Our TBC tournament was on Sunday at O.H. Ivie. We headed out earlier than normal on Saturday so we could stop in Valera to eat at Big O's. We had each won a meal there during the tournament last Saturday and didn't want to let the certificates expire like we did last year. It was great! We even went back Saturday night to eat supper there with Russell and Michelle. It is definitely out of the way for most, but if you ever get the chance to stop, do. Lynn will treat you right!
When we got back to Concho Park, we stopped in to visit with everyone that was hanging out there and order our breakfast. It is so funny to me that when you sit down to listen to anglers, they may tell the same story every time you are around but you laugh like it is the first time to hear it. I guess it is because we have all been there. If you fish as much as we do, and have long time friends, you are going to have some funny stories to tell. And for those of us that were there Saturday night, we now have another one to tell. If you want to read about that, click here.
Sunday morning, the wind had not laid. It was wild. Frank wasn't sure where he wanted to fish because we knew we would be in the wind all day where we had planned and we really didn't know if we wanted to do that. But we decided we would and headed on over. The trip wasn't to bad. I have definitely been on worse. This time we only had about 3' swells! I wore my rain jacket all day just to keep dry from the waves hitting the boat. Frank even changed into his sandals to keep his tennis shoes dry.
There were several tournaments on the lake, but we weren't crowded where we were, but we could sure see a lot of traffic on the lake. We were basically where we fished last weekend, in the hard woods and salt cedars. Not far from where the 12+ was pulled out. We actually had fish all day, we got to cull. We just love when we get to cull, even if it is trading one small fish for one not quite so small!
We flipped a Tornado lure most of the day. I did throw a spinner late and Frank threw a crank bait. But all the fish we had came off Tornado lures. We ended the day with a total of 12.24, nothing to exciting but points on the board none the less. And believe it or not, as windy as it was, we had a fun day.
I think Frank laughed at me the harder than he has in a long time, all due to a stupid black snake! I hate snakes! And it seems the more I fish the more of the stupid things I see. You can read here and here and here to see a few more of our encounters with the slithering serpents! But this time, no pictures, my camera was to close to the snake.
Where we were fishing was in hard woods, dead trees that were left when they lake was built to give the fish some habitat for living and protection. They are great if you like to flip (which you know I hate). But sometime, they make manoeuvring a boat a bit difficult, especially if the wind is blowing, like it was yesterday. Frank tries to not run me into trees while I am back there on the back of the boat, but again, not easily done with the wind. And I TRY not to complain, but again, not always easily done.
He had his head down flipping and trying to get us through the timber with out coming crashing down on it. With the wind in his face and ears, the trolling motor groaning, and the waves crashing on the hull of the boat under his feet, it was very difficult for him to hear my whisper of a voice. I was going from one side of the boat to the other trying to flip into some timber that wasn't just right at the edge of the boat. This particular time, when I turned to my left, I saw it. There was a hugh (yes Frank it was hugh!) black snake curled up on a branch just about two inches from his shoulder. As loud as I could, I yelled "SNAKE" but he couldn't hear me, so I take a deep breath and try again "SNAKE!" Well, he hears me this time, but he thinks I see it in the water so he leans over trying to find it. He sees nothing, so turns to his left to ask me where the snake is. The snake is right at his face but he doesn't see it, but the snake sees him and starts crawling.
This makes me start screaming and I crawl up on my seat and point. Notice I said on my seat, not in it. It is still folded up and snapped shut. I am balancing my big ol' self on the top of it in all that wind! I am yelling as loud as I can and pointing. As he turns back around, he sees it this time! I am still not sure how he missed it the first time. It was so close to his face. He immediately starts to try and get us out of there. The snake has since slithered down inside the hollow tree, probably long gone, some where in the water headed to another tree away from that crazy screaming lunatic, looking for some where peaceful where he can continue his nap, but as far as I am concerned, he is laying there in wait so he can jump out on me, specifically me! I know he has a vendetta against me since I have done nothing to him.
With the wind blowing the way it is, Frank tells me I am going to have to help him get out and to grab the branch behind me. So not taking my eyes off the tree where I had just seen that snake (and he is now lying in wait) I just reach back and grab the tree without looking. I instantly scream and jump off my seat. This scares Frank and he ask me what happens. I really think he is going to fall of the boat from laughing so hard when I tell him nothing is wrong I just forgot to look at the tree before I touched it and was afraid I had touched a snake. He asked me if I felt some thing and, of course I hadn't, I just wasn't sure. Laughing, he tells me to get back on my seat and just wait till he gets us out of there. He makes a few more maneuvers and gets us out, all the while laughing at me.
We continue the day flipping in the timber, but he does manage to keep me far away from the branches. I sit here now, typing and laughing, thinking about how hysterical I must have looked perched up on that boat seat, and wondering where I thought I was going to go if it fell in the boat. I know he was not the only snake in the lake, but he is the only one I could see, and if he had come in I was going swimming!!!
I know I promised to tell you where we were fishing last week and I couldn't because that is where we were going to fish this weekend. We were fishing around Leaday. Last week we threw black/blue fleck power worms and did pretty well. This week we threw F5 Tornados and did good too, considering the weather conditions.
Thanks, Mom, taking pictures for me. We were so glad you and Tom drove over for weigh in. And Poppa and Lorraine, thanks for the burgers Sunday night. It sure was nice not having to figure out what we were going to do for supper.
I hope everyone has a great week! God bless you all as much as he has me.
