We'll give it our best shot ...

I was going to start this article by saying that unless you live in North Carolina or south of there, you know this winter has been pretty cold up North.  But it appears that the South is really getting pelted by snow and cold temps. I have seen pictures of several inches of snow on the beaches of the Outer Banks near the Kitty Hawk area, and my son sent pictures of the snow at their house in Raleigh.  They got over 6" of the white stuff -- which is great for the kids being able to ride sleds, saucers and cardboard box sleds in the back yard area.  But it isn't too good for the drivers of the area who have absolutely little or no experience driving is this snow and ice.  But my son also told me that the stuff is melting quickly and they are expecting temperatures in the 60s this weekend.

But all of that doesn't play too well back here in Ohio.  It's winter, and it's cold.  In fact, it has been so cold, that the pond has been pretty much frozen over for weeks -- pretty much since just before Christmas.  Soooooo, not wanting to have another fish kill this year, I figured I had better open up some holes so they could get some oxygen and sunlight.

I got the chain saw out of the basement and did some maintenance on it (my old military commanders would be proud of me pulling the maintenance first).  I mixed the gas and oil, put a new chain on it (it seems that cutting ice really wears down a chain saw) and checked the oil levels.  Everything was good to go so I went out to the pond -- hearing my wife telling me all the while to "be careful, do you really need to do that?"

Normally the first thing I do is start walking and jumping up and down in the shallow end of the beach area so if, by some chance, it is not as think as I think, I will only fall through up to my knees.  That step accomplished, I then cut my first "line" in the ice to get an idea of how thick it really is.  Seems this particular day, the ice was at 7 1/2 " thick.  Wow!

So, feeling pretty secure that this was going to go well, I moved out by the end of the dock and started to cut away.  The object here is to cut out a few 2 foot by 2 foot squares, push the ice block down under the top layer in order to expose the water to the air.  Then I turn on the air bubbler so as it pumps "warmer air" into the water, it will also cause some of the "warmer water" at the bottom of the pond to rise up and open up the holes a bit more.  That's the theory behind all of this.  And actually, it works pretty well.  Before I had the bubbler, I would cut holes with an axe, and then graduated to the chain saw. But the only trouble was the holes would freeze back over almost as fast as I could cut them. So anyhow, you get the picture.  At first the neighbors who would drive up the road and just shake their heads when they saw me out there.  Couldn't figure out why I was so determined to ruin a good cutting chain on the saw!

It was funny -- my wife posted a picture of this on Facebook and the comments she got ranged from "be careful" to "why are you worried - they're only fish!"  You can kinda tell pretty quickly who has ever wetted a line before and who has only known a fish that comes from a market and a frozen foods box or maybe a restaurant.

Sometimes doing something like this is what you have to do when you take on the responsibility of having a pond, especially one where so many of the neighborhood kids learned to fish.  Besides, it kinda reinvigorates me and brings back memories of my childhood when we did the same thing (with the axe) on farm ponds during the winter when we were growing up in Zanesville.

I kinda, sorta also think the fish appreciate it (may be a stretch, huh?).  I know when the ice melts and the spring temperatures ignite my fishing spark, I am glad there are decent sized fish here and they are not just little 6" fingerlings that I had to put in because the winter killed all the rest of them.

BTW, I plan to redo the dock this year.  The decking is getting a bit worn and splintery and I don't want to be picking them out of my feet.  Besides, I think if I lower it a bit, I can sit there with my feet in the water. Doesn't that sound like fun!!

So here is a picture of this morning's efforts at opening the hole up.  The bubbler did a pretty good job -- but then again, it's up to 33 degrees this morning here. Hmmmmmmm -- getting close to golf weather, 'er, I mean, fishing weather.

And that reminds me -- it's time to clean up all my fishing gear and check the lines to see if they need replaced.  Nothing worse than having a line snap in the middle of the fight because it was old or frayed.  This can get really expensive too when I have to replace line on my fly rods.  That stuff sin't cheap.

My Biggest worry is that when I'm dead and gone, my wife will sell my fishing gear (and golf clubs !!!) for what I said I paid for it. (Koos Brandt)

Hooah

When all else fails, eat a peach...

Dave and I have not been fishing for probably a couple of years.  So, when Pam and I were walking around the campgrounds at Lake Loramie a couple of weeks ago, I called him to see if he had recovered from all the excitement of the last time and to see if he might want to take a break from the links and try our hand again.We figured the fish had recovered from that fantastic day by now so we set a date for Tuesday morning. 

This was the first time I had taken the boat out to fish for a while, so I had to get everything ready.  The only problem was that I had forgotten to check the battery for the trolling motor until late the night before.  Yep!  Deader than a door nail.  Oh well, we had enough juice from the main battery so off we went.  I took the dead battery out of the boat, figured we might need the extra weight capacity if we hit a BIG fish or two.

The boat went into the water at about 0700 and the second thing that I had forgotten to check was the bait store opening hours.  We had to use artificial bait until about 0800.  No strikes -- no nibbles -- not even a snagged twig in that first hour.  Should have been clear by that early hour that this was not going to be a good day.

We went around to two or three "promising" places and the extent of our "catches" was a handful of lilly pad leaves and a couple of twigs.  By this time, it was starting to get hot out.  We had been in the midst of a protracted dry, hot spell here in Shelby County.  Upper 80s and low 90s pretty much controlled the thermometers for about a month.  The lake water was kinda warm at the surface, which was good for the kids over at the beach, but not so good for fishermen.

So now it's about 1030 and nothing.  That's when Dave whipped out a couple of peaches or nectarines.  Boy the old supply Sergeant comes through in the clutch.  These hit the spot and were really juicy.  Only got a little on the front of my shirt as we were motoring back to the docks -- empty- handed, but full!

We'll go back.  It is against the law (some law) to buy a fishing license and get out only once and then get shut out.  I don't know if there is any real fine for this, but I know the shame of it all that has to be carried through the winter would be unbearable.  About the only thing that would give either of us an "out" would be to get a hole-in-one at our home courses in front of witnesses (and that probably isn't going to happen any time soon).  Stay tuned -- I will update you all on either event.

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.  Teach him how to fish and he will sit in a boat and drink beer (or eat peaches) all day.  (Author Unknown)
 
Hooah

Boy are we getting close...

There are lots of things a mid-winter thaw and a handful of sunny days with temps in the 50-60 range will bring to mind -- like our spring golf trip, riding my bike, taking a vacation, boating on Lake Loramie, and fishing.

But this is Ohio, and in the next couple of days we'll get cold rain and some snow.  So, other than planning, not much of these things are going to take place.  I know people fish in winter, but not me. Tried riding my bike in snow once.  That didn't work very well at all -- a couple of times in the ditch told me to try something else.  The boat is still covered and sitting in the driveway, and is likely to have snow piled around it for a while yet.  So, planning is the extent of my activities for now.

I went out to the pond the other day and the water looks really clear.  No floaters, so that is good. While I was out there, I dropped in the barn and checked on the fishing poles and gear.  Things looked in order, so I thought I would get down the fly rods and "stuff" to clean it and inspect the lines.  Looked pretty good.

If you enlarge the photo, you'll see that I use lots of dry flies.  I really like fishing for pan fish in local ponds and lakes walking around, flicking that little bug around docks and weedbeds to see if I can entice a fish to take the bait.

One of the reels I plan to try this year is the old automatic reel (center).  This is an old Montgomery Ward offering (if you don't know what Montgomery Ward, or "Monkey Ward" as we in Southeastern Ohio used to call it, was ask your parents or grandparents.).  This reel cost me all of $2.95 at a flea market in Nelsonville, OH and works well. Should be fun.

Another thing I had to check was to see if I still had good sunglasses -- the kind with magnifiers in the bottom of the lenses.  These really come in handy when tying flies to the line while standing in a river or stream.

Do I have any unfulfilled fishing dreams?  Yep. I am still planning to try my luck at some Montana river -- at least it's on my bucket list.  That's kind of like the Holy Grail of fly fishing and usually requires hiring a professional guide for a couple of days.  This is another thing I am not really all that good at, but one that I have fun doing so maybe the expense of a guide will be worth it.

This isn't the only kind of fishing I like to do and have lots of hours and fun bait casting for bass, crappies and other fish.  In fact, my brother-in-law, Chuck, and I are in the tentative stages of planning a fishing (and maybe golfing) trip to the Kentucky Lake area.  We call this "Bass-n-Bogies."

OK.  So for now, I'm off to take another dose of cough medicine and listen to the OU Bobcats take on Bowling Green in basketball.  I've read all the fishing books I stockpiled last fall, and now I plan to dive into a couple of Jeff Shaara novels.  These should get me through this next spell of cold and snow.

All the romance of trout fishing exists in the mind of the angler and is in no way shared by the fish.  (Harold F. Blaisdell)

Hooah

Well, we're back in business...

Yesterday was a pretty special day here at Bailey's Harbor.  We restocked the pond!!

As you may recall, I wrote a while back that we had lost pretty much all of our fish to the bad winter.  We kept an eye on things out there this spring and didn't see much fishy activity.  And as time went on, we only saw a few bluegills and some frogs still around there.  The neighbor boys came over one afternoon and we threw a line in just to see if there were any fish hiding anywhere else.  Upon completion of our "scientific research" we concluded that there were 6 bluegills and 1 crappie (which we caught twice), lots of tadpoles and the beginnings of a crop of pond scum (which I usually get in the spring when the farmers are fertilizing their fields). 

I treated the pond and got a handle on that, the water was clear and warmer, and it was now time to welcome new arrivals. 

So Pam and I went to the Shelby Fish Farm yesterday and purchased several bags of fish, most in the 4-6 inch range.  Our neighbors, the Seigles, gave us a gift certificate to purchase some of the fish.  The boys fish here quite often, and it is neat to watch them grow up having learned to fish and to appreciate nature.  We really appreciated their gift and used it to purchase some of this new crop.  The boys are now vested in the outcome of this stocking.

Just in case you have never been to a fish farm to purchase young fish, this is how it is done.  Here Steve, the owner of the fish farm,  takes a net full of minnows and puts them in a plastic bag for transportation.  He fills the bag with oxygen and seals it so the fish will survive the trip.















Here are some of the bags, getting ready to move to their new home.  Of course, no move would be complete without a "Howdy" from the welcoming committee, so Pam has a few words of welcome for them.

 Below are some pictures of Jarred and me as we arrived home and released the fish into their new digs. 

I know you can't see them very well, but when we released them, this one particular group of bass swam around in a circle for a while and then hit out to explore this big new place called Bailey's Harbor.

Our restocking yesterday consisted of 50 bass, 50 bluegills, 20 catfish, 3 amurs (grass carp), and about 4 pounds of minnows. Steve said the bluegills are big enough now (about 6" each) for the boys to catch (and release).  And he said the catfish might be about 8"-9" by this fall.  The bass will be about a year away before they amount to anything.  But at least we are off and running again.

We also bought some new fish food and did our first feeding.  They seemed to like it because they came up and gobbled away.

Maybe the next time our grandsons come for a visit, the fish will be just right (not too big, not too small) and they will begin to learn about fishing. 

"Carpe Diem" really means "fish all day."

Hooah

Wishin' I were fishin'...

If you are like me, this is the time of year your mail box gets bombarded with fishing catalogs full of all kinds of paraphernalia in all kinds of colors, and trip brochures touting the advantages of booking a trip at this particular lodge or that one.  And while they are fun to look at, they only accentuate the bummed feeling that most Ohioans (and anyone else, for that matter, above the Florida state line) have about now in light of these lingering wind chills and late season snowy forecasts .  It's almost March, for gosh sakes.  The golf pro has sent out emails telling of the opening day on March 1st.  Fat chance of playing on that day with wind chills at -5.  Oh well, at least they will have their indoor hitting range open.  So anyway --- back to the topic of fishing. 

As I was looking thru the picture tubs in the basement, I came across these shots of our first "Bass-n-Bogies" trip.  Chuck, Kevin and I decided that we needed to do a "man trip" back in 2000 so we put this together.  We went on line and looked for a good fishing place that would occupy our time in the mornings and evenings, but also had decent golf courses in the area that would likewise keep us busy in the afternoons.  So we came across a place called Blue Bank Resort at Reelfoot Lake, TN.  The pictures of the place looked real nice (for a fishing lodge) and it was endorsed by fishing legend, Bill Dance.

 These pictures show you the general layout of the place.  I did not shoot the pool or the other areas, but if we ever decide to do this again and take our wives we will point out these amenities. The picture on top-left shows all the boats that they rented out to those who didn't bring their own.  This was a morning shot.  It was pretty cool there as all we had to do was bring our boat back in at night and they gassed it up and got everything else ready for us.  The top-right shot shows the boat tie-up area at night as well as the lodge.  Also, I don't recall taking any pictures of our "cabin" as it was really so small that the three of us could barley fit in it.  That may have been because we were looking for a cheap place.

The other two pictures kinda give you an idea of the water and how really nice this place really was.  We were usually out of the cabin early and fished till noon or so.  Then we played golf and literally finished the day with fishing, coming back to the boat dock well after dark.   I think we had to be back NLT an hour after dark if we wanted the boat serviced for the next day.

We have taken several of these trips but it has pretty much morphed into a golfing only trip now.  Now the man-trip is pretty much old duffers (no pun intended) who really enjoy playing golf.  At least we can all now get the senior discounts at the golf courses and the restaurants (if we eat early enough).

The actual fishing part of it was pretty good.  In fact, this place was the best fishing I have ever had outside of Canada.  Check out these shots:

 I know Chuck caught some fish too, but I don't seem to have any pictures of that taking place.  Hmmmmm.  But I did have this shot...  The caption on the back of the picture says something about "What a life..."

As I said, this was really a good time.  I think we're going to have to do this again sometime, even if it is only Chuck and me.  We actually got to act like we were on a real big-time fishing expedition.  My other brother-in-law, Luke and his buddies actually fly in to some place in Canada and fish .  They have bears in the area and have to put food and fish in containers that are air-tight so the bears don't get into them.  Another of my friends goes with his buddies to Canada and sometimes it is so cold, they say it is more like ice fishing than anything else.  So maybe ours does look more like a "gentlemen's fishing trip" than theirs.  So what.  We had fun and caught fish and got to hit golf balls.  It really doesn't get much better than that. 
This planet is covered with sordid men who demand that he who spends time fishing (and golfing) shall show returns in fish (and pars).  Glad they didn't go with us.

 Hooah

Fly fishing on the Gunpowder River...

Pam bought me a one-day, guided fly fishing trip as a Christmas present this past year, and I finally got it in last weekend. What a great time.

To date, my fly fishing experience has been limited to popping around docks here at my house and over at Lake Loramie. I've caught a lot of bluegills, a few crappies and some small bass doing this. In fact I even spent a day whipping the water on the Great Miami River by the covered bridge at Troy (at that time I swore there were no fish in that river). However, now I know better.

I looked at the Gunpowder, which is located north of Baltimore, MD and would never have pegged it for a highly regarded trout river. In fact, it is one of the more popular trout rivers in that part of the country. I met my guide, Phil Gay (retired Navy Captain, fighter pilot and once commanded the U.S.S. John Kennedy aircraft carrier, which in itself is a big deal) early in the morning and had to admit that I had forgotten to bet my MD 3-day tag. So we went in the house and got on the computer to take care of business. He said I was not the first fisherman to do that, but I don't know if he was just saying that to be nice. Anyway, now it was down to the river. The water was COLD, and really swift. Most of the time we stood in rushing waters up to our behinds, but a couple of times we got in waters above our waist. Phil talked about river speed in terms of CFS. Well, I don't know much about that, but I do know if I mis-stepped I would be a quarter mile down river with full waders before I knew what happened. I also know I was really tired when I got back to the hotel. We were in the river pretty much non-stop from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. We did climb out to eat lunch, which Phil packed for each of us.

OK, so I've stalled long enough -- I caught a small brown trout, a small rainbow, a bass (about 10-11 inches) and a 14" rainbow (see picture). Now, I know there have been fishermen who have caught a lot more fish than I did -- in fact, most everyone catches more fish than I do, but my measure of success and fun is not measured in how many fish (I.Q. of about 2) I outsmart (I.Q. of ????). I learned a whole handful of new casting techniques, walked a beautiful river just a few miles from a major US city with all it's concrete and traffic, and got to spend time outdoors doing something I like to do. PLUS -- Pam came with me and we got to spend time together and then we went to NY to see Doug and Quinn (Danika was working and then had school that night -- boo!). We got to see their new house and spend time with our grandson -- that big ball of happiness!!

So now, Pam, what are you going to do to top this??? I have not yet had a glider flight or skydived!! I can hardly wait till Christmas.

All the romance of trout fishing exists in the mind of the angler and is in no way shared by the fish. (Anon)

Hooah

Sprucing up "Miss Pam"...

I don't know if that's the right term, but I didn't think "plywooding up "Miss Pam" would sound right. Anyway, I took the boat to the lake last week and put it in, just to check it out and make sure it would run. I got the battery all charged up, and off I went. Started up on the first crank.

One thing I like about this boat is I can handle it by myself. I see guys struggle getting their big bass boats in and out of the lake. I have one that I can get in and out in a couple of minutes. When Pam is with me, it takes even less time than that because she ties it up when I dump it off the trailer.

Something that has annoyed me for a couple of years, however, is all the stuff lying around on the deck when I'm trying to fish. I also didn't like all that stuff in the back of the boat because when I was in it by myself, it had a pretty big angle when we were moving through the no wake areas. So, I decided to do something about it. I built a seat/storage area mid-ship to store the battery, the gas can and my "stuff" box.

It all came out rather nicely if I do say so myself. One 4x8 piece of plywood and an afternoon of cutting and putting it together produced a pretty nice addition.

I did flunk "Hinges 101" and had to ask my neighbor, Jim, to come over and give me an idea on how to put them on so the top of the box could best be used as a seat without posing a problem.

Additionally, I put two dividers in the box to add support for seating and to keep things in their proper place. We can take the "stuff" box out of the center and put a cooler for pop and water for a longer fishing day, or keep the bait out of the sun.

Oh, one other thing. On the back of the boat, I have a little thing which holds the motor up during transportation so the bottom won't hit anything and possibly break a prop blade. Like it? Well there's another one just like it at the bottom of the ramp area at the lake. Yep -- I forgot to take it off the last time I took the boat over. Backed the boat down, started to pull the trailer out and the little gizmo was gone. I tried to find it, but failed. Just in case you were wondering -- $29.95, cold legs, and wet shoes and shorts are the going rate for stupidity these days.

This is what you do on a rainy afternoon in retirement land, just in case you were wondering.

"Noah was a brave man to sail in a wooden boat with two termites."

Hooah

How big was that fish????

Chris, a good friend of mine ( Oh yeah, he's also Pam's boss and the lead minister at The Troy Christian Church) and another member of the church (Brandon) came up the other night and decided they wanted to pit their skills against some of the big catfish in our pond. Their goal was to have enough to have a fish fry for their two families. I thought to myself, what a great thing for a fisher of men to be doing on a fine summer evening.

The pond has a good number of catfish in it so I wasn't worried about how many they would take, and I was glad to have them thin the ranks of the cats, especially at their spawning time.

When they arrived, I wasn't there to offer any advice, figuring that since Pam usually outfishes me in that particular area anyway, she could offer all the advice they needed. Instead, I was playing golf, subbing for my neighbor in his golf league. As well as I played, I probably could have done better fishing.

Anyway, when I got there, I saw Chris sitting on the far side of the pond, pole at the ready, but no action. I figured he must have just reloaded after pulling in a whopper and was settling in for the impending battle. Wrong-o!! Up to this point, the outcome I was seeing was the outcome he had encountered all night. Brandon, on the other hand, looked like this wasn't his first rodeo. He had one of those heavy, stout, river catfish-fishing poles, and what looked like about 15# test line with a serious-looking fishing hook that looked like something out of the Inquisition. He was ready for some serious fishing.

His stringer showed this to be the case as he already had three or four pretty good sized ones headed for the deep-fryer. One of the fish was 27" long, and pulled the scale at just under 8#. At that point, the two of them were now really into it. In fact, Chris had broken his line at least twice trying to set a hook on a strike, or get one in that he had hooked. He said he had 10# test on his pole, but the line was pretty old, so it was bound to keep breaking. Pam gave him her pole and he quickly got back into the hunt. Each of them pulled in a couple more big ones, and then the realization that it was getting dark and they still had to clean this rather impressive 7-fish bounty was overtaking them and they figured they had had enough. We decided to try to get a final figure on the catch and ended up with the total catch weighing in at just over 40# on the stringer. This was a pretty good night for them, and I'm sure the remaining fish in the pond appreciated the removal of that much competition for their food.

Chris told me they got them all cleaned by a little after midnight. Since his wife and kids were out of town, they decided to clean them at his house. He says the smell is pretty well gone now!I've been told these pictures were sent to some of Chris's fellow fishermen in the congregation.

Bragging may not bring happiness, but no man having caught a large fish goes home through an alley. (Author Unknown)

Hooah

I hear you calling...

Following our weekend trip to New York earlier this month, we spent another day with an agent, looking at more real estate, concentrating on the Delaware Water Gap area in Pennsylvania -- specifically looking in the boroughs of Milford, Stroudsburg, East Stroudsburg, as well as Bethlehem and Nazareth Townships. The latter are outlying areas of the towns of those names. These Townships are pretty nice areas and have lots of things to offer -- shopping, community events and festivals, downtowns, modern hospitals, and are all within 1-2 hours of Brooklyn (depending on traffic). Some other things they all have in common are the beautiful scenery and proximity to fishing, golfing and other recreation venues.

The creek shown here is called The Bushkill. It is very cold and a pretty swift creek with a mixture of river rocks for a bottom. I'll bet there are some pretty good sized fish in there. I don't know how people there fish it -- using a fly rod or bait casting, but I think I'll have to find out. The trees on the sides could be a problem to normal fly fishing, but I guess roll casting would do the trick.

Now that I have a better idea of what fishing opportunities really look like over there, I'll have to do some "'splorin and practicin" so that when Quinn is big enough to go with me, I'll know how to open this up to him.

The gods do not deduct from man's allotted span the hours spent in fishing. (Babylonian Proverb)

Hooah

I hooked a big one...

I went down tonight to renew an acquaintance with an old friend -- my pond. Haven't had a rod in my hands for about three weeks; we were busy with our "G&G Road Trip" to New York to see our new grandson. So since it was a nice cool evening, I thought this might be a great time.

With my very first cast with a minnow-like lure on 6# test, I caught a 12"/3# bass. One never knows if that means spending the rest of the evening being shut out, or if it was, indeed, going to be a great night of angling. Pam was in on the phone, so I didn't get a picture of this one, but trust me, the scratch and the teeth marks on my thumb will verify that I did catch one. OK -- So far, so good.

I whipped the water a little more, and then caught one that looked to be about 10". It was just a young one, but I was happy to catch it just the same. That was two in about a half hour.

Then I walked to another part of the pond and on the very first cast, I hooked a fish that hit like a big ol' catfish, because it stayed down for a while. But when it broke the surface, trying to throw the lure, I saw it was Walter II. It looked to be about 14" and 3-4#. As I said, I only have 6# test on this reel, so I had to be careful. But I got it in, grabbed it by the jaw and started yelling for Pam to bring the camera. There was a couple walking by on the road and they saw me haul it in, and the neighbor just happened to be riding by on her bike when I made a fatal error. I took my eyes off the fish and it started flopping around in my hand. I hadn't gotten the hooks out yet, when all of a sudden the fish buried one of the hooks in my index finger. It was in so deep that the hook almost disappeared. Plenty of blood. Well, I was telling Pam to hurry up and take the picture so I could get the hook out of the fish and then out of the fisherman. Good thing I had a tetanus shot in April.

Picture this -- me with a lure's treble hook buried deep in my left index finger, blood all over the place, trying to get the other set of hooks out of the fish's mouth. I was just thinking how I had really hooked a good one when, for some strange reason, I thought of it from the fish's point of view. It had really hooked a big one too -- ME. Good thing fish don't have cameras too.

Anyway, I was really pleased with three nice bass in an hour. What an evening.

"Bragging may not bring happiness, but no man having caught a large fish goes home through an alley." (Anonymous)

Hooah

Fish tales...

I spent some time the other day working around the pond, trimming the banks and clearing all the weeds out under the dock. Having finished that, I crawled into the hammock and started to think of what my next project should be. Fortunately, a cool breeze overcame me and taking a nap seemed like the most logical thing to do.

When I woke up, I thought about wetting a line because it had been a couple of weeks since I had the fly rod out and I thought the bluegills needed some work.

As I got the rods out, I couldn't help but think about the last time I was over at Lake Loramie with my old friend, Dave. It seems he used to be quite a fisherman (at least according to him), and he and his dad would come up to Loramie and camp and fish. So when I suggested to him we take a break from golfing and try our hand at fishing, he was all for it. Remember, this is the guy who went out and bought several hundred dollars worth of golfing gear before he even played his second round. So when he said he was going to have to buy some fishing gear, I wasn't surprised when he called and said he had spent over $50 on gear so we had better catch some fish.

Well, We got out at 0600 hours and it was an especially beautiful Friday morning. After getting the boat in the water, we started trolling around the lily pads near the docks and shoreline. To my surprise, we were greeted by a beaver who swam out to let us know we were casting a bit too close to his area. I have never seen a real beaver in the wild, and this was a thrill. He made a couple of passes, sizing us up I guess, and then smacked his tail on the water and returned to his part of the shoreline.

We spent the rest of the morning exploring the lake, hitting the best looking areas. We certainly gave it the old college try, but I don't think we would have impressed any real fishermen -- you know, the ones with those fiberglass, speckly-painted bass boats worth several thousand dollars complete with almost as many electronic gadgets as we had in Baghdad.

Anyhow, here are the pictures of our day. Pictures don't lie, so I'll let you decide how we did. Please be kind. The way Dave figures it, he is averaging $26.50 apiece for these two fish he caught. I think he might have been short changed on the little one. But as far as that goes, at least he got two fish in the boat. I couldn't set the hook and had at least three fish on the line, only to have them spit the hook. They could have been crappies, because they have very soft mouths and quite often are lost if you're touch isn't just right.

Of course, the "best catches of the day" can't be measured in money. We really had to fight to land these monsters.












“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.” (Henry David Thoreau)

HOOAH

Anybody can get them to go after a worm...

When you are not fishing, golfing or traveling, retirement in the winter can be the pits. It's kind of like sitting at the light with your Corvette in neutral, just revving your engine for two or three months. I know there are lots of things to do -- blogging, painting the upstairs, reading, working the ham radio, watching movies while walking on the treadmill every once in a while, but these things get old. So how can I use my time effectively? I've got it -- I can tie flies. No, not like I used to do when I was a kid and put them in model airplanes and pitched 'em off the roof. The kind you use to fish with.

I've done this before and some of them turned out pretty good... at least to my eyes. I did catch a couple of fish in my pond with one of them, but the fish might have just been humoring me. Anyway, it is an exercise in patience, and it is kind of fun to see if I can actually make something that Ol' Walter thinks is real food. I'm sure it was some great fisherman who once said: "The best way to a fisherman's heart is through his fly." Oooh -- that was bad. A little fishing humor.

My son got me started on this when he bought all the supplies and manuals for me when I retired from education. I had always wanted to get back to fly fishing. My grandfather first introduced me to it when I was very young and I have one of his rod and reel combos. They were pretty simple back then. So now, I've got chest waders, a cool fishing hat, a large assortment of flies, a few rods and reels and I have actually walked a local river beating the water to a froth.

My goal is to go to Montana with my wife some summer to an area she visited when she was out there on a church work trip. She saw some beautiful rivers that have my name on them. So in the meantime, I'm perfecting my technique, trying to tie flies that actually appeal to fish. But as Wallace Stevens once said, “Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.”

"There is no greater fan of fly fishing than the worm." (Patrick F. McManus)

Hooah

I'm starting to get the fever...

Well, it's March 3rd, the temperatures are in the low 60s, and I've had just about all the political phone calls from my newest, best buddies -- Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton and their proxies I can stand. I made the mistake of answering the phone once and got nailed by one of those callers, but now I just let the answering machine handle it. I haven't seen any smoke yet from the machine, but I'm not sure how the two of them are getting along trapped in there. Maybe they'll work everything out.

Anyhow, as I said, the day started out nicely here today, so I grabbed my clubs and headed to the driving range. Boy was that fun. I just hope this newly acquired skill with a driver and 3-wood will carry over to the course.

Of course, the weather didn't last -- it's Ohio, right! When I got home, I scooped the yard to get rid of the dog poop, and then spent what was left of the morning looking under the tarps on my boat to see if it has made it through the winter storms. None of the tarps were torn, so I thought it would be OK, and it was. Boy is that a relief -- fishing season is almost here and I can't wait. It was this time last year that I began looking into getting the boat painted. When I bought it, it was in bad need of a paint job, and removal of some big fish decals that were pretty deteriorated. Anyhow, it looked like the person who owned it should be about 290 pounds, fishing with a case of PBR and night crawlers strewn all over the bottom of the boat.

I checked with all the local auto body repair places in the area. Two guys said they wouldn't do it as the cost would be prohibitive, and another one did give me a figure of $1600. Shoot, the boat, trailer, batteries, trolling motor and fish finder only cost $1300 total. So getting it done by one of them wasn't a viable option. I told myself it was only an old fishing boat, so maybe I could paint it by myself. Well, I sanded, taped it off, primed it and then painted away with the best spray cans Wal-Mart had on the shelf. My neighbor kids thought I was nuts, and my wife would come home from work and just shake her head as she walked passed it. They all obviously failed to see its potential. Or could it be they failed to see any artistic talent in me in the past and weren't hopeful now. Well, I'd show 'em...give me another can of paint!! In fact, I think I'll throw in a decal of my own, just for good measure. When I was finished, I named it "Miss Pam" (smart, huh!).

The pictures you see are the before and after. Actually, I surprised myself. It turned out quite well. In fact, one day last summer, when I was tied up to a dock at the boat launch, some guy came up and asked me if my boat was for sale. He said he didn't want one of those "pretty boats." I know he was talking about those sparkly-painted, very expensive fiberglass bass boats, but I'm not sure if I was insulted or given a compliment. I'm taking it as a compliment. None of the fish I caught seemed to care.

“There’s a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore looking like an idiot.” (Steven Wright)

Hooah

Walter lives !!!!

I was taking a break from the rains of last week and building my ark, when I looked out to the pond and saw something that almost sent me to the nitro bottle again.

I grabbed the binoculars and focused them on an object floating on the far side of the pond. I knew it was a fish gone belly-up, but what kind of fish. The pond was built and stocked when we built the house some 11 years ago. Since that time, smallmouth bass, catfish, crappies, white emirs, minnows and various kinds of bluegills and sunfish have brought pleasure to many an old and young fisherman. Typical of these devoted anglers is young Sydney (center) with her father. It is really cool when youngsters hook a fish and their eyes absolutely light up. Some, on the other hand, take a step back when they pull in one of the bigger catfish. Some of them go over 25 inches. The greatest thrill, however, is when they hook "Walter" (16" bass-- right, above)

Walter has been caught by almost all of the neighborhood kids and they all know him and call him by name. It's really cool when one of the young'ns knocks on the fence and ask permission to come over and see if he can try to catch Walter.

So you can see why my heart sank when I saw the sight of that white belly on the far side. Again, as the water was up so high, I couldn't get around the pond to check so I waited until the next day. Bailey (our Chocolate Lab) and I went to check it out. Fortunately, it was just one of those old catfish like the one Craig (right) is holding. Whew!! There are probably too many of them in there anyway, and the loss of one won't hurt anyone. My apologies to the members of the National Catfish Protection Society.

Everyone who has ever fished our waters knows Walter is protected -- strictly a "catch and release" fish. That's the pinnacle of fish hierarchy at this pond and only "Arnold," Walter's brother (about 14") is even close to inheriting the throne. Every other fish is fair game (except for the emirs, that is) and the catfish are often "harvested" by some of the older guys who live in a retirement home nearby. I guess they have some pretty good fish-fry evenings there.

Following a relaxing evening of fishing, enjoying the pond, the sunset, the birds and crickets, we often put a fire in the fire ring and sit out there watching the bats fly around after the evening bugs and the sparks floating up from the fire. The stars are close enough to pick. We also listen to Walter and his buds feast on the evening hatch coming to the surface of the pond. What an absolutely glorious place to live. We are indeed thankful.

"Fishing is the chance to wash one's soul with pure air. It brings meekness and inspiration, reduces our egoism, soothes our troubles, and shames our wickedness. It is discipline in the equality of men -- for all men are equal before fish." (President Herbert Hoover).

Hooah