Ham

A lot of WWII vets did not want to talk about their experiences. I'm sure many, many of them spent their lifetimes trying to process what they had experienced. Brothers in arms they lost, things they did or did not do, survivors guilt,lots of stuff people should never have to see or be a part of. I have tremendous respect and admiration for those men. They truly were our greatest generation.

I actually have read a lot about the efforts of the 8th Airforce and the Strategic bombing campaign. Our guys tried to hit military targets to impact production of key components to derail the German war effort. The British took a different approach. Those bomber crews found the courage to get back in that plane and run the gauntlet of AA and German fighter aircraft over and over again. I have nothing but respect for them. Lots and lots of them did not survive the experience. I'm sure their sacrifices made a difference, but the Germans did move a lot of production underground. Ultimately, the Germans ran out of quality pilots and petrol products. They never ran out of planes/engines/ammunition. It was a terrible terrible conflict that lots of exceptional efforts and inventions came from, but also an unmeasurable amount of human suffering and wasted resources.

We are getting close to needing to set menu's. I'll be glad to load the smoker if it is needed. Thursday night or Saturday night. Country style ribs and beans. I'd vote for Fry Day! For the flathead fillets.

I took a short, strange fishing trip yesterday that some useful information can be gleaned from. The wind really blew. I wanted to fish main lake areas. The wind was high enough that it really limited where I could fish. Oakland ramp is still very much in play at this water level and is a good ramp for a hard wind from the south, but not great for a wind from north or Northwest. Still the high waves from wind almost snatched my boat away from me. The wind created waves that rocked it off the trailer. I made a running leap onto the front deck of the BassCat from the courtesy dock. Better than a cold swim, but I'm getting too old for that crap. First area I tried was NOT protected enough so I ran the white caps to a mostly protected area. I enjoyed the 20 foot Cougar's ability to stay above the worst of it. Crazy to be running 50 plus mph on whitecaps without being beat to death. A few minutes in I caught a 18 inch or so SMB on a FB Jig. Nice bite and a really long fight. I was fired up. I quickly caught another couple of SMB on a drop shot rig. Things were going great, but then fizzled. Bass are there but not in the numbers I hoped. I also had a tank SMB on a Ned. Zebra mussels are bad and getting worse. I fished about 5 hours and broke off a FB Jig, a finesse Jig, 3 drop shot rigs, and 3 Ned rigs. All because of zebra mussels. Don't worry about wearing jigs out anymore. I don't see those swing head jigs being an acceptable option in certain areas. I lost a nice walleye st the boat side trying to lift him in the boat. No net fishing solo. I hooked him on drop shot. To add injury to insult, the weight from the drop shop swung around after the fish dropped off and whacked my arm. I lost a nice keeper LMB on a FB Jig. I hate it, but it happens. I had an annoying sequence where a smallie ate my Ned, I hooked him but lost him after a couple seconds, I let the Ned fall right where it was and snother fish ate it, but broke off on Zebras when I set the hook on the second fish. So I went to re-rig and my glue was gone. No where to be found. I either kicked it out of the boat or the wind took it at some point. CajunAngler discovered that Gorilla glue super glue holds almost as well as the LocTite and that the applicatior doesn't gum up. He has used the same bottle since April. I had used my bottle 3 months, but I hate I lost it. I had no back up glue. I had to scrounge and use whatever Neds that were already glued. So many break offs and so many tangles. I contine to catch panfish while drop shorting. Ppl really should drop shot panfish water was 64-66 degrees

BSL

I'm sorry that you aren't going to make it down for Jigfest. Give me a heads up whenever you head this way.

Richard Cross is trying to free things up to come down for jig fest. We are going to have lots of boats. I know I'm scheduled to get humbled by Phil one day. if John makes it down, I need to fish at least one day with him. i don't think I've fished with Erik yet. Is DD headed down?

I fully acknowledge that wind makes nano more than pretty annoying to deal with but you can allow the Nano to rest on the surface of the water at times and cheat the wind that way. I will always use nanofil for most of my spinning options UNTIL something better comes along.

I used braid before I got on the nanofil train. There are some advantages to braid over nanofil, but for me nanofil is a superior product. It casts further and breaks at close to listed strength. Trust me. On a river situation, there are times you want that line to break. i want the high vis line. I use chartreuse or white, but would be ok with any color as long as I can see it. It makes a difference. I catch a lot of fish by watching the line. I don't use Fluorcarbon line as my leader any longer. It is so picky about the knot you tie. I felt like I had some failures that where Fluoro related and never saw advantages. Im still using the Alberto for my line/ leader connection BUT I am playing with the triple loop surgeons know some as well. I'll never be able to tie it in less than 30 seconds in the dark, but it is easier to tie than the Alberto.

The water was lower and much clearer that I have ever seen it. Add in the high skies and I think that hurt us for size and numbers. The fish were not were I expected them to be. Very fish we caught was a LMB or SMB. No panfish at all. Bret is one of my favorite people to fish with. We always have a good time and we always seem to catch a bunch of fish. I think that was my first ride in a Blazer. Nice boat. Kinda has me thinking about one as a possible future third boat. Might be 7 years away, but never too early to start thinking about one.

Wow!

Erik is going to be here but he may be staying at his cabin. John is trying to make it happen. Work may block him.

When the Rock Crawlers first came out, I refused to buy them. I had lots of warts, but had not really done that well with them. When I finally had a breakthrough day with the wart, I bought a few Rock Crawlers to try. I immediately caught fish on them. They throw better, run deeper, and I like the colors better. I typically reach for a Rock Crawler before a wart.

Is Erik making it down from the frozen tundra. John talked about maybe coming down. I'll check with him. Lots of our number are having health issues. We aren't getting any younger.

Bull Sharks are nasty

In all honesty, I wore him out on numbers and he wore me out on size. I would have been Happy for him to beat me in both categories. Time is taking its toll on him as is only natural and None of us are guaranteed tomorrow, but with him being 84 now, I know our opportunities to fish together are becoming increasingly limited. I love to fish because I loved (and still love) fishing with my Dad. I worked really hard at fishing because I wanted him to be proud of me. I'm sure proud of him. we had a really good time. It could hardly have worked out better.

It really is Pete. You could spend all day just looking around and taking pictures. I did not. I have a few more pics, but they won't upload for some reason.

After a full week at work (>40 hours) , I took off Friday headed south with trout boat in tow. I was headed down to take Dad fishing on One of my favorite fishing places from my previous life. We love Big Cypress Bayou. The stretch I like to fish is btw Lake o the Pines and Caddo Lake. Very pretty. Sandy bottom. Tons of Cypress trees and knees. Lots of wildlife and lots of fish. I prefer to launch at Jefferson, Tx. You are immediately into the sections I prefer to fish. So imagine my disappointment after having driven 7 hours down to get my Dad and then another hour over just to find the ramp barricaded and covered up in idle construction equipment. NOT Good. So adjust on the fly. That area has not had our economic slowdown down. Oil and natural gas finds have put a lot of money in people's pockets. Lots of ppl with shiney new toys. The plus for me is that I was able to find a new RV park with a boat launch. The place was covered up with idiots, but eventually they cleared the ramp area and we were able to get the boat on the water. My plan was to throw small buzzbaits for bass at every piece of cover I could see. I was going to put Dad up front and ease him along letting him have first shot at everything. Well at 84 he can't really play that Game anymore. He had neither the accuracy nor the ability to throw the bait far enough to get it done. He had one hooked, but it shook the hook. No worries. We had graphite jigging poles and more brush tops than we had time to fish. So we set about catching as many crappie as we could. Normally, the crappie are 6-7 foot down in 10 foot of water. The water has some stain to it so you can get close to them, but boat control is still important. I try hard not to crash into stuff or wash the fish with the trolling motor. We used Bobby Garland Baby Shads on 1/32 oz heads. Ease them down thru the cover. It isn't necessary to Jig them. Just lower slowly and hold still. This trip the fish were unusually high in the water column. Most of our bites were only 2-3 foot. And we had a lot of bites. We had great weather. Rare low humidity and it wasn't all that warm. I don't think I even got sweaty at all. Fall colors are just starting up. Mornings were pleasantly cool. Sunday was more of same, but I reluctantly quit fishing at 1:30 pm. I got home a few minutes before 11 pm and back up at 0500 and back at work. It was a hard trip, but totally worth it to get Dad a couple of fishing trips.

Man, the double boiler of Phil out fishing me AND I can't cuss freely in response to Phil out fishing me.

Sorry to hear that Jeff. Can you send the dog over anyway?

I'm going to be available to fish Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. If y'all are really nice, I might fish some Sunday too.

The trout are eating jigs really good. 100 fish in an 8 hour day is very doable.

I don't doubt you are right that Arky will get up for the game against LSU. I might be way off base, but it seems like at times Arky decides they can't win and they fold up their tents and go home mentally. The loss to the Aggies was that way and this Auburn game was too. I hate bama.

I love the concept of the shiney heads, but in a real world application my slapping the jig on the water to clean off grass often knocks the fur off the jig as well. The gold and Nickle heads work, but I'm better off leaving them for others. Oliver/Ginger, Brown/Orange, Triple Olive, White (racist), Black (liberal), Olive orange or Ginger/Orange. I still stick with all my previous comments about color selection. I do throw the 1/16 oz more after having taken beat downs from Richard when I thought that there was too much flow for the 1/16 oz. I was wrong, but I can admit when I am wrong and learn from my mistakes.

Good thing they caved into the misguided football players over that BLM. I would hate for them to have sold their souls and still have a crappy football team. keep in mind LSU fired a coach averaging 10 wins a year. What do you think happens if they lose to Middle Tennessee State? LSU fans burn down the coaches house and tar and feather his children while he's on the way back from the game. And the freaking Hogz give up 540 plus yards on the ground to Auburn. What the hell is that? Again, at LSU, that gets you fired, but Bielema is safe as a kitten. LSU fans are crazy. Arky better figure out how to stop the run before LSU shows up. The new coaches DO NOT call the dogs off the way CLM did. If LSU can hang a 50 Burger on them, they will.