Hunting, Catfishing, Hurricanes!

[jdmidwest]

What a weekend. Left out at 2:30 AM Sat. morning to meet up with a friend to do a little hunting. Made it to the lake after the wind started picking up. Sit thru a nice sunrise and listened to the squeals of many wood ducks on the lake. We had several buzz the decoys and a few drop in. About 20 minutes after shooting hours, a flock of 14 teal started working and we had a little fun. They buzzed the dekes several times and finally committed. We managed to take two. My gun got caught up on the boat camo and I did not get a good shot. Oh well, first trip of the season. We sit around till 9:00 and did not have anything else so we pulled out.

Spent the rest of the day at Yard Sales and Antiques, wind was really bad and clouds kept rolling thru all day. We were wanting to float and fish, but I figured as unsettled as it was it would not be very good. I really wanted to go see Al's friend, Big River, but when we crossed the Hwy 8 bridge and saw cattle standing in the water, we declined the float. Been there, done that, cow poop and turned off fish.

Later, we took the boat out on one of the lakes at Terre Du Lac and cruised around till dark. We anchored off a point and started Catfishing. There were lots of bites but the anchors and wind kept the lines slack. My buddy managed to catch a nice one and all was well with the world. After 10, the wind started kicking up and we decided to call it a night. The almost full moon was still out and clouds were just starting to come in.

This morning was a different story. The lake had whitecaps on it and really blowing. Several inches of rain fell and when I crossed Big River on Hwy 21 at Bootleg, the river was muddy and big. Trees were down all over. I called home and power had been out since 6:30 am. Going thru Fredricktown at 4:00, I learned that power had just been restored there. Came home and dragged out the camping gear to cook a little supper. Lights just came on now at 7:41. Its flickering and don't know how long it will last.