Busbee Math - Am I a Victim?

Welcome to Miller Creek!

We left the house at 3:45 this morning to eighty degrees. I love to see the high at 80 degrees, but eighty degrees at four in the morning is already hot. There were times today the air felt heavy, like I was standing in an oven. The sky told of what the rest of the day would be like, clear with little to no wind. That wind thing is so unusual. We almost always have a 10 MPH breeze, but today it was still, a lot. We did have some wind, and when we did it was actually welcomed, but it seemed during the hotter parts of the day it was still. God sent us several clouds to cover the sun for a bit, which gave us a little relief, but for the most part it was sunny and HOT!

We don't fish this lake very often. It has been over a year since we last fished here. There were some great things to see and some not so great. The area around the lake is mostly farm land so we had company from several cows today. I'm not sure which is funnier, Frank "mooing" at the cows to see their reaction or the cows reaction to Frank "mooing" at them. Both are pretty funny.

There were flowers blooming all around the lake. These pretty purple flowers -

Aren't they pretty? I don't remember seeing these before and I don't know what they are. I found it very odd that they were blooming in July. Wild flowers around here usually bloom in the spring, not the dead, dry heat of summer. There were also a lot of dragon flies. Three different kinds, the normal blue ones we always have, a large one that had a type of tiger stripe to it, and a very small bright orange one. I could have taken time to take pictures, but between texting my friends and taking pictures, Frank gets a little miffed at me!

If you read here, you will see one of the reasons I don't like this lake. SNAKES. I am not a fan. And Miller Creek didn't disappoint today. We say lots. None of the ugly black snakes that we saw last time but snakes none the less and they were there. Ewwww!

To tell the truth, as hot as it was, when we started cutting across the water at around six this morning, I got a little chill. But once the boat stopped that went away fast. We started the morning with some top water action, if you want to call it that. I was the only one to catch a fish, if you call it a fish. Frank couldn't believe what I had done. I actually caught a minnow! Yep, a minnow, foul hooked on my Pop'R! I had to take a picture because I didn't think anyone would believe me and because, well, that's what I do!
So there is the proof! If you or anyone you know has ever caught a smaller fish, I would love to see a picture!

And Frank gets the award for the largest fish of the day. He was throwing a crank bait into a ball of minnows, and when it hit, it hit hard. It felt like he almost fell out of the boat. His rod was bent over like I have never seen it before. I dropped my rig and grabbed the net. Boy were we disappointed when the fish surfaced...

A drum! Needless to say, we were a bit (a lot) disappointed. But he did take the opportunity to play a joke on some friends that were fishing across the lake. They were far enough away that he knew they couldn't see what species of fish it was, but close enough he knew they could hear him. He did a little Mike Icconelli on the front of the boat, a little yelling and dancing, then tossed that big thing right out of the boat! It didn't take them long to make their way over just to check out what was really going on. All in fun, guys, all in fun!!!

We had three fish (2 decent, 1 dink) in the live well when all of this was going on. We had been alternating with Texas rigged worms and lizards, with top water, spinner baits and crank baits. We each had a nice fish on a 6" black lizard with a chartouse (sp) tail. Yeah, the dink was mine, but I didn't feel so bad because I did have that other one in there and we figured it weighed about 2.5.

The day only drug on after that. Hot, no wind, hot, no fish, and did I mention IT WAS HOT! We could handle the hot a lot better if we had been catching fish, but when your not, the day just drags on.

Because of the heat, weigh in was moved up to 2:30, which is not good for us. We tend to start really catching fish around two. Today, I just couldn't make it. About 1:30 the heat really got to me and I started having that sinking, sick feeling of heat exhaustion, so I told Frank I was done. He wanted to take me to the truck but I wanted him to just keep fishing. And true to form, Frank got into some schooling fish and filled up our live well. Seven fish in seven cast. It was great until I couldn't keep up with him in culling. At one point I had to yell at him not to cast again because I had too many fish in the boat and needed help. We culled my little dink and a couple others and ended up with a nice 17.22 bag.

He is really happy in this picture, but the sweat had started running into his eyes!

We ended up in second place which isn't bad. In fact it is great! Tommy and Pam Busbee (our tournament directors) edged us out by less than half a pound (I think, check here to get the exact amount). We have been fishing with the Busbees for a long long time. We have sometimes questioned their mathematical skills and have even come up with the term "Busbee Math" when things might not seem on the up and up. And today was one of those questionable days. They assured us that they had witnesses to the weight of the their fish, but I sure would have liked to have seen the numbers on the scales myself!

Now don't go gettin' all high an' mighty on me! Tommy and Pam know what I say is all in good fun! If I didn't trust them, do you think I would still be fishing with them?

At last count, Frank and I were tied for 7th in the west region and were in 5th place in the panhandle region. We have one tournament left in each region before the Championship so all the points we get sure do help us out! July 26 we will fish O.H.Ivie for our final tournament in west and August 9 we will be fishing Stamford for the panhandle. Wish us luck! We sure would like to be in the top six for both regions!

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.

Miller's Creek 06.28.08

Stillwater's tournament was yesterday, Saturday June 28. I had never been there before. We had a pretty good day and lots of fun.

The tournament started at 6AM, and the lake is about 2 hours away, so the alarm went off at 3:15AM! Sorry, I thought there was only one 3o'clock and that it was only in the afternoon! Frank was nice and let me sleep on the way.

We were greeted at the lake by swarms of mosquito's. I must say I put mosquitoes right there with gnats - Why God, why? I am sure there is a reason, just like everything else, I just don't know what it is!

It really was a nice morning, not much wind and a great ride on the water. This is where we started -

Yeah I know, it was still kind of dark! But there are birds in those trees, their white. This is where we spent most of our day. We both caught fish here and it was out of the wind (the weather men still can't predict wind -it blew!).

Our friend's Craig and Mae fished in this area too. This is Craig -

Oh, I'm sure, he is telling some fishing story. He and Mae were both fishing out of tubes! They have a perfectly good boat, and they fish out of tubes! They are CRAZY!!!!! I know, lots of people fish out of tubes. This is why I don't fish from a tube...

Yes, that is a huge snake! Right on a branch hanging in the lake. And this picture...

Is of the same branch about two seconds later! That huge snake went right into the water. That is why I don't fish from a tube! I don't like snakes at all! I like them less than I do gnats or mosquito's!

We spend a lot of time outside, on the lake. We love to fish. And I take a lot of pictures, usually of Mattie May (my favorite subject) or of fish. But two things I am not is a professional photographer or a birder. I know there are several of you out there that do both of these things very well. That brings me to my next series of pictures. We saw several of these birds on Saturday. We would like to know what they are. Two things I can tell you about them that you can't tell from the pictures is that they are loud and annoying! They have one of the loudest calls I have ever heard. And they annoyingly do it over and over, weather they are in the air, the water, or on land.

So if anyone out there can help, Frank and I would really appreciate it.

So, we flipped all day. And most of you know how much I hate flipping, but I did it all day without complaining. I did have to remind Frank why I don't like it, my rod always ends up in the trees, and remember that snake? Yeah, I don't like flipping.

Frank had three fish for a total of 12.54 and I had one fish for 3.54. He caught fish all day, and even culled. We just couldn't ever come across that kicker fish we are always looking for. That is the story of our fishing lives!