Camping Trip - High Temp 36 Degrees

Gavin's keeper.  The last one of the day.  He wasn't letting this one go.

I called Dad last week to see what they were doing for the weekend.  The boys have been amped to fish since we got back from Grand Lake, so I thought I would drive up to my parents and hit some ponds and small lakes with them and Dad.  Dad had other plans.  He was wanting to camp. 

We watched the weather and the forecast became more bleak as the week went on.  On Friday it was snowing up there.  It's not winter and there isn't ice on the lakes yet so we went camping.

It was cold.  Two layers of coats cold.  I bundled up in my coveralls, coat and multiple shirts and was ok.  I couldn't move my limbs due to such bundling but I wasn't frozen cold.

It was after dark on Friday by the time I reached the lake.  Mom and Dad had a fire going so we sat around that and talked for a while before we were all too cold to stand outside any longer.  We went into the heated 5th wheel and got some sleep.

The next morning we were not in too big of a rush to get out onto the lake.  It didn't look like anybody was.  There were about 4 boats on the water through the whole day.  We started out over a fish attractor and tried to catch some crappie.  We saw 1 caught in a boat next to us and that got us all jacked.  I slowly lifted my rod tip to raise the jig off the bottom then let it sink back down, repeating the motion over and over.  I had a few light taps but never had one take it.  Then I get a tap.  I lift the rod tip and the battle is on.  I feel the fishes head jerk from side to side.  I realize it's not a crappie.  That feeling is all to familiar.  Then I see the shiny sides and the ugly mouth and my thoughts are confirmed.  It's a drum.

We trolled some after that and Dad caught a white bass.  Nothing was biting in the deep water.  Everybody was starting to get chilled and hungry so we went in for lunch.  With no vehicles at the launch ramp we just tied up to the boat dock and walked to the camper. 

Again, nobody was in a hurry to go back out.  Dad snuck down to try fishing off the rocks for a shallow crappie.  I saw him catching fish after fish so I went down.  He was catching a white bass on every cast.  We both started catching them.  Then just like that they were done.  We decided to go out in the boat and try slabbing them in the cove.  No luck.  Dad's trolling motor broke earlier this year so we couldn't work the shorelines.  We tried drifting down a shoreline but the wind wasn't letting us.

We were getting ready to try another cove when we noticed a rain cloud approaching.  Dad didn't want to get wet so we jetted back to the ramp and loaded the boat. 

Leo had been keeping a fire going all afternoon so we stoked it up a little to get ready to roast hot dogs and brats.  We sat around the fire most of the evening and the night until we couldn't take the one sided heat any longer.  Back to the camper to shed the layers.

Sunday was nicer.  We realized the best fishing was going to be from the shore so we walked to the back of the cove.  We were catching a lot of fish but they were small.  The wind was blowing to the other corner of the cove so Dad walked over there.  He caught several keepers so I walked over there.  We were catching keepers on about every cast so the boys decided they were coming over too.  They got into the action.  We only fished for about an hour before heading back to pack up camp and clean fish.  In that time we had kept 19 fish and had thrown back close to 100.  That's fun fishing.

I had scheduled an appointment to look at a pop up camper that afternoon so we left the lake to go look at it.  It was reasonably priced and came with everything you needed to start camping as well as tons of extras.  The camper was in great shape so I made an offer.  He counter offered and I counter offered again until we came to an agreement of $3450.00 for the 2003 Starcraft pop up along with a 32" flat screen t.v., a fold down grill, all of the new bedding, pots, pans, silverware, microwave, coffee pot, DVD player, video game system, and everything else that was in there.  The great thing will be the air conditioner and the heater.  Now I can camp anytime.  It has 2 queen size pop outs.  The sofa and the table also turns into 2 more twin size beds.  It will sleep 6 pretty comfortably.  It will be nice next year at my tournaments to not have to get hotels all the time.  Maybe I can find a boater that will want to camp and would be willing to take me out prefishing in exchange for a place to stay.

On my way home I averaged 14 mpg with the explorer.  That's only 5 mpg less than not hauling anything.

Next week I leave for Louisiana for the BFL Regional on the Red River.  My wife isn't going with me.  She has been on too many trips the last few weeks to take any more time off from work.  Even though it has been trips for work.  She went out to Colorado Springs for a week and now she is out at Seattle Washington for the week. 

I was planning on making a longer trip out of this and spending some time in Louisiana, but now it's all about fishing and getting back.  I'm not fun enough to spend that much time with myself.

Last night I cleaned out the garage so I can park the camper in there.  They are calling for tornadoes, high winds and hail tomorrow.  Is it spring already?  No need to risk it, I'll have my boat and camper in the garage. 

Gavin Hooked one and was struggling getting it in so Leo came to help.

Getting the fish lined up ready for the big picture.

The big picture

BFL Grand Lake Super Tournament

The BFL Super Tournament at Grand Lake was on September 15th and 16th.  I had convinced my wife that her and the kids needed to come to this tournament since Grand Lake is such a nice place to visit.  She agreed to travel with me and camp at the lake. 

The weather was setting up to be great.  Early in the week I checked the weather and it was supposed to finish up raining early Friday afternoon and be calm and cool Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

Thursday night I looked again and it forcasted rain all weekend.  I knew my wife would not want to tent camp in rain all weekend.  I didn't want to either.  I quickly looked up motel rooms in the area.  Holy Cow!  There were only 2 rooms left at a hotel with 2 out of 5 stars and the room cost 110.00 a night.  I looked at the reviews and there was nothing good to say about the place.  The next closest motel was 30 miles away.  I was preparing for the family to stay at home and me to sleep in the back of the truck.  At least it would be dry there.

Then I looked at vacation rentals by owner thinking that everything there would be booked way ahead of time.  I saw a nice looking cabin on the waterfront for 125.00 a night.  I e-mailed them and they called back early Friday morning saying that the cabin was open and was indeed 125.00 a night even on the weekends.

The cabin was newly built and had king size beds, granite countertops, a dishwasher, washer, dryer, and every cable channel.  It was awesome.

We got to Grand Lake Friday afternoon and had some time to relax in the cabin prior to the pairing meeting.  At the meeting I met my partner and got a plan for the next day, cranking.

It seems that at each tournament this year I have fished a different technique. 

The next day I was up early after not sleeping the night before.  I met my partner and we headed to the ramp.  It was drizzling and kind of ugly out in the dark.  I was glad I didn't have to get up out of the back of my truck into the drizzle to get ready that morning.

At take off the rain was coming down harder.  It stung my face and hands as we headed to our first spot.  The area we fished looked great.  Lots of rocks, steep banks, boat docks.  I could spend 2 weeks on that bank. 

I hooked into a fish right away.  It felt good.  When I got it up to the boat we saw that it was a catfish.  It had ate the crankbait and had all 6 hooks clamping the fishes mouth closed.  It took 10 minutes to pry the fishes mouth open and get all those hooks out.  Right after that my partner caught a sandbass.  He shook it and it came off the hook.  He said, "See, that's how you do it."

We caught tons of sand bass and lots of short bass but were yet to get a keeper.  Then one of the sandbass my partner caught flipped at the wrong time and drove the hook into my partners finger past the barb.  I cut off some of my braided line while he cut the hook away from the crankbait.  Then I wrapped the line around the curve of the hook, the other ends around my finger.  This was only going to happen once.  Either I was getting the hook or ripping off his finger.  I jerked and the hook popped right out.  I asked how it felt when I jerked and he said it was like a bee sting.  He felt it but it wasn't bad.

He bandaged himself up the best he could do in the rain with duck tape and we were fishing again.  I had seen a video of how to remove a hook with string online before but had never seen it in person.  It worked pretty slick.  My boater mentioned that with the hook in his hand he would not have been able to do it himself.  He needed to hold his hand steady while I jerked. 

Once we were fishing again we continued to catch all kinds of fish but keeper bass.  My boater slowly filled his limit and I caught 1 keeper.  I had a giant hit a rattletrap off of a roadbed.  I was reeling him in and he splashed the surface and was gone.  I had another 3-4 pounder come out from under a boat dock and suck in my bait.  I tried to get it to the surface and it came off.  I also had another keeper at the end of the day come off my crankbait as I pulled it up to the surface.

My boater pulled in a hog out of a bunch of brush.  I swept the net under the fish and lifted.  It was as if I were powerless.  I couldn't lift the fish out of the water.  It felt like a ton of bricks in the net.  I lifted harder and the cable to the boat ramp lifted out of the water above the net.  I had gotten the net under the cable and was trying to lift the whole boat house.  I pulled the net back towards the boat and got the beast in the boat.  It was a nice bass.  The kind you use your whole hand to lip the fish.

I don't know why my keeper bass all came off the hook, when every other fish that hit never came off.  Most were even tough to get off the hook.

At the end of the day, I had caught around 100 fish.  My thumbs were bleeding from lipping them all.  It was a great day for fishing but not for a tournament.  I had caught the 1 bass I needed to advance to Regionals and actually moved up from 23rd in the standings to 21st. 

My wife and kids were at the ramp when I walked up to weigh in.  I tried to look happy as I took my single bass across the stage.  He was long and skinny at 1 pound 14 oz. 

We spent the rest of the evening at the cabin.  I took a nap and woke up to hungry kids telling me I needed to cook supper.  I had gotten steaks for us and sausage for the kids.  I fired up the grill on a stunning evening and grilled up the meat while looking out over the lake.  We ate good and watched some t.v. before turning in to bed.

Sunday morning the kids were wanting to go fishing.  We drove around the Grove area but couldn't find any easy access to the water to fish from bank.  I mentioned that we should stop by bass pro to replace some of the crankbaits I had lost and the kids were ready to go.

We stopped at bass pro and made it home with a couple hours left before bedtime.

Regionals will be in Louisiana on the Red River.  My wife's mother and possibly one of her sister's may be going down with us.  It will be like a little vacation.  We are planning to spend most of the week down there.

School Lunch Portions Too Small

I may be jumping the gun as it's only the 4th day of school here, but when your kindergarten student asks for you to save food from supper so he can eat it cold the next day at school because they don't serve enough food, I think there may be a problem.

My son doesn't eat a lot at home, most of the time, but he doesn't complain of hunger.  What is going on?  Then my high school aged nephew comes over and raids my freezer so he has something to eat with his school lunch saying that with the new Michelle Obama lunch program they are getting hardly anything to eat.

On spaghetti day, they measured out one small scoop of spaghetti, a small serving of lettuce and a half a piece of toast made out of regular bread.  The football team was fatigued and getting sick part way through practice.  I believe it.

As an honorable mention All American football player in high school I can relate.  I tried to gain weight and could not.  With weights in the morning, practice in the evening and all the running I could do in between I would eat 8 eggs for breakfast, 3 plates full of food for lunch and 4 heaping plates of spaghetti for supper.  The food would change daily but the serving sizes didn't.  I couldn't get over 160 pounds.  My matabolism was extreemly high.

Not all students are athletes, and most are probably not as active as I was, but the food amounts that my nephew explained to me would not get an average student through a day of studying.  For some students this may be the only meal they get each day. 

What will this do to our academic scores?  Will this stunt growth in young americans? 

I'm not about to find out.  My kindergarten son is complaining of being hungry at school so I will start packing his lunch.  He's far from obese.  He looks like a twig with a head.  As a parent I will make sure he gets the right nutrition and does not gorge himself on unhealthy foods.  That's part of being a responsible parent. 

I Need to Travel



My buddy sent this pic to me the other day.  "The good ole days"

 It's been a tough summer for fishing around here.  The ponds and rivers are drying up again.  The weather has been either hot or windy or both.  It's starting to cool down now.  I am feeling the urge to go fishing on one of these cooler 95 degree days. 

I have been playing some online poker to keep myself occupied.  Maybe one of these days I will have a brag post where I win a decent tournament on there. 

I'm getting ancy for the Grand Lake tournament.  It was such a fun lake last year.  That and our last tournament in July was tough.  I want to go catch some bass.

I was online the other day and saw that Jacob Wheeler won the Forrest Wood Cup.  How awesome is that?  Just a couple years ago we were talking at the BFL's in Ohio.  He had some great advice about moving up that has stuck with me since that conversation.  I would like to think that if I was still in Ohio I would be on the Boater side of the BFL's next year.

This fall should be a lot of fun.  I will be fishing the Grand Lake 2 day tournament and now I'm planning another trip to Las Vegas.  If everything goes well at Grand Lake, I may even get to go to regionals in Louisiana.  I've been getting some tips on where to go eat if I make it.

School is starting up next week and both boys will be going this year.  We did some school shopping last weekend and they are getting really excited.  We will be busy chasing the nieces and nephews to volleyball and football games. 

Fall is an exciting time and would be even better if it wasn't followed with that dreaded winter.

HOME ON THE RANGE

Home of Home on the Range

This last weekend we took a trip to Northern Kansas to visit family.  We had great weather compared to the 115 degree days we had been having.  Saturday was only in the mid 80's. 

While we were up there we visited a cabin where the song "Home on the Range"  was written.  It was interesting to imagine living in that cabin with a gravel floor and that size of living arrangement.  The owners were also getting a trail set up along the creek that the cabin sets on.  We walked part of the trail before loading up the kids and going back to Grandma and Grandpa's. 

That afternoon as most of the family was napping a few of us snuck off to play a round of golf.  It was the first time in several years that I had been golfing.  I used to golf all the time.  When we had kids, I pretty much quit playing.  I had a few bad swings, but was amazed at how well I could still hit the ball.  Setting the ball on the green from 150 yards seems impossible when you haven't played in forever, and yet I did that a few times.  I just couldn't get it on there from 3 feet away!

On Sunday we visited the Lutheran church we were married in.  It is a little church in the country about 15 miles from any towns.  Everybody there invited us to stay for breakfast afterwards and we stayed and ate and talked for about an hour after the service.

We dropped the kids off on the way back.  They are staying with my parents this week.  They stayed there last week as well.  This will be a trip they remember.  My youngest son doesn't want to come home.

Arkansas River BFL

Friday morning I had some work to do before I left for the tournament at Muskogee, OK on the Arkansas River.  I quickly packed everything and headed to work.  The boys started getting all crazy when I told them they weren't going with me.  They hate when I pack my poles and not theirs. 

After working for about an hour I took off on my 4 1/2 hour drive to Muskogee.  About an hour down the road I realized I had forgotten my tackle out of the boat.  I had grabbed my tournament bag but had forgotten that on Memorial weekend I had been Walleye and Crappie fishing and had switched my boxes out.  All of my terminal tackle and crankbaits were in the boat.

If I turned around I would be pushing it to get to Muskogee.  Especially since I didn't know where the pairing meeting was to be held and it did not pull up on mapquest or my GPS.  I needed time to drive around if need be.

I passed through Broken Arrow on the way and stopped at the Bass Pro to stock up on some necessity's as well as a quite a few other things.  Forgetting my stuff was a $70.00 mistake.  Not really.  I picked up a lot of cool things that should help out in the future and I restocked all of my hooks, jig heads, and bullet weights as well as added some new goodness to my arsenol.

When I got to Muskogee I checked into Days Inn.  It was nice for the price of the room.  They told me how to get to the marina and where Walmart was located.

I drew a great boater and an early position, which was good.  It was going to be hot the next day, 106 degrees, and I wanted to get them early.

The next morning I missed my turn to the marina and showed up a little bit late to meet my partner.  We still had time to help out another boater get their boat in the water. 

We took off at 6:00 AM and made a huge run down the river.  A couple hours later we were fishing.  My boater quickly pulled in 2 keepers, then a third. 

I was getting bit, but it was light and when I set the hook my bait was wadded up on the hook but no fish.  My boater finally told me I was setting the hook too late.  I needed to set the hook as soon as I felt the fish. 

We fished in about 1/2  a foot of water most of the day.  This, again, as in every tournament this year was new to me.  I caught one fish that touched 14 inches when I measured it but when my boater measured it was about an 1/8th of an inch short.  I hated to throw it back but 1/8 of an inch will cost you dearly.

My boater rounded out his limit but had his big one die due to how he had hooked it under the tongue.  Before we left my boater said lets go hit some rocks.  I was excited, this was my chance.  I love deeper water.  I started out with my regular rock bait.  My boater said that he has luck there with crankbaits.  I switched to a crankbait and right away got hit by a 15 1/2 incher. 

That would be it for the day.  We had a long run back and the wind had picked up.  It was a rough ride back.  We couldn't slow down as we had to get back in time to lock through.  We were in the air more than on the water for quite a while.  It was a little fun but my back paid the price.

I caught a couple of rock bass in the river on the way back to the ramp but no bass.

My bass weighed in at just under 2 pounds and was good for 45th place out of 90.  It moved me up in points from 34th to 23rd for the year with the Grand Lake tournament remaining.  The cutoff for Regionals is 40th place.  If I catch 1 keeper at Grand Lake I should make it to the regionals.  I would like to better than that though.  This will be my 1st tournament with some previous experience on the body of water we are fishing. 

After the tournament I drove to Oklahoma City to visit Mizike.  We went out to the casino for a couple hours that evening for something to do.  I ended up leaving with an extra 250.00 thanks to my favorite slot machine.

The next day we ate at Toby Keith's restaraunt.  The chicken fried steak was huge.  It was the size of 2 or 3 regular chicken fried steaks.  I at the whole thing and all of my sides.  Dang you, Man vs. Food.  I was miserable.  We checked out the museum of osteology after that.  Then I headed home. 

It was a great weekend.  I learned some new fishing techniques, and had a load of fun.

We Killed the Rabbit



 Holy smokes it's 2 months later into the summer and I am just getting around to posting again.  Quite a bit has happened since the last post. 

We are expecting another little fisherperson.  Look out crappies!  We are thinking that it will be sometime around February.  Christina has been pretty sick with this one.  She is sick all day and evening.  Hopefully that lets up soon, she is so miserable.

I had never heard the saying, "She killed the rabbit", before this pregnancy.  Maybe it's because we lived in a different society with our last two pregnancy's.  Wildlife is a lot more thought of here.  Apparently, before pregnancy tests, they would use a female rabbit and inject a woman's urine into it.  If the woman was pregnant there would be a distinct change to the ovaries of the rabbit.  Some believed that the rabbit's died from this change, but in reality the rabbits would be killed when they would disect it to look at the ovaries.  In fact any woman that thought she might be pregnant then "Killed the Rabbit".

I also got the boat registered.  It only took 1 year to get everything legalized.  If I move states again, I will sell my boat no matter how much I love it.  It's not worth not being able to fish during the prime fishing season.  Now it's miserably hot and the fish are harder to catch.

I did go back to Glen Elder the week after my last post.  I took the boys back and we had fun in the wind.  Apparently it blew for 11 days straight above 40 mph.  You would think that would be some kind of record.  Around there I am sure it is not even close. 

We caught a few more fish, but still it was slow.  I haven't whacked em at all this year. 

This last weekend we took a trip with Mizike and his family down to Broken Bow, Oklahoma.  That area is so green and the water is crystal clear.  It feels like you should be catching trout, not bass.

We didn't fish much but did get a few hours in.  I had 1 bass take my worm and swim with it.  When I set the hook there was nothing.  I could see him swimming with my lure in his mouth at 7 foot deep.  He was a monster of a fish around 5 pounds.  That was my only decent fish except for a little smallmouth that took my worm next to a stump.  As soon as he hit he headed straight for the surface.  I tried pulling sideways to keep him from coming out of the water but there was no deterring him.  He lept several feet into the air and right at the peak of his jump my lure comes gliding out of his mouth.  It was a spectacular jump.  I have never seen a fish get that high out of the water.

Next weekend is the FLW BFL tournament out of Muskogee, OK on the Arkansas River.  It will be a blast to fish even in this heat.  Rivers are generally tougher fishing than lakes but in a tournament you can get away from the crowds.  I like tougher tournaments.  I tend to do better in them.  After fishing Broken Bow, I am looking forward to some stained water.

With some luck, I may have a chance for a check in this tournament.