Upper Manatee, part II

OK, so the last time I blogged about fishing on the Upper Manatee River, I had come up short of any kind of catch.

I didn't plan ahead. I hadn't brought anything worth catching fish with. It was a last second idea. I grabbed the tackle box, a couple poles, and chugged out the door.

Well on Sunday, I planned ahead. Sort of.

I brought the right tackle, a killer bait (which I promised to the person who uses it that I would tell), aimed on catching some catfish.

I brought everything but extra batteries.

In the first couple miles, the catfish weren't having it. So I paddled 5 1/2 miles and stopped just before the Lake Manatee dam, where catfish are known to stack up. I got there just as the outgoing tide began, and I just knew that the whiskered pests would be rolling out of Lake Manatee in big numbers.

If you read my column on Wednesday, Jan. 21, you know the rest of the story.

The batteries on my flashlight went dead, and I had not brought any extras. So I had to reel in my bait, and begin my journey back through a gauntlet of overhanging trees and stumps - in the dark.

If you didn't read the column, check it out: http://www.bradenton.com/sports/outdoors/story/1167713.html

It's certainly an adventure I won't forget anytime soon.

And I will catch a mess of fish on that blasted river.