OH Ivie Texas Bass Couples West 3.27.11

Good Grief! I am not sure who ordered the cold weather and they certainly don't want me to find out! It was down right cold all day! Well until about 2:30. When Frank tells you he is shivering so hard he can't tie on a new lure, IT"S COLD! This tournament was out of Kennedy, so we had to get up and over there to get in the water in time for live well check. Frank wanted to hit a place by the dam early and that's where we headed. We actually thought it was going to be a good day. He boated a 3+ on about his fifth cast. And then there was nothing. We didn't stay there much longer, nothing was hitting and the wind was killing us. It wasn't a heavy wind, just cold. We went back to flipping the hardwoods with the same worm. Had a bit of productivity, but no size. We had 4 fish in the boat early, but we needed a kicker over 18" and we just couldn't get it. Late in the afternoon we decided to head to the ramp and fish in that area until weigh in. I am so glad we did. Not only did the clouds finally break, we upgraded lots of fish. I was so glad to get rid of that little guy that weighed less than a pound. We ended the day with four fish going 7.57. I told you we would be wanting the fish we had the day before! Even though we froze it was a good day! Any day is a good day when I'm on the water with my honey! Love ya' Frank and thanks for putting up with my antics on the boat!

OH Ivie Bassin' Bunch Special Olympics Open 03.26.11

What a beautiful day. But man, did it ever start early! We usually fish this tournament but we had not planned to this year. We were not able to fine a room and with the price of gas (diesel) it just didn't make sense to drive there and back on Saturday and then do it again on Sunday for TBC. Luckily, Michelle was called that there was a cancellation at Concho Park and they invited us to stay with them on Saturday night. Yeah! It was cool Saturday morning when we headed out but bearable. We Got to the lake in time to meat up with Russell and Michelle and have some coffee and breakfast before hitting the lake.

We fished a lot of places we haven't fished in a while, holding our regular places for Sunday's tournament. We flipped worm's in the hardwood most of the day, but I did find time to throw my spinner bait.

Frank's biggest fish weighed almost 3 pounds and was just over the 18" minimum. He caught in in less than a foot of water! We were fishing very shallow and most of the time fishing muddy water because the trolling motor was kicking up a lot of mud. With two smaller fish hitting the 14" slot, he had a total of 5.94. Nice little stringer but certainly not anywhere close to putting him in any money.

I had two fish that barely met the 14" minimum with a total weight of 3.17.

It was a beautiful day, warm and a bit of wind. And we would be wishing for that nine pounds of fish on Sunday.

Oak Creek March

Well, my day certainly didn't go as planned.

Stillwater Bass Club's tournament was last Saturday, but due to circumstances beyond mine or Frank's control, I did not get to go. I got up and started getting ready, but we both decided I should stay home and he headed to the lake without me. I should say, this was not his choice, he wanted to stay with me but I sort of blackmailed him into going.

As the day wore on, he was really glad I didn't go. It was extremely windy and he stayed cold most of the day. And we all know, if he was cold, I would have been miserable.

He did end up with three fish (remember, this is a 3 fish tournament), but fell a bit short. My understanding is there was a pretty good stringer that won, somewhere in the 20 pound range! WOW is all I have to say.

Hopefully, I will be out there with him again on March 27. That is our next TBC tournament. And if things really go well, we may get to fish the Bassin' Bunch Bass Club's Open Bass Tournament the day before. Remember, this tournament benefits Special Olympics! Both tournaments are at O.H. Ivie. Maybe it will rain before then!

O.H. Ivie Feb 27, 2011

Sunday found us back at O.H. Ivie Reservoir fishing with Texas Bass Couples West Region.

The morning started out great! Extremely light wind, cool not cold. The lake is lower than I remember ever seeing it. Thank goodness for GPS and Frank knowing the lake as well as he does.

The trip up the Concho took a little longer than normal due to the water level, but we made it safely. We fished mainly around the bridge having pretty good luck. Frank alternated between a crank bait and spinner bait. I stuck with my spinner bait. We left the ramp about 7:00 AM and we had boated our first fish by about 7:30. Always makes me happy to not have to fish with that smelly skunk all day! We had four bass in this area, 1 over and 2 under.

The wind finally hit at about 9:30 AM and the fishing was downhill from there.

We moved closer to the mouth of the Concho around 10:30 and started flipping a worm, Hag's Tornado, red something (I know I should be better at remembering these things.) It took about an hour and Frank caught another one over 18". He kept flipping and I would alternate between flipping and throwing my spinner bait.

About 12:30, we moved closer to the ramp at Concho Park and continued flipping and throwing spinner baits. The wind seemed to be getting worse and the fish had completely quit biting. At one point, Frank had the trolling motor as high as it would go and we weren't moving. It was a definitely a battle with the wind and the wind was winning.

Around 1:30 we decided to count our losses and think about safety. We were loading the boat by 2:00 and it took awhile. That cross wind was a killer. We hung around the ramp, Frank helping some other couples get loaded and then headed over to weigh in.

Even though we could never come across a fifth fish, we still ended up in 3rd with a total bag of 11.08. I think Frank pulled his fish instead of mine for big fish. Tommy weighed it at 3.90 and I weighed mine at 4.04 on my de-lier. Tommy's scales always weigh heavier than mine! But it wouldn't have mattered. Russell and Michelle had big fish at 5.99! Way to go McGuire's!

Our next tournament will be with Stillwater this Saturday March 5 at Oak Creek, unless Frank has to work. I love fishing, but that guaranteed money from work is better!

If we miss this one, our next TBC tournament is back on Ivie on March 27th. As they say "Same bat time. Same bat channel!"

Until then, good fishing and God Bless!

First Tournament of 2010

Saturday February 6 was the first Stillwater tournament for this year and was held at one of our favorite lakes, O.H. Ivie. I didn't get to go (read about that at my other blog) but Frank did. He fished and fished and fished.

That was all he did. He never had a bump, bite, or hit! He was miserable all day. Very high winds and pretty chilly weather! He threw everything imaginable, even some you would never think of.

So very glad I didn't go. I so don't like those conditions!

Our next tournament is on Saturday March 6 (I think). I don't know if I will get to go to that one, but I certainly hope I have more to post about at that time.

Blessings to all.

Final Tournamet for TBC West - It was Hot!!

Frank had been to Ivie the past two weekends with no luck. Some times pre-fishing gets you discouraged instead of helping you out. So Saturday, I actually went with him. I didn't do much fishing. I hate pre-fishing the day before a tournament. I love to fish tournaments, I love to pre-fish at least two days before, and I love to just go fish for the sake of fishing, but please don't make me pre-fish the day before a tournament. So when I wasn't sleeping, I was taking pictures. It was a good thing I did, because I sure didn't take any today! It was just to hot and we were fishing hard.

We hit the lake a little later than what we intended, but we sure did enjoy our breakfast at Concho Park Marina and the visitation with our friends. We did make it out early enough for sunrise, so of course I had to take a few pictures of that. I tried to get Frank in some to change them up a bit.

If I had a dollar for every sunrise picture I have, I could probably fund our fishing habits! You just never know what your going to get when you aim the camera into the sun and can't see what you are actually looking at.

These next two pictures are reversed and I am just too tired to fix them!

We don't fish up in the creeks much. Why? I don't know. We used to fish creeks all the time. So we headed up into Elm Creek just to see what was going on. I can't remember if he was throwing a Texas or Carolina rig, but I do know he was throwing a brush hog, watermelon with the tail dipped in chartreuse. He pulled out this nice little guy probably between one and two.

He threw a buzz bait most of the morning, actually more like most of the day which is odd for this time of the year! He caught this nice little keeper about 9:30 yesterday morning. He had a few more blow ups on it, so we marked this spot and headed on out into the main lake.

We marked a few new humps we hadn't seen before and headed up into the creek. This young lady couldn't decided weather to run off or come on down and check us out. She posed long enough for me to get a couple of pictures, then she was off. We see deer around the park all the time, but not very often when we are out on the lake. Isn't she an odd orange color? All the deer are this color right now. Usually they are more brown before the turn sort of grey during the winter. They sure do show up in the brush!

After loading up and getting our showers, we headed over to Elm Creek for registration. On our way over Frank said he saw a plane on the lake. And sure enough he did. We tried to get to a good place to take pictures before they took off, but didn't make it. We could tell it was a Coast Guard plane, but couldn't figure out what they were doing. Some of our friends were still on the lake when they landed and they went over and talked to them. They are based out of San Francisco and just came over to check out the lake. Pretty neat if you ask me. It's not every day you get to see a CG plane land on a lake in west Texas!

After a wonderful dinner and some strange happenings at Big O's in Valera, we headed back to Concho and of course had a bit more fellowship with our friends before we hit the sack. Had to get up at five this morning! Two days in a row just kill me!

Most of the morning on Sunday, we threw our buzz baits into stick ups. Not these kinds of stick ups, that would be to easy.

These kinds of stick ups! What you can't see is the grass just below the surface of the water. Chunk, wind, pick off the grass! That gets old after awhile! I think you can see Frank's buzz bait in this picture. This was right at sunrise. Remember, I didn't take many pictures today.

I bet Frank threw that buzz bait until 11:30. I changed over to a spinner bait after a bit. It's easier to get the grass off one of those. And it's what I caught my one little keeper on. Frank caught four of his on the buzz bait I think. I kind of forgot some stuff today - I am sure it is the heat wiping out my brain cells!

We stayed here most of the morning then headed over to the dam to fish some of the new humps we had found with no luck. Then headed into Elm Creek. And after that we headed closer to weigh in where we finished out the day. We were going to keep fishing until about 3:10 because we were so close to weigh in, but after a check on the fish and finding we had some stressing out, we decided to call it a day. We finished the day with five fishing weighing in at 12.16. Points but no money! The story of our lives.

This was the last monthly tournament for the West Region before the Championship (being held at Amistad) and Pam said we may have made it into the top six. After checking out last months standings and estimating the points today, it will be a push. It would be nice but I am not getting my hopes up. We have one more tournament for the Panhandle region. It's in two weeks at Lake Stamford. Maybe we can catch enough there to end in the top six. I'll let you know!

Have a great week!

Praying for Rain or a Cool Front

We have our last tournament for the West region before we fish the classic! We will be fishing O.H. Ivie. This is the last Sunday of July. July means it is hot! Frank has done some pre-fishing the past two weekends with no luck. So maybe we will get a little cool front to lower the temperature so we won't be completely miserable. Rain would be even more welcome!

If anybody has any clue as to what they are biting on or where they are hiding, give us a call! We can use all the help we can get!!

My Two Favorite Guys

My dad, Poppa, loves to fish and hunt. He spoiled me when I was little by taking me to catfish farms to fish. Once you go to one of those, it is really hard to sit at a lake and wait for a fish to bite! He has been wanting to go over to O.H. Ivie and fish. So last Friday, Frank took off a day that was owed to him and took him fishing.

They had a great time. The morning was beautiful. I called Frank at about 11:30 and the wind had just picked up, but wasn't to bad. And as hot as it was, they needed a little bit of wind to keep from melting. They said they caught fish all day. Luckily, I got my photography bug from Poppa! He had his camera. Not sure how many fish they caught, but here are pictures of three of them. The only one they weighed (on de-liers) was Poppa's and it was 8.08. Nice catch.


I just realized the date on my dad's camera is wrong! These were taken 05/08/09! I guess I better give him a call!

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.

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!!!

2009 Kick Off

Last night Frank went to the first meeting of the year for Still Waters. He said there was a good turn out and he enjoyed catching up with friends.

The first tournament will be next Saturday at OH Ivie. I love that lake! We have been having some nice weather on the weekends so I may fish with him.

I am such a fair weather fisherman! I just hate being cold! I don't mind the cold, I just don't like to be out in it if I don't have too. Well will see. If it turns out to be like today I will probably go. I am just glad it is time to start fishing again!

Maybe next week I will have a great fish tale to tell!

Fishing in July

Baby, IT'S HOT OUTSIDE!!!

This was the reading on our mirror Saturday afternoon on our way to Lake O.H. Ivie. That is crazy! Luckily we were in our nice air conditioned truck!
I thought I saw some goats sweating as we passed them on the road. No wonder!

Gas prices are about to cut into our fishing, as I am sure they are doing the same to you. Four dollars a gallon! We're going to have to start winning some tournaments to be able to pay for the gas. Do you remember when this price was the cost of a gallon of gas?
Now it will only buy you a soda to get you on your way down the road!
We got there in plenty of time to get registered, and have a hamburger at Concho Park Marina before Frank had to get some work done on the boat. Last week he had some problems with the tachometer, but one phone call to our friend Mike, and he knew what he needed to do get to it working. He couldn't do it at home because he needed the motor running. So I backed him down the ramp and he got it done.
We always feel like we are the only ones with boat trouble, but this picture shows, if your going to own a boat, your going to have trouble.
Because of the hot weather (remember photo #1) our tournament started at 5:00 AM! Crazy I know but much cooler. I took a short video so you can see and hear the sites and sounds of the lake at five in the morning.

OK, so maybe just the sounds of five in the morning. You see in that video exactly what we saw, darkness. It is that dark that early.

We only had one fish. Frank caught it and it weighed 1.54 (I think). We had one of the few one fish stringers, but we did not have the smallest weight. Check out Tommy and Pam Busbee, the founders and West directors of TBC...

Some stringer! The funny thing, its total weight was less than our one fish. So always look for that silver lining.

The weather was hot, but not much wind. That is very odd for a mid July day. It allowed us some time to play after the tournament. To really appreciate the video below, turn your A/C off for a couple of hours, then place an industrial fan where it will blow the hot air directly into your face.

Wasn't that a nice ride? Mattie May loves this video. She told her mommy "I ride de boat again, Mommie" and she pushes the play button for another ride. Why can't the wind be like this when we take her to the lake?

Lake Ivie is one of our favorite lakes, even though it was not very nice to us this weekend. It is outside of Ballinger, a great Texas small town. One of the sites to see in Ballinger is "The Cross". It is great to see at any time of the day and has a wonderful story behind it. If you are ever out this way, definitely stop and see it.
Our monthly tournaments for TBC are done for the the year. We now start planning for our championship that will be held on Lake Belton in September. Be sure to go to the TBC web site for more information on that.

Not Picture Worthy (for Us Anyway!).

Frank and I have talked at length about joining Stillwaters Bass Club, and today we made the commitment. What a great faith based organization this is. We knew many of the members already through work, clubs and years of friendships. They are very family oriented, but very competitive. And the tournaments are held on Saturdays! That is a bonus for us.

The tournament was held at O.H. Ivie, our third tournament there in three weeks. It was extremely strange weather for May. We woke up to forty three degree temperatures and 20 to 25 mph winds! What a shock to the system. We decided to fish the same area we had fished in the two prior tournaments. It was not as good to us this weekend as it was previously, due in most part to the wind. That was the reason for no pictures (see this post). The area has not changed much in the past three weeks, but no snakes this time!

This time, Frank and I were actually fishing against each other which is rather hard to do. Really the only thing we do differently is keep his and her fish in separate live wells. His live well carried two fish for the majority of the day. Mine carried...nothing. I could not catch a measurable fish to save my life. Frank said it was because of the wind and the trouble he was having with the boat. I say it is because he is the better fisherman!

Needless to say, we walked away from this tournament a little lighter in the pocketbook and a bit more beat up from the wind. We did both manage to not get sunburned and I managed to stay on my feet in the boat (again, see this post!).

It was a picture day for many of the fishermen today. Be sure to check out the Stillwaters web page to check out the club and see the big fish of the tournament. It was a doozy!

Everyone at Stillwaters, thank you for making us feel so welcome and we look forward to many years of fishing with you.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for allowing us the time to spend together doing something we love and for everyone in this great club that we have joined. Thank you for keeping everyone safe today and for the cooler weather. Thank you for all in your wonderful creation and the fabulous things you have given us.
In Jesus name,
Amen.

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!!!!

The End

Well, we tried, but it seems there is not enough interest in C.A.S.T. West. There were only three couples show up so John has decided to not try again until next year.

But the good news is, (no I didn't save a bundle on car insurance) you can still join Texas Bass Couples. This is a great club! We enjoy fishing with them and have made so many friendships that will last forever. Our next tournament will be at OH Ivie on April 20. Click here to see results from our tournament at Lake Leon and to get more information on the next tournament.

I have also noticed a few hits from the Panhandle Region on this blog. If you are interested in fishing with that region, click here. Remember, your membership fee allows you to fish in any region, so if you want to join any of us, come on!