Twofer

First things first -

We had a great weekend and I want to give thanks to God. Frank and I both know that in all we do, none would be possible without Him. He has given us the ability to this mentally, physically and financially. We are so grateful for all he continues to do for us.

This will be a long post. Sorry. I will try to make it as entertaining as possible!

We have known for quite some time that Frank would be fishing the Concho Bass Club's open tournament this past Saturday. We also planned that I would go with him and just ride in the boat (and sleep) to keep him from having to come back to Abilene to get me for our Sunday tournament or from me having to drive myself. Either way, with the cost of gas, it just made sense for me to go with him on Saturday morning. What we had forgotten was the ladies big bass they pay for this open. So I ended up fishing with him on Saturday.

Saturday evening, we signed up for Texas Bass Couples (TBC) tournament on Sunday and our friends Dennis and Gail Brown fixed Bar B Q. It was so good to see them again and of course the fellowship with everyone was great. And the supper was great. Thank you Brown's for a great meal!

Have you ever wondered why it is always windy in Texas? Insects. That's right it is windy because of insects. If the wind is not blowing the insects will drive you nuts!! This weekend it was gnats. Gnats - swarms of gnats. They crawl on your face and continually buzz in your ears. ARGH, I can't stand gnats. Of all the insects there are, as much as I hate them, I can see benefits from them as far as birds, spiders and other creatures eat them. But from all the birds flying around, I did not see a one eat a gnat. And when you have sunscreen and chap stick on, the little suckers stick to you! I don't think I was ever so glad to see the breeze pick up as I was this weekend!

We were fishing in the salt cedars. Oh, I'm sorry, you don't know what a salt cedar is? Well this is a salt cedar.


And this is a salt cedar.

All of that that makes the shore line, those are salt cedar too.
Deceivingly pretty, aren't they? They drink way to much water and they love to eat fishing line and lures! I asked Frank how in the world I was supposed to get a fish out of that mess if I caught one and his answer? "We will worry about that when you catch a fish!" Isn't he sweet? That is why I love him so.

And in that third picture, see that dead tree? Those are just thick under the water. You can't see them in that picture but they are there. And they, too love to eat lures and line. They also like to fool you and make you think you have a huge gigantic fish. And if they decide they want to be really mean, they will not let go. One such tree played this trick on me Saturday. I thought I had caught a huge fish and set the hook. Well when I did, I lost the rod as it came around my head after pinching my arm and leaving a big giant bruise, and it hit me in the head. Not just a little tap, a big ol' thud that hurt. I did manage to real in the "fish" only to get it to the top to see I had a nice, gunky covered tree limb. I guess when I set the hook the limb was still attached to the tree and it pulled back. That is what caused me to loose my grip and almost my rod. But that was only the first of the stupid things I would do this weekend. (More on that in just a second.)

We fished hard and had a really good time. The hard part was knowing where to fish so we didn't just beat the spots we normally fish since we had another tournament. We both caught fish, Frank had a 5.13 stringer and mine was 3.27. Not bad! Frank did loose a pretty good size fish late in the afternoon, but you should have seen the smile on his face because we knew where she was for the next day. The tournament only paid 30 places, but they had some special prizes, such as $100.00 for 50th place. He missed that by about .10! Dadgumit! We did win some door prizes. I got Mattie May a new reel and he got the niftiest tool set. It attaches to the boat so your tools are up out of the way (I should have taken a picture).

Sunday started out cool, not cold, but enough for a long sleeve under our fishing shirts. It was cloudy but nice. We headed for the place we had saved for Sunday. It was a nice ride across the water, not much wind to make it rough. We started fishing about 7:15 and Boom. Boom. Two fish, one each. Not very big (I am not really sure they would even register on the scale), but we could each keep two fish under 18" so into the live well they went. A couple of our friends were fishing on the other side of the cove where we really wanted to be and we decided to wait them out. The bad thing is, these two are like vacuum cleaners, they leave nothing behind. But we just knew there were good fish there. So we fished and waited.

It was about 8:00 and, remember that fish Frank lost Saturday? Well she took it again! He set the hook, reeled her in, and when she saw who it was, she smiled and spit out that spinner bait! Well his reaction this time was not quite the same. I thought for a minute we were going to have a Mike Icconelli episode on the front of our boat. I managed to make eye contact with him after a few foot stomping seconds, asked him to please breath and go on. He did calm down, but was still poutty but we moved on.

It was about 15/20 minutes later when I was back there minding my own business and he said rather loudly "oh, s*#&!". He has been real good about his language lately so this really caught my attention. Of course my reaction was "What!" as I turned to look at him and that is when I saw this...
Yep, Mr. Weird Looking, Almost Orange Snake!

Now, I do not know how many of you are fond of snakes, but I am not. And I really do not want one joining me in the boat. I really don't have much room for myself back there, and if I choose to share, it is not going to be with a snake. Well from his days of fishing from a tube, Frank learned that if you just hit the water with something, the snake will turn and go on his merry way. I don't know who it was, but someone forgot to give this guy that little bit of information. Frank hit the water with the end of his rod and the snake came straighter to the boat than he was. He struck the water again and he just kept coming.

After a few "Frank, Do Something" pleas from me, it finally dawned on me to grab the camera. This of course did not please Frank but I really don't know what else he intended for me to do! So I started snapping. By this time, he had quit hitting the water and started hitting the snake. That crazy thing finally went limp in the water and looked like this...
We thought he was dead. So I asked Frank to flip him over so I could get some pictures of the back of him (remember, I was late with the camera). When he did, that stupid thing started flopping and squirming around and woke up. He had only knocked him unconscious. We left that spot promptly and let that guy have his peace. I wanted nothing more to do with him.

We were still waiting for the other boat to leave, but continued to fish our area. Frank caught another fish. He had been flipping his fish into the boat but this time he called for the net. As I stepped off the back deck, I fell face first into the bottom of the boat. My family doesn't call me grace for nothing! I managed to get the net, after struggling to get it free from under my foot, and got the fish to the live well.

Our friends finally moved out. We waited until they were out of sight and moved over to that area of the lake. We made a couple of casts and just as I made one more, I felt Frank set the hook. All he said this time was "NET!!!!" Again, as I stepped off the back deck, I fell to the bottom of the boat. But this time it got even better. There the tiniest of steps in the middle of the boat and I tripped over it too! My shins hit the upper deck and I have some really nice bruises to prove it. Again, Frank yells "NET BRANDI, WHERE IS THE NET?" As I grabbed it this time, it tangled in a couple of rods. By this time we are both laughing. But he is afraid if he lifts the fish, he might hit the side of the boat and knock her off, so it is safer to just fight her in the water. The handle on this net is only about 1 1/2 to 2 foot long, so when I reach in the lake to get her, I loose my balance and almost fall in and at the same time I hit her with the net. I try one more time and get her in the boat. Sitting in the floor with the fish and the net between my legs, I look at Frank. He has the funnest expression on his face. He ask me if I am OK and also what was going on with me. My only response, "that short handled net is not working for me!"

We get her situated in the live well and continue fishing. Frank lands three more nice bass that are all over 18" and we have a fairly nice stringer. We never could come across another fish to cull my little baby fish, but we still had a good stringer.

Not sure what my little guy weighed but we got a picture...
Isn't he just the cutest thing you have ever seen?

This is Frank's big one. She weighed 6.80 pounds, not enough for big fish, but still a great catch...
This is our 4th place stringer. If you look real close you can see my little guy hanging on the back of the fish in my right hand...
This was one of those tournaments that we fished relaxed because we had fish in the boat so early. We laughed all day long and talked to God about the wonderful things he has given us. Great weather, wonderful friends, fish in the live well, and a check on top of everything else.

Our next tournament will be on Lake Brownwood. We have already started praying about that one. We don't usually do so great on that lake, but we try.

If you get a chance, get out and go fishing. Take a kid too. The tournament Saturday had a kids division and they all got a prize. Teach 'em early!!!!