A Becker Encounter

Bill and I were out fishing early this morning on Lake Kedron.  Since water levels are way down in the lake we didn't think fishing from the docks would be worth the effort (Kedron has a very nice set of fishing docks).  We decided to make this an early morning canoe/kayak outing.

We had the weather glass.  The morning was overcast with only slight breezes.  Not a bad day at all to be on the water.  I decided to put in with my 13' Grumman.  It is an ideal canoe for still waters - stable, fairly comfortable, easy to paddle and can carry a ton of gear.  It is one versatile little hunk of aluminum.  However, it can be a bit 'piggy' when you need to paddle fast or far - the flat, virtually rockerless hull sacrifices efficiency for stability.  My 15' Grumman weights fully half again as much as the 13 footer but has much more rocker and displays better hydrodynamic efficiency, even when paddling solo.  Still, the old 13' Grumman was just the canoe for today's adventures.

'Miss Piggy'
An old 13' Grumman that makes a nice fishing platform.
That's Bill in the background.  Right after I snapped this picture he tagged a nice bluegill.

  

Another shot showing just how low the lake is.  My guesstimate is that
it's at least 5' below full pool.  When the water level is down shoreline areas are
exposed that provide nice places to beach your canoe and stretch your legs.

We spent the better part of two hours paddling and casting.  The bite was s-l-o-w, but that's to be expected this time of year.  The lake water was like bath water and the big fish were holding deep.  Since we were throwing fairly small weighted flies the deepest we could hope to get down to was two or three feet.  Still, we had a bit of success.  We each tagged a few small bass and some really nice bluegill hiding in the weed beds along the shoreline.

As we were taking out we struck up a conversation with a gentleman and his two boys were were rigging their kayaks and fishing gear to get out on the lake.  I just happened to notice the fellow was wearing a familiar knife around his neck.

Yup, a Becker BK-11 with a wrapped handle!  It's rare to see someone wearing a neck knife, let alone a Becker.  His son did the handle wrap, and did a pretty darned good job of it.

Overall a great morning.  Some fishing, some canoeing and a surprise encounter with another Becker fan.

Stay sharp!

Brian