Lately....

Finally getting a bit of time to fish. Nothing special, a few small hybrids and smallmouth bass. Nothing really picture worthy.  The most enjoyable trip of the new year was catching some channels with a green springy limb bent over and held in place with a stick trigger that is placed in a notch in a stake driven in the ground. The pressure of the bent limb holds the trigger in place till a fish tugs on the line pulling the trigger out of the notch. The limb then springs up setting the hook. I placed the setup where a pipe from a nearby factory dumps some hot water into the river. Out in front of the pipe a number of carp and catfish could be seen soaking up the warmth. Fishing with worms I caught three channels and a carp in about an hour. The fish were actually really warm to the touch. More of a stunt than anything I guess but a fun way to ill some time on a old winter day. Another highlight was seeing an eagle perched on thin ice out on Cowan lake. It was an eagle kind of week, I saw three or four this week as well as dozens of hawks perched on roadside wires pushed down here to southern Ohio by winter. The gar were byproducts of chasing hybrids in Ohio river tribs. Kind of a strange but interesting week.