Conconully fish avoided my hooks

A two-part series about a June fishing trip to Conconully Reservoir.

The fish were not biting. At least they didn’t pay attention to my hooks.

Garnet and I spent four days at Shady Pines Resort on Conconully Reservoir in June. A boat was rented three days and three days were spent with lines in the water, but only two fish were caught.

My fishing proficiency has been questioned since two earlier columns appeared in this space. This provided a chance for me to evaluate the situation away from the water. Of course, the situation was evaluated when on the water, too.

We arrived on a Sunday, checked into our cabin and relaxed the rest of the afternoon and evening. The check-in procedure included securing boat Number 9, which had provided good luck for me the year before.

We were staying at the Conconully State Park, last year, about two miles north of the resort, in our travel trailer. I usually wake up at 5 a.m., so my routine was to have a cup of coffee, then head for Shady Pines, fish four hours and then head to the trailer and breakfast with Garnet.

Last year’s stay was seven days and the boat was rented six days. Most of the days a limit of five Kokanee and rainbow combination was brought home. They were cleaned, deboned and cooked on an electric barbecue, then either frozen or eaten.

The deboning process has been discussed in this column before, but as a refresher here is how it is done. The guts are pulled out and the head cut off. A knife is run under the rib bones on each side down to the spine.

This procedures cuts through the small bones on either side of the ribs, what is commonly called the pin bones. The tail is also removed and along with the anal fin.

The flesh of the fish should be laying flat on the left and right side of the fish, with the ribs and spine visible. All of these bones should pull out easily by grabbing the spine at the head and pulling up. Use a knife to help if there is any resistance along the way.

The pin bones are still in the flesh, but all other bones have been removed. The fins on each side can be cut off, but leave the dorsal fin in place. Make a cut on either side and along the entire length of the pin bones. These can be pulled out of the fish at this point. Some anglers call this zippering the bones out. The fish should be bone free at this point.

Next week: Trying to solve the fishing problem.