Weekend update

I got some errands taken care of this weekend. I got the pontoon cover picked up from the canvas shop. They had resewn the canvas for me. I also picked up the van from the shop. It had been fixed from hitting the deer. I also rolled a bunch of coins and cashed them in for the first time since college. That will give us an extra 450.00 for vacation money.

Nothing else really happened Friday night or Saturday. I had a few drinks Saturday night with our alternate for our tournaments. I was feeling pretty good after the first beer and a half. I was walking to the restroom and almost knocked over a table as I was already stumbling. I had several more beers then ate some food and lost my buzz completely. I had one more beer between midnight and 2:30 when the bar closed and it was hard to get it down.

Sunday I got up pretty early and watched some t.v. I was feeling stir crazy sitting around the house and needed to get out. Mizike got off early and we headed to a pond in the city to try it out. I had 2 bites on a rubber worm right next to the bank at my feet. The second bite was on the next cast after my first bite and when I set the hook there was a pretty decent swirl but I missed the hookset.

Mizike got bored pretty quickly and wanted to try a different pond. We went to the other pond we have had some luck at and they have posted it no tresspassing so we headed home and caught the crap out of bluegills in the creek behind my house.

I fried up some crappie for supper then we shot off a couple fireworks. After that we broke out Rapala fishing for the Wii. I had gotten it and the fishing rod for father's day. It is a pretty awesome game. Mostly because of the use of the pole and being able to set the hook and reel in the fish. The graphics were o.k. and I think the tournament style games are better but I really liked the actual feel of having a rod instead of just a controller. It is more realistic than some of the other games and is a little challenging to catch the bigger fish. We'll see how it is as we advance through the game. This is just my initial impression.

The best part was we had set the ottoman in front of the t.v. to sit on. Mizike went to set the hook on one fish and as he pulled back he leaned and almost fell off the back side of the ottoman. Needless to say the fish was hooked.

I have a couple more days of work left today then it's vacation time. The couple that is buying the pontoon is picking it up Wednesday so I will have my check then. All I will have to do after that is pack for the trip, and help clean the house. My wife always has to leave with a clean house.

It sounds like Mizike and his girlfriend are going to drive up to Niagara Falls to camp with us for the first weekend. That should be pretty fun. My wife's mother was going to come with us on vacation but she decided not to go. I kind of like the idea of just my wife and kids and me going, that way we can do whatever we want. If we see a light house or something interesting to check out we can stop, or if something we have planned does not look to great we can keep going.

It seems like I just got back from a week off in Kansas and already I'm ready for vacation again.

Vacation Planning

I have been planning our family vacation for a while now. Next week we will be leaving and be gone for 9 days. The plan is not set in stone but we have some ideas of what we would like to see and do. We are going to start out from Columbus and go to Niagara Falls. We have a campsite reserved there since it is Independance day weekend.

We have 2 nights reserved at the falls then it is open from there. We will more than likely head North and East and try to make it to Maine. We will spend some time there and then head towards the Chesapeake Bay, possibly Ocean City, then spend some time in Washington D.C. before heading home. Nothing is set in stone though and we may end up in totally different states or areas. We have a set amount of money we will spend and if we run low we will return home early.

At the falls we purchased a Niagara US Discovery pass where we spend 33.00 each to save 17.00 a piece to do all that Niagra Park has to offer. It also comes with 50.00 worth of coupons for the area. It all looked like things we would like to do anyway so I ordered the pass's. The kids are free since they are still young so that portion of the trip will be relatively inexpensive and already paid for.

Some of the things I want to do during our travels are:

1. Eat fresh Maine Lobster.
2. Eat at a Seafood Buffett next to the coast.
3. Try Blue Crab from the Chesapeake.
4. Fly fish the Appalachian Mountains.
5. Fish in the Ocean.
6. Spend time on a Beach.
7. Hit a Waterpark or Amusement park for the kids.
8. See a lighthouse up close.
9. Set a crab pot and catch crab.
10. Spend some time shopping at unusual places.
11. Go hiking.
12. Try doing something other than already listed that I have not done before.

This will be our family's first vacation together. We have been on vacations with our parents together but not just me, my wife and the kids doing what we want to do. My wife's mom just about came with us but we found out today she is not coming. It will be exciting and I am anxiously awaiting our departure.

Pontoon Selling and Weekend Update

I met with the couple driving 3 hours last Thursday to look at the pontoon. They made it up early. Luckily I was able to get off a little early so they did not have to wait. I met them with the boat at Delaware lake. They looked over the pontoon then I took them out for a test ride. Everything ran good. The motor started up on the first crank like usual and everything else went smooth. We got back to the dock and after being out on the lake and I let them off and I continued to load the boat while they talked.

I backed the trailer down the ramp and another boat was loading. He pulled up on the trailer with ease and she made a comment on how easy the other boat loaded. After he pulled out I told her the pontoon was really easy to load and to demonstrate I pulled onto the trailer really crooked and showed how it would steer itself onto the trailer. Then I gave it a little gas and it slid right up to the front. She was extreemly impressed.

He asked how low I would go on the price. I had a guy interested on Saturday for 5500.00 so I said I would take 5750.00. He and his wife talked about it for a minute and said they would take it. The sale is not finalized. They are coming to Columbus to pick it up in a week and bringing a cashiers check. I am going with them to get all of the paperwork transferred so there will be no problems.

Thursday, Mizike and I went to O'Shaughnessy only did not get in the tournament. We decided just to fish for a while and if we start doing better give the tournaments a try again. On the first cast of the evening Mizike caught a 12 1/2 inch bass on a chartreuse spinner. We both were thinking "Why did we not fish the tournament". The rest of the day was not so well. We moved on down the bank and saw fish surfacing everywhere after the schools of fry all over the surface of the lake. We tried a lot of different presentations and ended up catching quite a few crappie and bluegill before we decided to try to go to a cove and catch some crappie.

I tied on a purple worm in the cove and fished a weed bed. I cast into an opening in the weeds and jigged the worm a little bit. I instantly got a hit. I missed the hookset. I cast into another opening and again another hit and again a missed hookset. I am starting to think the fish on this lake are going to require finesse fishing and I think I am getting closer to figuring it out. I have been downsizing my weights and hooks and am starting to figure out how to finesse again.

Mizike had to get to work so we left a little before the tournament boaters came in.

This weekend not much happened. I had Friday off and did not do much besides watch T.V. Saturday I watched T.V. all day and cleared off a lot of space on the DVR. I haven't been watching but a couple shows a week so it was about 97% full. We got it down to the 40%'s. Saturday evening I got a call from a friend I used to work with saying he was having a poker game at his house. Mizike's girlfriend and I went and played a low stakes tourney. It was fun even though I was out in 3rd, no money.

Sunday my son brought home a gift for Father's day he made for me in Sunday school. It was made out of popsickle sticks and puzzle pieces and had a nifty little saying on it about loving me to pieces. He also had a big bag of reices pieces that the 2 boys gave to me and both were anxious to share them. We ate the lunch I had prepared and headed to the lake to the beach to go swimming. It was fun for the boys the girls and me. The boys enjoyed playing in the sand and swimming and getting to play with other kids.

We came back home and got cleaned up to go out for some barbecue. There are not a lot of places in Columbus so we went to Smokey Bones. None of us had ever been there. I was craving ribs and they had awesome ribs and even better onion rings. I ate until I couldn't eat no more and I still had enough left for another meal. The waitress gave us a coupon for my meal free since it was father's day. She also was one of the best waitresses we have had so I did not have any problem leaving a 15 dollar tip.

We came home and put the kids to bed and made it to bed by 10 ourselves. That is a rarity in our house. I feel rested today thanks to a very relaxing weekend.

Selling the Pontoon

I posted a listing on craigslist to sell my pontoon yesterday. I have gotten 4 responses so far. The first was yesterday evening. I got a call from a person that wants to look at the boat on Saturday. He is interested in keeping it at Buckeye lake.

I got another call this morning. The person said they were going to be making a 3 hour trip to look at the boat tonight. I also got 2 e-mails. One asked if the boat was still available and the other offered a trade for a motorcycle.

I need the cash to help pay down the loan for the other boat and could use the money for our family vacation coming up in July. If I get what I am asking I will only sacrifice 150.00 from what I paid for the boat 5 years ago. I think the boat is in as good or better shape now than when I purchased it, especially after all I have worked on it this year to get it in tip top shape. It still looks sharp and runs like a champ.

I didn't think that I would get a response so quickly. I still have a couple of things to do. The cover is still ripped from last winter so I need to get that in the shop. I also need to get the canopy back on it. The canopy is at the house. I need the boat to transport it due to it's size. If the gentleman wants to purchase the boat I will have to have him follow me into Columbus, an hour away to attach the canopy and get the rest of the things that go with the boat. It is on his way back home so he should not mind. If he does I can keep the boat until Saturday and transport it to him with everything ready to go except the cover.

I am pretty nervous. I have never sold a car, boat, or any other vehicle before. Luckily I have bought a few from individual sellers so that should help smooth the transaction with those experiences.

Weekend Overview

This weekend the girls wanted to do something other than fishing so Mizike and I did what was needed and allowed the girls to plan the weekend.

Friday evening we watched some movies and had Chinese food. About 11:00 we started drinking for some reason. Mizike got home shortly after that and we finished watching Yes Man and played some Karaoke on the PS2 until 4 a.m. We were up around 10:00 with the kids. The girls wanted to hike at hocking hills. We made it down there around 1:00 and walked around the flea market for a while. I found a gift for my mother. After that, we headed to Old Man's Cave. We took a short hike around the cave and by the time we got back to the beginning everybody was worn out. Could have been from the festivities the evening before. We ate ice cream then headed back home.

I had to return the movies to Redbox so Mizike and his girlfriend rode with me. We stopped at the Liquor store and picked up a few bottles then went to a couple of game stores. We got a Rayman game for the Wii that turned out to be pretty fun. We played that into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday I got up as Dad was calling. He was overly excited. He told me that he had just landed a 27 inch 6 1/2 pound walleye at a lake in Kansas. He was jigging for crappie with a 3 1/2 foot ultralight pole with 4 pound test and had the monster hit. He battled with it for quite a while. It had him hung up in trees twice before he finally got it to the boat to net it. He had thought he had hooked into a Wiper or a Catfish. Then as it got close to the boat he saw the white dot on its tail and realized he had a walleye.

It's not to often you get a fish like that. Especially this time of year. A couple months ago that fish would have went 8 pounds easy. I have never gotten one that big in the boat. I've had 2 up to the boat before they got off. Dad is a very good fisherman though and has bagged a few monsters. I know he has caught 2 walleye over 8 pounds.

My wife and I were going to go to the zoo but she decided to clean the house a little instead. After Dad's call I couldn't take it any longer. I grabbed my extendable pen size pole a small size 12 dry fly hook, a split shot, bobber and some worms and went down on the creek behind my house. It is a city watershed but looks like a small creek. I had never fished it but knew there was some decent sized creek chubs in there.

Mizike looked at me like I was crazy. I told him I would be back inside in just a minute when I caught the first one to show him you could catch fish back there. I dropped a worm down next to the shore and bam I had a bite. I lifted out a small bream. I ran inside and showed Mizike. He was surprised I caught something. I went back down and attached my bobber about a foot above the hook and cast out into the pool. As soon as it hit the bobber went under and took off. I realed in a 6 inch creek chub. It was fat. I ran that one back inside and Mizike got a look on his face that he wanted to go down too. He got the look from his girlfriend that said, if you do you will be sleeping on the couch, so he stayed inside.

I walked back down and caught a 6 inch shiner, another smaller creek chub, more bream and a decent sized bluegill. I saw some fish at a log Jam a little ways down. They looked big enough to be bass. I couldn't walk the shoreline due to the side of the water I was on had washed the bank away and there was a steep 10 foot cliff between me and the jam. I decided to go around and come in on the back side of the log jam.

I walked through the woods down a deer trail until I came to the water on the other side then followed the bank back to the log jam. The woods are covered in briars and brush. I had to make myself small and pretty much crawl through the debree until I reached the log jam. Once I got there I dropped my piece of worm in 2 spots before a fish stole it. Right after that I saw 3 large bluegill swimming around taunting me. I had not brought any more worm.

I decided that the way I came in was not great so I would go up the embankment to get to the deer trail. I was pushing tangled brush out of my way as I made my way to the top. All of a sudden a thorny vine wrapped around my head and all of the thorns stabbed into my skull at the same time from ear to ear. I was stuck for a second or 2. I reached up and peeled the thorns out of my head and into my hand at the same time. By the time I got out of the 20 foot section I walked through I was scraped and scratched from head to toe.

I went back inside and played Wii then took a nap. My backyard had turned into one of my greater adventures so far this year. At some point this summer I would like to wade and fish one of the rivers going through town. I also want to rent a canoe south of town and float fish. I have been wanting to do both and think I will this summer.

TNT # 7

What can I say? Not a good tournament again. Again we did not weigh in any fish.

Mizike was working so our alternate joined in. The water temperature was 72 degrees. We started out fishing the southern end of the lake. We fished at the point of a cove where the water dropped from 3 to 7 foot. Nothing. We moved back into the cove around reeds and fallen trees. Nothing.

Finally we made the move to the northern end of the lake where we have had most of our luck previously. We hit a cove. Nothing. We move to another cove and I see some small bass chasing shad on the surface. Our alternate casts between a set of fallen trees with a chartreuse Bomber. He gets a hit and brings it in. He landed a bass but it was only 11 inches. We cast in that area a little longer but judging the size of the bass that I had seen it was a school of small fish.

We moved a few more coves up fishing the bank along the way and found a road bed in the middle of a cove that came up to about 2 feet and on each side was 5 foot deep. The fish finder was picking up quite a few fish in the 5 foot depths right before the road bed. I made a few casts with the beatle spin. I saw one small bass look at it and turn so I decided to try something else. I cast a silver and blue crankbait through the area. Still nothing. Finally, I switched to my Tiny Dancer pink jig head with pearl and pepper crappie skirt. I jigged it along the bottom and got a hit. I set the hook and brought up a 10" crappie. He was a scrapper and I thought for a bit it might be a bass.

I cast a few more times and had a couple more bites that felt like a crappie so I switched back to the beatle spin. I cast through and had a hit on it. A few casts later we decided to go past the road bed deeper into the cove. There was a few fish surfacing in the cove so I decided I would try a popper. I had bought a silver busch beer popper because I liked the color of it. It was a sexy shad color. I cast a few times fanning the area. Then my cell started ringing. It was my wife. I figured that if she was calling during a tournament it would have to be important so I answered.

While I was talking to her about a groundhog she saw in our yard (real important), I continued casting and popping. I got a hit and told her I needed to get off the phone. She continued talking. Finally I said I had to go and right as she was hanging up the bass got off. I had not gotten a good hook set and then was not able to keep the pressure on the fish that was needed. My wife always calls at the worst time. This time it was when I had my 1 bass on. Usually I will just have gotten all in at a poker game and she will call. I always lose the hand if that happens. As mad as I have gotten at her in the past I don't know why she keeps calling while I am at events.

We were running out of time so we boated back to the first cove and cast a few times to see if the small bass had grown yet hoping to catch a 12 incher and weigh in. No luck in the few casts we tried so we headed back to the boat dock.

I called Mizike after the tournament and discussed just fishing on Thursday nights. If we start catching fish then we can start fishing the TNT again. We will save 35.00 a week that way.

Rainy Day

I woke up this morning and realized I had not plugged the batteries in the boat up yet this week. I climbed out of bed and made my way down to the garage. I grabbed the extension chord and hooked connected it to the charger. I had a good charge after last Thursday so I am not worried about running out of power but an extra hour charge will help ease my mind. I need to stay relaxed today and not worry about the boat being ready.

I looked outside and it was starting to sprinkle. I went up to get ready for work. When I got done and looked outside it was absolutely pouring outside.

I hooked up the boat in the rain and was soaked by the time I had it connected to the Blazer. The weather says it is supposed to lighten up this afternoon and start back up this evening.

I have not fished much in the rain so I looked up what to do in a rainy situation. One article says to use darker lures and fish a little deeper. Another article says to use brighter lures and slow down your presentation.

It is a pretty warm rain so it should not affect the fishing too much. I will probably start out fishing the Southern end of the lake though since we had a lot of rain quick the water will not be as muddy as up by the river.

I don't get to fish as much as I would like to try to figure out where the fish are at so I read a lot about fishing for bass. Some of the things I picked up on this week are fishing creek channels and points.

When fishing creek channels at the beginning of the lake you cast towards the creek instead of towards the bank to increase your exposure over the channel. Since channels snake back and forth you can fish over the tops of more drops and cover both sides of the channels. If a bass is shading or roaming for food you might pass your lure by its nose.

Points hold a lot of bass. I need to fish the points with a crankbait or spinnerbait to see where the fish are located then toss out a finesse worm or a slower action bait to entice them to bite.

The weather and the water is getting warmer. The surface temperature last week was 72 degrees. 15 out of the 26 boats at the tournament caught their limit. I saw one fish pulled in on an orange wacky rigged senko near an overhanging tree near a large drop off. I didn't see where the others were catching their fish.

I caught 2 small bass in 5 foot of water around structure casting from the shallow to the 5 foot pool using a beatle spin. I caught a very small bass off a point that had a steep drop from 5 to 9 feet. I also had a huge hit that broke my line when I set the hook casting along a weed bed in about 2 feet of water using a beatle spin. All three fish on the beatle spins were on different colors. The first was on lime green. The second was on yellow and the third was on orange. The big fish was on yellow.

Plan for TNT # 7

Tomorrow's TNT tournament is at Alum Creek. I have a little more confidence in fishing at Alum Creek. I have had some nice fish on and have caught a few nice bass out of there. I usually get at least 5 hits. After catching the 3 bass last week and only missing 1 I feel like I might be able to get some more in.

I broke down and bought a Lucky Craft 112 Pointer in the Chartreuse Shad color. I have been buying low cost lures and I want to make sure my cheap lure selection is not producing cheap results. Of course I did not pay the full 16.00 for the lure. I was able to find it for 6.00 out of the package still unused. Lucky Craft seems to be a major contributor to money made in tournaments so I would like to be on that boat. I will try it out a little tomorrow. A lot if it works. I will also have my favorite shakey jig with brown worm tied on and a beatle spin. I will try a little smaller shakey jig head for a little more finesse. I will drop to a 1/8 oz. I think that will help create more action. I can't wait to catch that first bass tomorrow. I will hit a couple spots that I know is holding several bass then I think I will move a ways up the lake to where I know a couple really large bass are holding. I know it's big thinking after only catching 1, but I can catch 5 bass to get us close or in the money. I'll start with one then keep catching them.

Lake Erie Weekend

Mizike took Friday off and we had plans to head to Lake Erie for the weekend. Mizike me and his girlfriend were going to take off Friday morning and drive to Lake Erie. We would find a campsite when we got there sign up for a head boat on Saturday evening and then go fish that evening then come back to camp and drink and have fun.

Thursday at work got a little crazy and I had to come in Friday to sort some things out. I worked for 2.5 hours from 8 to 10:30. I got home and we were on the road by noon.

We stopped at KFC / Long John Silvers on our way out of town. We ordered our food and they said they were out of biscuits and it would take about 9 minutes for them to be done. We decided we would wait so the drive through guy gave us our drinks for free. That saved us 5 bucks for 9 minutes of our time. They had us pull forward to wait.

Mizike was complaining because the last 2 times he stopped KFC was out of Crispy Chicken and this time they were out of biscuits. About 2 minutes into waiting a guy brought our food out. I thought it was strange so I had Mizike's girlfriend check through the bag to make sure everything was there. We were missing fries from one of the meals and all of the biscuits.

I pulled into a parking stall and Mizike went racing inside to complain. He was very irritated. By the time I got inside he was already calm. He said the guy that brought the food out got yelled at for taking the food out too quickly. As I was sitting there waiting they told another guy they were out of wings. They must have the worst order person of all time working there to be out of so much all the time. Looks like I know a good place to get free soda's.

It was not long and we were on the road again. It took about 3 hours with a gas stop to reach the lake. Mizike and his girlfriend had never been there. We went over Sandusky Bay. It was really neat. Then drove into Port Clinton. It reminds you of a small beach town next to the ocean. They thought it was really awesome especially the bridge that raises up to let boats through.

We stopped at Fisherman's Wharf to sign up for a head boat. I always go there because the staff is super friendly and helpful every time. They were booked full for Saturday. They said they would put us on reserve and call us if a spot opened. They had lots of openings on Sunday so we were o.k. with that. They helped us locate some primitive camping next to the portage river so we went to check it out.

At first we were skeptical about the campground. It was full of year round campers but had one small area for tents with a firering and picnic tables. We drove and checked out East Harbor State Campground. It was nice but not near the water and they don't allow alcoholic beverages so we opted for the private campground.

We set up camp and headed to the river to wet some lines. Mizike's girlfriend caught a small rock bass right away. She then caught a sheephead. Mizike followed with a catfish. I didn't have any luck. My worm was drowned and untouched by the time we left.

We had saw a sign for Crabby Joe's on the way to East Harbor so we drove back that way to find Crabby Joe's. We found it a little past the campground. It didn't look great from the outside but on the inside had a deck over the water so it seemed worth the stop. A band started playing right after we got there and they had awesome food. I got the walleye platter. Mizike got the cheeseburger and his girlfriend got the crab legs. We split an order of clams served in a beer pitcher. They were fantastic.

They had a claw game that had lobsters in it. If you caught a lobster and dropped it they would cook it and serve it with baked potato and a full meat. It was 2.00 to play and Mizike tried it. He started moving the claw and a crowd gathered around. He got a good grab from the far side of the tank and the claw lifted the lobster out of the water. It was slow moving across the tank. Right as it got to the other side the lobster started moving and slid out of the claw. Another 2 inches and he'd have been lobster dinner.

We had a fantastic dinner and a couple drinks then headed back to camp after buying some firewood. We got the fire started then Mizike grabbed a stick that had been in the fire pit and laid it across to burn. I started to grab it back out to use as a poker and Mizike say's "Don't grab that stick." I asked why. He said, "I got poo on my hands." His girfriend says "Poo Poo?" I look down as Mizike says "Yes Poo Poo!" and see something dripping off the end of the stick. Somebody had stabbed poo with it and thrown it in the pit to be burned and Mizike had grabbed the bad end.

Mizike headed towards the bathroom to wash his hands while we burned his poo stick. A little after we left we heard 2 cats making screaching noises. We joked that Mizike had been attacked for smelling like dog poo. It took a while and when Mizike returned he looked very unhappy. He said that when he had gotten the poo of his hands he had needed to poo himself. The light switch was on a timer and as he was taking care of business he realized he had taken too long when he heard a click and darkness fell upon him. He had to use the light of his cell phone to finish.

The rest of the night was filled with drinking, and drinking, and drinking. At one point I watched as Mizike grabbed a burning end of a log and rotated it. He had just pulled it out of the fire to burn the log in 2. I yelled stop but it was too late. He had ahold of it and didn't realize it was hot. I had him put his hand in the cooler right away and after a couple of seconds he felt the burning.

We made a lot of stick jokes the rest of the weekend. We were able to get out on the headboat Saturday evening but a coldfront moved through so we only caught a couple of walleye before they quit biting. The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful.

We did stop at Wal-mart on Sunday and purchase a Spiderman 2 piece pole for my oldest son and fished off a pier. Mizike caught a bullhead catfish. We didn't have any luck other than that.

TNT # 6

We fished O'Shaughnessy for tournament #6. I tried to go with smaller baits since we had not had any luck at the lake yet this year. I primarily used a beatlespin and a crappie skirt on a 1/16th jig head as well as a shakey worm on a 1/8 oz. shakey head jig.

We drew boat number 17 and went straight to the cove we wanted to fish but it was already occupied by another boat by the time we got there so we fished the points in front of the cove and went around to the next small cove. In the next small cove I caught an 11 1/2 largemouth right away. We worked our way around and I caught another 11 inch smallmouth. Mizike caught a crappie on a crankbait.

We worked our way back to the other larger cove that I wanted to work a drop that went from 5 to 9 ft. quickly. On the way around I had a hit at a weed edge. I set the hook and my line snapped. I caught about an 8 inch largemouth off the drop. Mizike wanted to try a different spot so we went toward the dam and fished a large cove for quite a while without a bite. We decided to go back to the first cove and see if we could catch a keeper there. No luck! We started working the bank line towards the ramp.

We had about 15 minutes left and I saw a small cove similar to the first so I pulled into it. I saw a little ditch extending into the water and thought that it might go out a few feet. There had to be a fish there so I cast to it. The lure barely hit the water and I had a hit. I reeled it in and it felt pretty nice. As I got it to the surface I noticed it was a nice fish but the wrong species. It was a huge crappie. I cast back and got another large black crappie.

The tournament was over so we headed back to the ramp fishless again. Next tournament at O'Shaughnessy we will work the whole lake a few casts at each spot before moving on. I did get a tip from a person that fishes the lake a lot. He said O'Shaughnessy and Griggs are really good tube lakes. I will have to figure out how to effectively use bass tubes.

This Thursday's tournament is at Alum Creek. I have been thinking of possibly just fishing the Alum Creek tournaments or one tournament a month. We have not been doing good and have not came close to placing yet in fact the most fish we have weighed in is 1. We could save money and practice to get better. I don't think Mizike would be able to get out if we were not in the tournament though. I want to get better and have been getting better each week. If we don't get out each week we will not get better.

I am already getting pressure from the wife that I am fishing too much and not doing enough as a family. My weekends have been taken up by family stuff and I have only made it out a handful of times to practice fish for bass. This last weekend we took the girls and kids to Lake Erie. Next weekend we have already been told no fishing. I guess we will keep fishing the tournaments just so we can go fishing.

TNT 4 5 and Kansas trip

We fished O'Shaughnessy for tournament number 4. We had moved into the top 60% of the field with our 1 catch of the year due to making all of the tournaments and getting points for showing. We didn't have any luck. I had 2 keepers on but lost them both at the boat. The first I pulled in from bank. The other I had hit at the boat and flopped off when I went to lift it in.

Tournament number 5 was at Alum Creek. I was not here so Mizike and our alternate fished the tournament. They caught a 1.88 pound smallmouth that was setting up next to a rock. It was raining hard and the rest of the field struggled as well. We still did not place.

Kansas fishing was awesome! I got to the lake last Monday. I set up the tent and blew up the air beds and set up the rest of camp then went to unload Dad's Lund to go after some fish. It was afternoon by the time I had gotten my fishing liscence and made it to the lake from the in-laws. We had a few hours to fish in the evening. We caught some wiper, white bass, and a couple walleye trolling. Then a few more walleye drifting over the spot we had just trolled and caught the first walleye.

The next morning I woke up at 3:30 A.M. anxious to get back out to catch more fish. I sat around the campfire ring until about 5:00 A.M. and decided it was almost light enough to see the shore from the water. I grabbed my pole and walked down to the bank of the cove we were camping next to. I cast out a white 1.5 inch grub with a pink 1/16th oz head and caught a small crappie on the first cast. For the next hour I caught a fish every cast. In that mix I had 5 keeper smallmouths and 8 cleaning size crappie. I usually only keep crappie 9 inches or longer. I threw the bass back of course. I still have never tried eating a bass.

I woke up Dad as soon as it was light and told him he better get down there the bite is on. He got a cup of coffee and ended up coming down as well. He caught 3 crappie and the sun popped up. The bite turned off almost instantly. I think the fish moved to deeper water or had fed well on the small fry that were in the area and moved to cover to sit out the sun. A crappie guy at work thinks that they were still feeding and I needed to try a different color. I will try that next time. The water was extreemly clear there though so I still think they moved.

The rest of the day we had a white bass and wiper fest. There were times Mom Dad and I would all have fish on at once. My oldest son had fun sitting in the boat all day. I took a couple toys and he played with them and played in the livewell. He also liked reeling in a fish every once in a while. I ended up with a decent looking 4 pound Wiper and Dad caught a 3 pound 21 inch walleye. We got some pictures with them.

My son lost his scooby doo pole over the side of the boat at some point while we were drifting for walleye. He might have snagged or had a fish hit. I wasn't watching at the time. He was pretty upset about it. He ended up crying himself to sleep. He did tell me that Wal-mart has a spiderman pole and that we needed to go get it. He points it out to me every time we are there.

We found a walleye spot on the last day I was there right before I had to go pick up my youngest son. We went across the hump 3 times and every time picked up a walleye. They were definately schooled there. I would have like to had some more time to hit that spot. It was a good thing I had to go though. It was over 90 degrees and I was burning fast. By the time I made the trip to meet my mother in law I was red as a lobster. We had only had 2 80 degree days so far in Ohio. I think I got a little sick from the sun or the heat that evening.

On our way back to Ohio we stopped at the Kansas City Bass Pro to pick up some fishing supplies. That is a really nice store. After we crossed through Indianapolis on I70 there was a deer in the slow lane. I saw it a little to late to get to a stop and merged to the fast lane to get around it. It ran at the same time and I got it with the passenger front of the mini-van. It did some pretty good damage as it got the light, the bumper, hood, front quarter panel, and the passenger side door. It took an hour for the highway patrol to arrive and make a report after I called them. He said this was his third deer strike report of the night.

We were able to drive the rest of the way home and made it around 4 AM. The next day I layed around all day watching TV. I was drained from the long week and the late and stressful night. We took the van to the insurance place for an estimate last night. They said 3000.00 worth of damage. Thank goodness for insurance.

We have our tournament Thursday evening then I think we will go to Lake Erie on Friday for the weekend. We're going to camp near Port Clinton and take a head boat out on Saturday. For 35.00 they take you out for a 7 hour trip and drift you across some walleye hot spots. I have gotten my limit almost every time I have been out on the headboats. I have only been out on Fisherman's Wharf Headboats. They are very good.