Zumbro Report....

[CrappieJohn]

I went out to the Zumbro this morning to try some open water. The spot I wanted to fish requires a lengthy downhill climb to get to the water and the lack of stairs is missed. With last night's snow, the trek was one interesting ordeal. After getting parked well off the road, I walked up the incline of about thirty yards with no sweat. After cresting and beginning down things changed a bit. I was on a north slope and the snow had gotten driven into the grass and rocks. After about two dozen well-placed steps my feet went out from under me and I took the express route to the water....literally. Of course this is one of those spots where the water goes from grass to ten feet in about one foot. Lucky me.lol I did have the presence of mind to not hold onto the rod and the tackle bucket. My thirty foot ride ended with serious injury, just wet. So I climbed back up the hill and started for home....after taking the wet stuff off and tossing on the covvies.

As I got back to town I took a trip to Foster to see what that was looking like and , hey, there still isn't a lick of ice. So I got the rod and put on a spinner and went for a little walk. I took a total of ten casts, caught two trout(13",16") and dragged in some weeds and then came home. The trou came off a gold #2 mepps in the NW corner. Both fish were rainbows.

The day did not go as planned. Aside from my radical departure from self control, it turned out ok. Hey, those trout are some real terrors on #2 line. That 16 was doing the tail dance for my.

[Down to Earth]

Tom,

You must have been taking lessons from Rick on taking an unexpected dip into the Zumbro. Glad to see you made it through without injury or worse.

[MURPHFISHER]

Brrrrrrrrrr that had to be cold. That would just freak me out to fall in deep water when the water is this cold. Any current where you fell? I hope not. I would like to know where your secret spots are...... Be carefull out there

[CrappieJohn]

Murph...no current, just deeper than I'd have preferred. That hill is almost too much for me anymore. By the time I got back up to the top with the gear I couldn't tell if I was sweating or wet from the fall....of course my little downhill journey probably was enough to cause me to sweat.

[WxGuy]

Tom,

My condolences on taking the cold plunge.

sorry that snow dance didn't work out for you....I tried!

[Dan Thiem]

You must of been going down on rattle snake I bet.

I've took a digger down that one before. Same with the other side of the road, going into Ryan's bay. Pretty steep.

Even after your "situation" you still went to Fosters and got us a report. Way to go !

[MURPHFISHER]

Crappie.... That would stop me from fishing by my self, and I am 33. You need to show these secret locations. For safety sake now . Too bad I have to work every day or I would be out there with you.

[CrappieJohn]

My back has been on thr fritz for over a week and yesterday was my first fishing in more than that. Back felt good, roads were not bad, so the logical deduction in my thought processes was to , well, go fishing. They must have had more of the wet stuff out there since even the water had slush floating on it where I would have liked to fish. I could not get a bait thru it. So I went to plan B. The last time plan B was utilized there was no snow. We'll just call this "education"- learning experience. I can't imagine what it would have felt like hitting the ICE instead of water.

At any rate, the back didn't take a set-back and all I got was real humid. The tackle was vacated mid-trip so I didn't have to fight it all the way back up and nothing was broken. And best of all, there wasn't a soul around with a vid-cam to capture this fat, bald dude trying to emulate a human boogie-board.

[Sarge]

Tom, I had to chuckle when I read your post . I'm glad you where not hurt, and rest assured you are not alone.

My worst was slipping off a bank while trout fishing early spring, the water was icy cold, and it was way deeper than I thought. I was completey submerged over my head by the time my feet hit bottom. I was out quicker than I went in, but the damage was done and so was my day. Scared the heck out of me, and worst was the fact that 4 or 5 poeple witnessed my plunge.