Monday, April 27, 2009

Wind! Wind! And More Wind! (With a Few Fish and a Snake on the Side)!

We really thought the windy days were behind us, but then we woke up Saturday morning. WOW! I don't think I ever heard an exact reading but it would blow your wig off if you weren't careful. Plus it really has my allergies flared up and I have no to little voice. It was difficult for Frank to hear me from the back of the boat. I often thought I should just text message him when I got hung up! It would have proved to be just as quick and much less painful on my throat!

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.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

First I Stole His Heart, Now I Stole His Fish

What a day! Saturday was absolutely beautiful here in West Texas. If you didn't get to be outside to enjoy it, I'm sorry. God certainly blessed us with a day we don't usually get to see here!

We fished the San Angelo Bass Busters Open Tournament at O.H. Ivie. I came real close to staying home and taking Mattie May to the zoo, but we decided to take her Friday afternoon so I could go fish the tournament. I am so glad I did.

We headed out of Abilene at about 4:30AM to partly cloudy skies and an extremely light breeze. On the way to the lake we saw about 20 deer and one fox (he was running across the road to get out of Frank's way) and one dead skunk. As we got closer to the lake we started to notice some lightening. It looked pretty far away and so we weren't to worried about it. Stopped in at Concho Marina to grab our permit and some drinks. Nina pulled up the weather for us and that storm was getting a little to close for comfort. There were over 260 entries in the tourny, and the majority of them were hanging around the store seeing what the storm was going to do.

We had a wonderful breakfast and visited a little bit. As day light broke, we could see the storm wasn't so bad and decided to head out. Just about the time I got the truck parked, it started to rain. Frank already had his rain gear on and had mine layed out and helped me get it on. Thankfully I didn't get too wet in the process. As we left to get to our hole, the rain wasn't to bad, but still hurt the face! I still don't know why women pay so much for dermabrassion (sp)! I get it on the boat!

When we stopped, we couldn't start fishing until we looked at the splendor around us. This was our welcoming shot.


Isn't that glorious? You can see the rain cloud just in the top edge of the picture, but you can tell by the lake that there was just barely any wind. The photo below is facing back to the west. A rainbow in this direction is a rare treat for us. I don't know about you, but all this just takes my breath away.

When I saw Frank pull out the rods my heart sank. Flipping sticks! YUK! But I made up my mind right then I was going to be a sport and not complain and I didn't until about 1:30PM when my back and shoulders just couldn't take it any longer.

We were fishing a mixture of hard woods and salt cedars. I caught several fish with the cloud cover that morning and Frank caught his later in the day after the clouds broke. He had 3 fish (1 over & 2 under) that went just over eight pounds. I had 3 fish (1 over & 2 under) that went almost seven pounds. What a great day of fishing!

He always accuses me of stealing his heart and he said I wouldn't have had that many fish if I hadn't stolen his fish! Well, how can I steal it if he never caught it? He flipped in a tree twice and missed, then sat down to retie. I felt he was taking way to long and flipped up in that same tree once and caught it! It was my largest at 3 1/2 pounds. It was a really pretty fish too!

We had several friends fishing this tournament too. One of them caught a 12+! I don't remember the exact weight but it was just shy of thirteen pounds! WOW! She was so excited and I really don't blame her. She won women's big fish, big fish overall, and I think 6th place! Sorry, but they weren't fishing far from us so I can't tell you when, where or how because we have another tournament there next weekend. But I promise to give you the particulars after that tourny.

Also, sorry no fish pics! We pulled up to the ramp at ten minutes til three thinking we had until 3:30 to weigh. When Frank went up to get the truck, someone told him we had to be in line at three! NO time to take pictures. When we started pulling fish out of the live well, his watch read 2:57! I almost had a heart attack running up that hill with my weigh bag just to find out we could have weighed in until four!!! Lesson for the day - always have a copy of the rules with you in the boat!

Until next time, hope you all get to get out and enjoy the weather! God is gracious to us!!!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Go Fish or Go Zoo?

There is an open tournament at OH Ivie this Saturday. It is one that Frank and I fish regularly. But there is also a temporary exhibit at the Dallas Zoo, an albino alligator, that I think Mattie May would really like.

So should I go fish with my wonderful husband at a lake that we absolutely love and visit with friends that we only see this time of year, or should I take my sweet little granddaughter, that would live at the zoo if we would let her, to see an exhibit that will not be there for long?

I'm really torn here. Give me some guidance.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Not Much to Report.

Frank fished the Stillwaters tournament at Hubbard Creek on Saturday. It was warm but WINDY! He had no fish to weigh so he didn't stick around for the weigh in and headed on home. I think he was really ready to see Mattie May. She was staying with us that night and he had missed her all week while he was in Boston.

Maybe the next tournament will have more to report.

It is getting to be that time of year where there are open tournaments almost every weekend. Maybe we will get to fish a few.

Untill next time, God bless you.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Wind? What Wind?

My goodness! I don't really remember the wind blowing like this! They just said on the radio it is blowing at 30 MPH with gust up to 48MPH! From my window it looks like a continuous gust!!! It hasn't slowed down a bit!

I am hoping it lays before Saturday. I sure was hoping to get on the lake!