It's almost Time

I know it has been months since I have posted on this blog. But the new fishing season is almost here! Christmas day '07 has past and is now a memory locked in with all the other family celebrations that we have shared.

We have received items to help us become better anglers. A new scale and Academy gift cards to get the rest of the gear we might need. Even some witty new T-shirts in odd colors. Frank has even received a pair of boxers from his favorite girl that he insists he will be sporting over his jeans/shorts this year (his lucky drawers as it may be).

We have begun to check the long term forecast to try and plan what all we might need for our first tournament. Reservations have been made for the motel and we have started putting back a little extra cash for the gas we will be needing. As the days approach, I promise to post more often on this blog. I am sure there will be some interesting things on the fishing front between now and February.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and I hope the new year brings many more memories for you to share.

Dream Big in 2008

Kevin VanDam

2008 Schedule

I have received our tournament schedule for the coming year. TBC would love to have you join! Please look over the schedule and sign up to fish.

Feb. 10, 2008 Twin Buttes Lake

March 09,2008 Lake Leon

April 20, 2008 Lake O.H. Ivie

May 18, 2008 Hubbard Creek

June 15, 2008 Lake Brownwood

July 13, 2008 Lake Brady

Championship 2008

Sept. 26, 27 & 28 , 2008

The City of Temple & Lake Belton

We always have a great time. To join, please see the Texas Bass Couples web sight (see Links) and see what all the excitement is about!

In Between Seasons

I was told that it I needed to update my blog. Well, when you are finished with your fishing season and hunting season hasn't started yet, it is really hard to find something to write about.

With out last tournament for the year being behind us, I am looking to forward to football season. But that is really boring to talk about because we get to watch so many different teams. It is easier to talk about my granddaughter.

So until something in the outdoor world gets me all excited and eager to write, be sure to read "Lolo's Blog" (see Links) and enjoy all the musings about my family.

Brandi

God Has Blessed Us.

The title is so true and in so many ways. I was born in to a wonderful family. Almost 24 years ago I was blessed with a wonderful husband and then a daughter. Now we have a beautiful granddaughter. Frank and I have been blessed with great jobs that allow us to do things we love, and that includes fishing.

This weekend we have been blessed with good fishing weather and we caught fish. Yesterday we had a little more than 7 lbs of fish in 20 minutes (see previous post). But today, we had one of those days that you get just about once every couple of years.

We started off fishing on the north side of the bridge in Crystal Canyon. We didn't start fishing until about seven this morning and at 7:05 we had our first keeper in the live well. Already we are having a better day than we did yesterday. By 10 we had four fish all of a decent size. We stayed up in this cove until about noon and then we decided to go back up into California Creek and fish in some of the places that we did yesterday. I told Frank, I didn't care where we fished, but that I wanted to be in the same place at 2 o'clock that we were yesterday. He promised me that and I am so glad that he did.

At 2 we started fishing the same pattern that we had the day before. At 2:05 he caught a 5.30 lb bass. That was the prettiest fish I do believe I had ever seen. He caught another nice fish and we started culling, we never get to cull. Then he caught another - at this point I quit fishing so I could take care of the fish and cull. At about 2:23 he caught another that went just over 5 lbs and I culled our last fish. He made two more cast and we headed to weigh in.

We weighed in just over 17 lbs for the day and 24 combined for the two. We were so happy but little did we know how good it really was. WE WON FORTH PLACE. We both thought the tournament was only going to pay 3 places so we were really shocked and elated.

We both no that none of this would not be possible without the grace of God. He has made all of this possible and blesses our lives in so many ways everyday.

Good things Come to Those Who Wait

Well, hello everyone. It is Saturday evening and we are having a really good time. Yesterday, Frank did some more pre-fishing while I went with the rest of the girls and toured Del Rio. We started off at the Val Verde Winery, wine samples before noon. Yeah, I really liked that. We went to a few shops in the downtown area and ate lunch at "The Brown Bag". That was a really good experience. We finished off the night with "Border Buttermilk" at registration. Needless to say, Friday was a good day.

This morning we started off fishing at a little after 6AM, yeah, that is my favorite time of the morning. Frank threw a top water, I rested for a bit. No really, we both new if I started fishing in the dark that I would end up tangled in a tree that I could not see. Around 7 o'clock it was day light enough that I could see where to cast. We fished top water for awhile with no success. We decided to venture on the north side of the bridge past the dam. It was not as rough as Thursday, but by the time we decided to move, it was a very light sprinkle. If anyone is interested in a facial, save your money. I had a derm-abrasion this morning going 50 mph across the lake! I felt clean and refreshed by the time we stop to fish!

The lake was rough, but we did not do any flying this morning! However, as long as we have been fishing, I don't remember getting sick in the boat. I got sick today from the rocking of the boat! Poor Frank was doing his best to keep us in a position to fish, but when the trolling motor spends more time out of the water than it does in, that is kind of hard to do. About 25 minutes of that was all we could handle and we headed back to the south side of the bridge (and another facial).

Lets just say we were not having the best of fishing days! I had prayed for God to keep us safe and felt it would be selfish to pray for a keeper fish. He had, after all, kept the boat upright for the past three days, I really didn't want to push my luck!

By 1:30, I was getting a little disheartened. Frank had been frustrated for several hours already. Seven and half hours on the lake and no fish in the live well! Who wouldn't be at wits end? In the midst of my frustration, I told Frank I was tying on a pink Baby Tiki . That really made him mad and I was trying to decided if I would be sleeping in the pick up or if we could afford another room for the night. A few cast later, with no luck, it was time to move again.

Weigh in closes in 2 hours and we a going to be skunked. I HATE BEING SKUNKED!

We managed to keep our frustration in check and stayed very civil to each other, but he is still a bit angry at my choice of bait. And then it happened! At 2:10, I caught a keeper. Not a monster but a keeper and we were not going to be skunked. It was at this point that things really changed. Frank tied on the same bait and he caught a keeper. Dear sweet Lord, thank you for answering our prayers. By 2:30 we had caught 8 fish, 4 keepers. We decided not to be greedy. We stopped fishing, said a prayer of thanks and packed up to head to the ramp.

By the time we get loaded and up the ramp we are the next to the last couple to weigh in at 3:25. We really like to keep people wondering about us! We weighed in 7.47 pounds. Not bad for those who had no fish just an hour earlier. I was just glad we had shown proof at 2 that we had no fish or no one would have believed us!

Prayers and patients pay off again. Thank you again Lord for blessing us with the means and ability to fish and for always answering our prayers.

Not the brightest crayon

Well, we made it to Del Rio last night without incident. Several deer on the side of the road but none felt compelled to run out in front of us.

This morning started out wonderful. The water was so smooth, just a few ripples from the south breeze. The fish were biting and it was great morning. Then the alarm woke me up and everything changed!

The wind was blowing 15 to 20 mph so the weatherman said, but I don't think he was right. We got to the lake and for the first time we decided we would fish on the other side of the bridge. Not in Mexico but on the same side of the lake.

At first it wasn't to bad, but the further we went the worse it got. There were swells of about 3'. The boat became airborne more times than I would like to remember. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy flying, I just prefer to to it in an airplane.

Being airborne in a boat is really not the bad part, it is what you know is coming that is bad. As the steady hum of the engine changes to a high pitched squeal from lack of water, you prepare yourself for the landing. It jars every bone in your body. And just about the time you catch your breath, the sound changes again and you have to prepare yourself to do it again.

Frank realized how scared I was and we turned back. Going back into the wind is really a bit better than the ride with the wind. Still rough, but you don't go fly, you just get showered.

As we fished the rest of the day in some of our usual spots, I reflected on what we had experienced this morning. At this point, I went from being scared to being mad. Frank and I are not stupid people, but this morning our actions made us look really dumb. I mean, here we go in a $30thousand boat plus all our equipment not to mention our lives, putting ourselves in danger to practice to win $1,000. Makes it look like there are a lot brighter crayons in the box besides us!

So goes the first day of our trip. Nothing exciting other than forget to put on the sunscreen I had to go back in the house for (I am a bit red tonight).
Tomorrow,Frank will try again, but I am staying safely on land and spending the day with the rest of the fishing ladies. The Chamber of Commerce has a full day planned for us including a trip to the winery and shopping. Now who wouldn't look forward to that?

Best Fishes from Del Rio!
Wish you were here.

The Night Before

Tonight is the night before we leave on our fishing trip to Del Rio, our championship tournament on Lake Amistad. This evening has been rather uneventful. Frank is off tomorrow so he can prepare all of his things tomorrow. I on the other hand thought we were leaving on Thursday morning, therefore I did not request vacation and have to work on Wednesday. I have received a "little" bit of grief for that.

Anyway, like I said, it has not been to eventful. I fixed supper, mostly left overs, and started doing laundry. Everyone knows, you have to do laundry the night before so no one inadvertently wears something that should have been kept for the trip. I have one load left in the dryer and one in the washer. Luckily, the last load can be dried tomorrow, it is Frank's work pants that he won't need until we get back.

We have already had one "small" problem that was easily fixed, hotel reservations. The hotel had our reservations from Thursday to Saturday night only. I am glad I had to call to tell them we are coming tomorrow or we would have been a night short. That has happened before and it is usually not a problem to add the extra night. So let's hope that this is the only problem we have on this trip.

Frank has gone to bed, he needs his rest so he can drive tomorrow. That is one chore he won't let me do. He says I make him nervous. What's up with that? He makes me nervous telling me how to drive. I don't know how I get anywhere when he isn't with me.

Anyway, back to my original thought. Since he has gone to bed I will start gathering all my things that need to be packed so I can get them in the suitcase tomorrow at lunch. I sure hope he will fix me a sandwich. We will be leaving as soon as I get off work.

While we are gone, I will try to sneak down to the community computer at the hotel and update you on our trip. If I can't, I will Let you know how it went next week. Pray for a safe trip and return home.

Best Fishes,

Brandi (Frank too)

Welcome

I am up late waiting for some pictures to download so I can enter them in the fair(I think I will be a famous photographer some day). As I was working on them, I came across pictures from some of our fishing tournaments. We love to fish, sometimes I think that is what helps us keep our sanity! Funny thing is, we always tell people how much fun we have. Ha! Sitting, going through those pictures, we are all smiles and laughing. But I think about some of the trips we've had and there have been some pretty bad times.

When most people think about fishing, they think of leisure days kicked back in the sun with a soda, just relaxing the day away. This is not true of the tournament fisherman.

The trip begins weeks before the tournament. Maps are pulled out, frantic searches through "Bass Master Magazine" to find that article that "I just read the other day", hours watching The Weather Channel and praying that the forecast cooperates (most times it does not - to hot, to cold, to windy - typical West Texas weather).

The night before the packing starts. This is one of the most exciting times. It usually goes something like this...

Brandi: "How cold (hot) is it going to be?"

Frank: "Not very. It should only be about 27 at safe light."

B: "Are you kidding me?! Do you want me to pack your long johns?"

F: "No, my long sleeve T-shirt should do the trick."

B:"I am packing jeans, my long sleeve T, long johns and a sweat shirt. Oh, will you go get the coveralls from the garage?"

F: "It is not going to be that cold. All you will need is a light jacket."

B: "Are you kidding me, all this is just for the motel room! I haven't started packing for the boat yet."

F: ***Silence***(Does anyone hear the crickets besides me?)


So, you can see how our trips start off and you can imagine how much fun they are when we start fishing! Some day I will tell you all the fun we have on the boat! It gets real exciting after 7 1/2 hours of fishing when it is 107 out and no breeze (yes there are days in West Texas when the wind doesn't blow) and there are no fish in the live well. Better yet all the stories about the problems with the boat. I do not remember our boat ever breaking down that we were not in a tournament. Imagine that!

I look forward to telling you all about our trips and how much fun we had. Hum, it is funny that sitting here writing, of all the trips we had, the one thing I always tell people is "Man, did we have a good time".