We hit West Bay at 2:30...Koll and I behind Bennie's south, and Brown and Kunz to the boiler for a drift.  Koll had little luck outside, while I only had one blowup during pass one...25" spec.  Go back for another pass with Nortons...Koll joined after I caught a trout (18") and several rat reds.  Once he arrived, we proceeded to the grass bed north...To catch a dozen reds from 19" to 22" (5 keepers).  Kunz caught a 24" around the boiler...and another trout to give us one short of our bag...We drop Brown in the soup at the target and tell him "just one more Dial"...and he of course comes thru...28 lbs the first day after having 6 lbs at 2:30.

The next day, we went against the grain and went north again...saying "any day now, they are coming"...and they did.  Paul "Munion" Kunz has a morning for the books...a 30", 7.7 trout...a 28.5", 9 lb red...25" trout...23" trout...all in the same tracks.   He was a bit confused about our hand signals...or Brown would not have run right over his fish...Anymunion, we stopped, jumped all over him and Koll picked up one more 23" trout.  About 11:00, we proced south...same pattern as the previous day, except Brown wanted to molest his "red corner" first...good call.  Kunz and I went behind Bennies south...nada.  Brown and Koll hit the corner, producing another 26" trout, a few 20"ers, and a dozen reds from 20" to 23".  Friday produced 36+lbs.  Results:  3rd place (missed first by 1/2 inch)...  400 lbstone... Paul freaking Munion... Unreal place to stay... world class Sunday hangover... broke down boat... Capt'n Dick... and the best trip I can remember...