Scott Gaspard's Bass Angler's Journal

Is this the end, or just a new beginning?

2007-02-26T17:06:00.000-08:00

Well, I sold my bass boat, and put some money down on a new bay boat. This chapter of my fishing career has come to an end. I hope you will continue to follow along with my adventures, recorded on my new blog site at http://matagordabay.blogspot.com, where I will write about bay fishing and wildlife along the Texas coast, and include lots of pictures. Thank you!

Scott

Sunrise On The Cape

2006-12-19T17:55:00.000-08:00

My wife and I bought a little house on the waterfront, near Matagorda Bay. We have been going just about every weekend, and I never get tired of the view. I always get up at the crack of dawn, because there's something about drinking a hot cup of coffee while the sun comes up over the bay. It always starts my day off right.

We have recently done some minor remodeling of the house, to improve the view and the sea breeze that blows through the house. We have a big, comfortable chair with a great view of the bay, that my wife and I take turns occupying. Our dog has even gotten in on the action; so much so that she has her own side of the cushion (we flip it over for her to keep the fuzz down to a minimum).

Of course, the sunsets are beautiful too. After the sun goes down, the stars are spectacular. You can see dock-lights from houses like ours way off in the distance, but its not enough to block out the stars. I have seen more shooting stars during the past few months, than I have seen in my entire life.

I haven't even begun to talk about the fishing. We have been eating well, and I have had to come up with creative recipes for flounder, red-fish, and sea trout. Last weekend I cooked a large sheepshead I caught off of the pier. It was surprisingly exceptional table fare.

I think this house has been a very good investment in the quality of our life. When people find out about the three hour drive to get to the bay house, they often question our sanity. My reply is that instead of watching t.v. for three hours, I listen to the radio. After three hours, I get to enjoy the bay for three days. You can't get that from HBO!

Its been a while -- I know

2006-11-07T07:47:00.000-08:00

I haven't been keeping up with my blog lately, and for that I apologize. To be honest, after buying a house on the bay, I have been doing much more salt water fishing than bass fishing. So, the format needs to change, maybe even the title, if I am going to keep up with it.

I'm thinking about picking this up again, and actively blogging my experiences on the bay. I will try to figure out a new title, then link this blog to that one and start fresh. I actually have a few stories to tell already, so check back every once in a while to see if it is up and running. Thanks for your patience. Until then, happy fishing.

Best Regards,

Scott Gaspard

Hackberry -- Again

2006-08-30T16:04:00.000-07:00

Bill, Will, and Chris went fishing at Calcasieu -- and did alright for a change! From what I hear, they were catching larger than average trout, in the 25-inch range. I also heard a story about a 70lb black drum, and a big redfish that broke the line. The fall season will be heating up soon - I plan on catching my share of these soon enough.

Will's got a big one -- looks like a big gaftop!

A very nice trout

Time to wake up!

They actually caught some this time.

Long Hot Summer

2006-08-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

Its been a long, hot summer. The fishing has been really tough. I have been out a few times recently, but haven't had much success. Its difficult keeping a fishing blog interesting, when you don't have anything to talk about.

Fortunately, this past weekend I tried something new that worked. My friend Jim and I actually managed to boat about 15 fish. Mostly small Spotted and Guadalupe bass, but there were a couple of nice Largemouth in the mix.

I thought that if we got to the lake early, we might catch a few before the sun came up. I had assumed the bight (if we found one at all) would taper off quick as the temperature started to rise. Our plan was to fish for black bass early, then start looking for schooling whites after the morning bite ended. We figured out a pattern that worked, so we managed to fish for black bass until about 11:00am, with pretty decent success.

Early, they were hitting crank baits. I threw a 1/2 oz Luck Craft in a shad pattern, while Jim through his chrome and black rattletrap. The spotted bass were using the rocks to work their way up to the shallows. Wherever there was a line of rock within two feet of the surface, we were getting strikes. At one point, I caught four in a row, including a nice three pound largemouth.

As the sun came up, we switched to Carolina Rigged worms in about twenty feet of water. I was marking fish between fifteen and twenty feet next to an underwater plateau. I positioned the boat on top of the hump, and cast out into the deep water, working the worm up the slope toward the boat.

Before this weekend, I have never really tried Carolina Rigging with much success. I find it difficult to detect a bite behind such a heavy weight. I must have had the magic touch this time around, because I managed to catch several this way. I even had a very decent size four to five pound bass on the line, that wiggled free just as I got it up to the boat. Jim was quick to remind me that we only count fish that actually make it into the boat. Of course, I pulled the same rule on him earlier in the day when he lost a decent bass before landing it. Instant karma's gonna gitcha, right?

Windy Day on Lake Belton

2006-07-30T08:26:00.000-07:00

The fishing was tough on Lake Belton, yesterday. The lake is about 4 feet below full, and the water is very clear. The temperature was about 84 degrees at the surface. The sunny sides, combined with the sheer bluff walls around this lake made the fish go deep. I was marking fish on my sonar at about 30 - 35 feet. I must have made 300 casts, and did not get a bite. I tried everything I could to get down to the fish, including some deep diving crankbaits, Carolina rigged worms and jigs. We fished the rocky southern shoreline of the Cow Creek arm, then crossed the lake to fish the trees. We worked our way from the main body of the lake back toward Fort Hood. Jim managed to catch a small bass on a deep diving metal billed chrome blue crankbait amongst the trees. Soon after, he snagged a deep branch of a tree and lost the lure.

Small Bass

We tried fishing the northern half of the lake, including a couple of promising looking coves, but no luck.

Lake Belton

Belton is a very picturesque lake, but it seems to be more condusive to striper fishing than anything. I discovered a very pretty waterfall on Belton, that I captured on video.

It is quite a long-haul to get to Belton from my house, so I may not be back for a while.

Monterey California

2006-07-25T17:41:00.000-07:00

As it is for very many people, Monterey California is one my favorite places in the world. I have been fortunate enough to vacation here many times over the years. Its one of the few places I can think of that doesn't seem to change much between visits.

Point Lobos

As a teenager, when my parents would take the family to Pebble Beach on vacation, I liked to go fishing down at Stillwater Cove. My brother and I would build a campfire, and use surf rods to fish for rockfish. We would use squid or blood-worms for bait. The fishing was usually pretty slow, but occasionally you caught a nice fish.

I caught a very nice Ling Cod once. I did not know what it was, and I almost threw it back because the inside of its mouth was bright blue. I'm glad I kept it, because it tasted great.

View of Pescadero Point from Point Lobos

Once I went poke-pole fishing for Monkeyface Prickleback Eel at low tide off of Carmel Beach. The technique was to use a cane pole with a heavy gauge wire wrapped around the tip, and protruding about 2 feet with a small loop on the end. You tie a hook onto the loop and bait it with a freshly smashed mussel. Wearing waders, you would walk around in about knee-deep water, looking for large rocks with submerged holes under them. The eels would hide in the holes, so when you poked the bait down into the hole, you sometimes caught one. My brother hooked one that broke his cane pole! It was a huge California Moray Eel. Prickleback Eels are surprisingly good to eat.

Crystal Beach

Another time, my brother and I went fishing off of the 7th hole at Pebble Beach. This is that famous golf hole where the green is at the end of a peninsula, below the horizon from where you tee off. You have to launch the ball out into the clear blue yonder and hope it lands on the green. Fortunately for me, the balls often landed in the water, so low tide was a gold-mine. Believe me, golfers who play Pebble Beach don't use range balls. I would go out at low tide, and collect loads of golf balls. I would sort them, then sell them back home in Houston for $.50 or $.75 each, depending upon the quality. It put cash in my pocket that was otherwise hard to come by as a teen.

We went fishing at low tide, but before we knew it the tide had started come up behind us, leaving us stranded on the rocks. The Pacific Ocean is mighty cold, and there are things like Great White Sharks and Killer Wales to think about. The waves can be pretty brutal, even in 'Stillwater Cove'. There was no getting around it though, the tide was coming up quick and the sun was going down, so we had to make a swim for it. My parent's house was a couple of miles from the beach. Although we made it to shore without much incident, by the time we got back to the house I was so cold that I could not feel my feet! Have you ever gotten into a tub of water when you are chilled to the bone? Even room temperature water feels like it is about two thousand degrees!

On one trip, I bought a two-man rubber boat. My brother and I had the bright idea to paddle out to the island at Stillwater Cove, and see if we could find some Abalone. We got about halfway to the island, when I jumped in the water to get used to the cold. I had my wetsuit, goggles, and flippers on. I put my head down into the water to clear my mask, and looked down to see a long vine of sea-weed going down until it dissapeared in the murky depths. It was really deep. I had only imagined that it was about ten feet deep, but it must have been a hundred! I was quickly beginning to get freaked out, when my brother tapped the side of the boat and said that he thought he saw a shadow. Thats all it took to cause me to give up on the abalone plan. I was beach-side in minutes after that!

Surf at Spanish Bay

Another time, I went fishing with my step father and younger brother on one of those party boats. The depth drops to about 1000 feet right off the coast of Monterey. The captain would drive around looking for fish, then everyone would drop their line to the bottom, and reel up whatever number of cranks the captain would tell us. Dropping at a rate of about two feet per second, it takes about 500 seconds to reach the bottom. You can imagine how long it takes to reel back up. We would have four hooks on the line, spaced about one foot apart. There would be a piece of yellow and red yarn on the hook for bait (apparently fish get really stupid once you get past 500 feet). You would jig up and down until the line got heavy, reel up, and usually have two or more fish on the line. After reeling up 1000 feet of line, you would be pretty tired. The problem is that if you slow down, your fish would get robbed by sharks or seals. Also, after reeling up from that depth, the fishes stomachs would be protruding from their mouths, and their eyes would be bugged out. Often times the fish would come off of the hooks and bob around in the water waiting for something to eat them.

My step-dad spent too much time in the galley on the way out to the fishing waters, and my brother was running around the boat looking at things in the water. I learned early on to sit on the outside edge of the boat and watch the horizon. Needless to say, by the time I was fishing, they were chumming. It was up to me to catch the limit for all of us, so I put eight hooks on my line. Well, I was pulling up four to six fish at a time! I have to admit, it was pretty exciting. My adrenaline was pumped up, so I didn't notice that I was wearing out my arms. By the end of the trip, I couldn't move my arms. I had pulled every muscle in both fore-arms, and it hurt for a week! I have since given up party-boat fishing, which I equate to commercial fishing. There is no sport in it. If I want to get meat, I will go down to the local HEB. The grocery store in my neighborhood has a nice sea-food selection, and it is all fresh. I prefer to fish for sport, and I usually catch and release. Of course, if I get into some keeper sized Speckled trout I will bring home dinner.

Tidal Pool at Spanish Bay

The last time I went to Monterey, I brought my wife. We stayed at the Inn at Spanish Bay, which is a pretty ritzy place. Unfortunately, my wife was very intimidated by the whole experience. She is Latina, and she had never been exposed to the level of wealth that is common place around this area of Monterey. She passed some snob of a woman in the hall that asked her for some towels or something, so she sulked in the room for the rest of the time. On the other hand, I have no problem being myself in front of snobs. I find it quite humorous at times. On this trip, I wanted to go fishing. I went on a charter boat by myself, and returned with my limit of fish, smelling like the underside of Cannery Row! The bellman thought it was very funny, and you should have seen the appalling looks I was getting. Ha, ha!

View of Carmel from Point Lobos

The last few times we have visited my mom (who is lucky enough to live in Carmel Valley), we have rented convertables. It has become a tradition of sorts. I think it really adds to the experience, and it is not much more expensive than renting a mid-size car. We have done and seen all of the tourest attractions, so I am planning to do more hiking and picture taking next time we go. I enjoy the scenery and wildlife more than anything, and fishing can be a hassle when you don't have any of your gear. If I go fishing in California again, it will probably be for tuna off of Baja. I think I will leave the Monterey fish alone, at least until I can afford to live there and own a boat.

Fish With Human Teeth

2006-07-19T16:16:00.000-07:00

Strange fish with nasty teeth caught near Lubbock, Texas

I'm guessing someone let a pet pacu go in the local pond, and it grew up. This one looks like a heavy smoker. Here's the story quoted from Local6.com

Fisherman Scott Curry reeled in the 20-pound fish on Buffalo Springs Lake and immediately noticed the catch had human-like teeth.

A game warden photographed the fish and is attempting to identify it.

General Manager of Buffalo Springs Lake Greg Thornton told KLBK13-TV in Texas that he has never seen anything like the fish in the 36 years he has lived near the lake.

A search for what the fish may be suggested that it may be a pacu, which is found in South America.

Curry said he believes he saw another similar fish while on the lake.

A Texas television station reported that lake officials will give $100 to anyone catching a similar fish.

Port Lavaca

2006-07-16T17:27:00.000-07:00

My wife an I drove down to the coast this weekend. We had heard that the Port Lavaca area was a diamond in the rough, so we wanted to check it out. Our primary objective was to scope out some property in the area, but I did bring my fishing poles (of course). We met our friends, who brought their kids along too. The plan was to check out the property, then the gals would go for a long drive while the guys went fishing.

What? No Ammo?

Highway 87 Fishing Pier

Fishing appears to be the primary recreation in the area, evident by the many piers and bait shops. To our surprise, the area was not choked with tourists and fishermen, like in Aransas Pass. We did do a little afternoon fishing, when the tide started flowing. We paid five bucks each to fish from the pier at Indianola Fishing Marina. Although we did not catch much, the bait was cheap and there was easy access to shade and cold beer. There was a glut of pogies in the water, and some small aggressive fish that would steal your bait. I caught a small White Grunt, that had really sharp teeth.

White Grunt

Down the road from the hotel is the causeway bridge between Port Lavaca and Port Comfort. After not catching much at the Indianola pier, we tried to fish at the city park which is on the Port Lavaca side of the bridge. We did not catch anything here, and we ultimately called it quits for the day.

The city park had a bird walk, which was a semi-circular pier that was erected over a grass marsh (or estuary). There were various bird species in the marshes, with placards placed along the pier explaining things. There were also a billion or so mosquitoes (I suppose they could have been birds; they were certainly large enough).

Bird Walk - Mosquito Run

There is an old washed out road with a pier on the Port Comfort side of the causeway bridge. I took note of this as I passed over the bridge on my way to Palacios. I planned to catch some bait with my cast net, and try this spot out in the morning.

Early the next morning, I found a spot where a small bridge passed over a bayou with a public boat ramp. I threw my cast net a few times, and captured some pogies and finger-mullet. There was a small alligator (about 4 feet long) in the water, that swam around just out of reach. We tried fishing here for about 20 minutes, but after not getting any bites, we made our way across the causeway bridge to fish the spot I had picked out the day before. The water was very clear, and the tide was low. There were redfish chasing finger-mullet in the shallows. I was successful in landing a small redfish, that put up a formidable fight. I saw the redfish chasing bait, so I threw a silver spoon ahead of the fish and lured it to strike. The fish was not large, but it was not too small either.

Fishing from the bank can be difficult, so catching that one allowed me to finish my trip on a positive note.

Causeway Bridge

As I explored the area, I noticed lots of intriguing spots that I could reach if I had a boat. One of these days I will probably trade my bass boat in for a bay boat. I think a bay boat would be more flexible. I could use it for fresh water or salt water fishing. I really liked the area, and see why it is considered by some to be a diamond in the rough.

Alligator Attacks Dog in Port Lavaca

2006-07-13T13:22:00.000-07:00

I'm going down to Port Lavaca this weekend, to look a vacation house, and to do a little wade fishing. My wife was doing some research about the area, and came across this story. Apparently a 4 foot alligator tried to eat the family pet. Thankfully it was rescued in time, and is presumably doing well. I'm not so sure about wade fishing now. Maybe I will bring my boat...

Pogies For Bait

2006-07-13T06:16:00.000-07:00

Pogies (or Menhaden) are a type of shad that spend their lives between brackish water river estuaries and nearshore bays. They are grey-silver in color with a green tinted back and yellow tinted fins. They have a black spot behind the gill cover, and may or may not have a row of smaller spots along the lateral line (depending upon the species). They can grow five inches in their first year, and can grow up to twelve inches during their five to six year lifespan.

Illustrations By: Duane Raver

Pogies are not good table fare, but make excellent bait. They are very oily, so active feeding of prey, such as redfish or speckled trout, can often be identified by a slick on the water (especially if the slick is below a bunch of gulls picking at the water). It is difficult to keep pogies alive for very long in a livewell -- it is best to use a round cornered livewell with lots of fresh circulating sea water. This keeps the pogies swimming and not sloshing around too much, like you would see in a square tank.

They are easy enough to catch with a cast net, so don't bother buying them at a bait shop. They wont survive long in captivity anyways (click here for instructions on throwing a cast net). Look for shimmering at the water surface to locate schools of pogies. Trout or redfish are probably not far behind.

When using live pogies for bait, I find that it is best to use a 4/0 circular hook, and hook the pogies through both lips if you want the bait to swim down, such as when fishing under a bobber at the surface, or through the tail if you want the fish to swim up, such as when fishing on the bottom. Dead pogies can be cut or ground up and used for chum; their oily flesh makes a great attractant. Hook young pogies about two feet below a popping cork, with a split shot in between. Cast out and pop the cork periodically. This is a great way to catch trout and redfish. The same technique can be used with live finger-mullet, croakers, or shrimp.

Sometimes in fall, you will see millions of large pogies in the water, especially at the mouths of rivers. There is no use in using live pogies for bait at this time, because there is nothing that distinguishes your bait from the other million shad in the water. Use a freshly killed shad at this time, and fish off of the bottom. The big redfish that follow the schools around are lazy, they wait for dead or dying shad to sink down to them. Use a 1oz egg sinker above a swivel and 2 foot leader with a circular hook. Hook the dead shad through the eye sockets, then cast out and let the bait drift along the bottom with the current on an outgoing tide. I have caught huge redfish this way (see red bull), and nice black-tip sharks. You will also catch some large nasty catfish, but that is a hazard of this game.

Camping on Millwood Lake

2006-07-09T07:20:00.000-07:00

Our campsite was under the trees along the shoreline of a shallow cove, at the south west corner of Millwood Lake. There was plenty of shade, and a nice view of the water. Several species of water foul walked among the lilly pads, and the brown water reflected the pines, oaks, dogwoods and cypress trees that enclosed the cove.

This is what the area of the lake around the campsite looks like in the daytime. Its more of a swamp than a lake.

There were mocking birds, crows, and the occasional woodpecker flying from tree to tree within the camp, as the geese picked through the grass in a few sunny spots along the forest floor. The bird song was occasionally interrupted by passing logging trucks, as they made their way across the dam hauling timber to one of many mills in the area.

This is a nice shot of the trees reflected on the water. Millwood is a very beautiful lake.

Today a pleasant cool breeze filtered through the trees. You could catch a glimpse of a boat or two as they made their way out to the main body of the lake. Most of the holiday campers were gone, leaving only a few isolated campsites occupied. The ground was trying to dry off from the down-pours we had yesterday. The cool dry breeze was helping things along. The birds were enjoying the change in weather, and they seemed unafraid of me, or my dog. I guess they could sense the contentment everyone was feeling this morning.

Did I mention that Millwood was a beautiful lake?

Yesterday, because of the rain, we decided to go on a road trip. I remembered there being some clear running trout streams, somewhere in Arkansas. We set out in search of one. I traveled north from Millwood Lake toward the Ouachita Mountains. It was a very beautiful journey, and I did not mind getting stuck behind logging trucks, because it gave me a chance to enjoy the scenery. The clouds and rain were backing up against the hills, so we did drive through a few isolated heavy downpours. We worked our way up the steps of the foot hills, and found the Caddo River. I could see from a bridge that the water was clear, so we found a nearby park with access to the river. You could see small trout and other fish in the water. It was a very picturesque scene, so I snapped a couple of photos, and let my dog walk in the shallow water.

Caddo River

We decided to try to make it to Washita before we turned around. Ouachita Mountains are not mountains by California standards, but it was nice to have some variance of topology for a change. We found a park with a nice view of Lake Ouachita, and had a picnic lunch. Lake Ouachita seemed like the kind of lake I am used to in Central Texas. It appeared to be much deeper than Millwood Lake, with a rocky shoreline and clear water. Millwood is more like what you would expect to find in Louisiana, with brown shallow water, and cypress stumps. We enjoyed our lunch, and headed back to the camp.

Lake Ouachita

It was a long day of driving, but I'm glad we went because from the look of the campsite when we returned, it had been raining all day long. We rented a small pop-up camper, and I brought some movies to play on my laptop in case we got stuck in the rain, but even though a pop-up camper is better than a tent, it still gets pretty cramped with two people and a dog.

I attempted to do some fishing during the trip, but I was not successful in catching anything. Millwood Lake does not offer much shoreline access. Much of the shoreline is bordered by thick weeds and deep mud. There is a large population of alligators, so one must be circumspect when walking the shoreline. Although there are well maintained trails that offer picturesque views of the lake, there are only a few access points where you might try to cast a lure. Needless to say, a boat is a necessity on this lake. As I was pulling a pop-up camper, I had to leave my boat behind.

This is typical shoreline on Millwood. You can see why you need a boat. Check out the beaver lodge in the background.

Although the local marina offered boat rentals, they were underpowered flat-bottom aluminum boats. The 9hp motor was loud and there was no trolling motor, so you could not sneak up on any fishy spots without scaring away all the wildlife in the area. The boats were much better suited for catfishing than bass fishing, so I only attempted this once. I was able to get some nice photos of the lake from the boat, so it was not a total loss. Plus, I was able to spend some time with my dad, which was very enjoyable. He developed a recipe for catfish doughbait that works very well. He actually caught a few small catfish, while I fished for bass. The doughbait he developed has some very good properties. It does not stink, it is easy to work with, keeps well, and it stays on the hook cast after cast. My wife suggested that he try to market it to women, because of the stink-free factor.

This looks like a bass hangout, doesn't it?

There is lots of wildlife around Millwood Lake. I saw many species of woodland birds, and water fowl. There were lots of deer, although they stayed well clear of campers. I saw a family of nutrias (giant water rats), snakes, alligators, and even a beaver.

Here is a picture of a beaver lodge. If you look closely, you might see the beaver that lives here.

One evening, I attempted to fish for catfish on the river below the dam. There was a small park with a dock. I aimed my truck headlights toward the dock, set up a couple of lines with my dad's catfish doughbait, and cast out to see what I could catch. As the sun sank down, the alligators started waking up. I counted five large alligators in the water, each between 10 and 12 feet long! As the sun dropped below the horizon, I could see their glowing eyes getting closer and closer. One of them must have been below the dock, because as I walked from one end to the other, there was a large splash below my feet that made me jump out of my skin! I did not want to become alligator dinner, and I was not getting any bites, so I decided to call it quits for the night. I tried to get a photo of the alligators, but it was too dark so I could only see glowing eyes against a black background.

The orange dot in this picture is the reflection of my trucks headlights in the eyes of a big alligator

I had seen all of the signs saying "Don't feed the alligators", but after actually seeing them, I was considerably more alert.

Here's a fishy looking spot. I bet a big 'ol alligator has the same impression.

Imagine the sound of cicadas and bullfrogs. Now imagine a sneaky alligator slowly swimming up to get a closer look...

I decided that continuing to fish would only frustrate me, so I opted to enjoy the rest of my camping trip for what it was. I soaked in the scenery and the wildlife. I read a book by the campfire. I captured some more pictures, including one of a brilliant sunset.

A very pretty sunset reflected on the water. A fish jumped just as I took this picture.

It was a very nice camping trip, which I would highly recommend to anyone traveling through south west Arkansas. Millwood State Park is very well maintained. Its only about 30 miles from Texarkana. The public bathrooms were exceptionally clean, and the staff was very friendly. If you have a boat with a trolling motor, try to bring it with you. Also, bring a good pair of hiking shoes, some mosquito repellent, and a good flashlight. Don't forget your fishing license!

Lake O' The Pines Catfish Eats Dog

2006-07-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I posted an article about pictures of a giant alligator on Lake Conroe with a deer in his mouth, that turned out to be a hoax. It sure garnered a lot of attention, though. For those of you who enjoyed that story, here's another that is sure to get you going. My dad sent me this article, about a giant catfish that ate a German shepherd on Lake O' The Pines, which is about 20 miles north of Longview, Texas. The original source is unknown.

Jenny Carter was walking her German Shepherd by a lake near her Texas home when she says a monster catfish jumped out of the water and swallowed the dog!

The incident was just the latest in a series of sighting of a notorious giant catfish cruising the dark waters of Lake O' the Pines near Longview.

But it was the first report of any fatalities.

Jenny, 26, says she had let her 85-pound dog, (Yogi weighs about 75 lbs. more or less), Sarge, run freely along the lake as she does every night when she suddenly realized that something was terribly wrong.

"Sarge let out a bark like I never heard before," she sobs. "It really scared me, I ran over as fast as I could and I saw him struggling with this monster in the lake.

"It was so big, I didn't know what it was. I never saw anything like it in my life. I was screaming real loud and running to help Sarge. But there was nothing I could do. I saw the fish swallow his head and I went crazy. I guess I was hysterical and in shock."

Two other witnesses verified Jenny's gruesome tale - and now authorities say they are on the lookout for the catfish, now turned killer Prior to the incident involving her dog, there had been wild speculation about the mysterious fish whom some have likened to the Lock Ness Monster in Scotland.

There had been several sightings of the huge catfish estimated to be 15 feet long and weighing 1,000 pounds. Although officials from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department had officially denied the existence of the monster, sportsmen from as far away as Japan had expressed interest in trying to catch the fearsome fish.

"It's worth a least $1 million to the person who can catch it." says a gaming expert. "But it will take extraordinary equipment to reel it in.

"We have reports that some fishermen had the killer catfish on line, but let it get away.

"This fish is very, very powerful. He even straightened out a 20-0 shark hook - and that's not easy to do.

Here's a picture of a 646 pound Mekong catfish that was caught in northern Thailand.

According to National Geographic, this is supposed to be the largest freshwater fish ever caught. I think that this catfish could easily swallow a large dog. If there is something nearly twice the size of this swimming around Lake O' The Pines, he's got to be eating something!

Millwood Lake

2006-06-27T06:23:00.000-07:00

Millwood Lake is a U.S. Army Corps of Engeers recreation area in southwest Arkansas. It is considered one of the Nation's premier bass fishing lakes. Millwood Lake is located on the Little River upstream from its confluence with the Red River about seven miles east of Ashdown, Arkansas. The lake is stocked with over 2 Million Florida Largemouth Bass, and almost entirely consists of flooded timber. Bass up to 14 1/2 pounds have been caught, and 10 pounders are not uncommon.

I have reserved a camping spot on Millwood Lake for the 4th of July week. I fully intend to catch one of those giant bass. You can be sure that I will tell you all about it.

Finding Nemo in Aransas Pass

2006-06-25T15:17:00.000-07:00

Jim called me on Friday at about 11:00am. Apparently, he was so ready to go fishing, that he couldn't get any work done. We had intended to leave early Saturday morning, but Jim wanted to leave early. I said, "What time do you want to leave?". He said, "How about 1:00?". It takes me about 30 minutes to get to Jim's house from mine, so he pretty much meant "How about right now". I was planning to take my time after work, to get my boat ready and my stuff together. I have to admit that I wasn't getting much work done either, so I told him that I would make a couple of calls to see if I could leave early, and if I could break away we would try to leave by 2:00. We decided to try to get a motel, but I packed my tent and a couple of cots, just in case we could not get a room. So, I wrapped things up, got everything packed, then hit the road.

We arrived at Aransas Pass at about 5:30. It took three and one half hours, and a full tank of gas. We thought we were lost a couple of times, but we still made pretty good time. Since there was another 3 hours of daylight left, we decided to do a little fishing, then look for a motel when we were done.

The boat ramp I had found on the Internet was easy to find, and there was lots of room. It was a four lane ramp, and there was plenty of dock space so launching was easy. We were on the water in about five minutes.

I had researched the area on the Internet, and programmed my GPS unit with what looked like might be a couple of good fishing holes. I was a little uneasy about navigating the bay; there are lots of underwater ubstructions, and the water depth can go from twelve feet to six inches very quickly. Luckily, there was what appeared to be an experienced boater in front of us, so I followed him into the flats.

The GPS is a great tool, because it draws a line that tells you where you have been. I figured that as long as I did not hit anything on the way into the flats, I could just follow my trail back out. So, this is exactly what I did.

There are channels cut through the flats that are marked with white poles, but since the poles on the right and left of the channel are the same, it is sometimes difficult to tell if you are looking down the middle of the channel, or off to one side. After a while, I got the hang of it, so there were no major mishaps. I did manage to run up on a sand bar once, but I saw it before I hit it, so I was able to shut down the motor and slow the boat down before my motor skeg hit the bottom. I saw a few other boaters that hit sand bars and reefs at full throttle, and from the looks on the captain's faces they did not get away so lucky.

A bass boat has certain disadvantages in these waters. The obvious ones being the low freeboard makes any kind of wave action difficult to handle. The not so obvious disadvantage is that because you are seated and close to the water, it is difficult to see obstructions in the water until it is almost too late to react. Because of this, I used just enough throttle to stay on plane, but did not get into a hurry.

My fishing plan was to work the deeper area just past hog Island. My thoughts were that at low tide, the fish would be hanging out in the deeper holes next to the flats. As the tide would come in, the fish should try to ambush any bait that was moving from deeper water back into the flats. When we arrived at about 6:00pm, the tide was at its lowest. I eased the boat back into this hole, past some very shallow grassy sandbars. I cast a red and gold weedless spoon toward the incoming tide, and worked it back to the boat with the tide. I was trying to mimic a bait fish, and apparently it worked because on about the fifth cast, I caught a very nice keeper sized Speckled trout. I thought that this was a very good sign, but it turned out to be the only keeper we caught that day.

Catch of the day

At about 7:30, the tide started coming back in a big hurry. I moved the boat back out into the main channel, because we could see some Redfish tailing in the grassy areas adjacent to a small island on one side of the channel. I tried to use my drift sock, but it is much better in the wind than in the current. There was not much wind, so the drift sock moved at about the same speed as the boat, so it did nothing to slow us down. We made many casts into the shallows, and even went back a couple of times to work the area again. I caught a small Redfish, and Jim and I both had larger ones on the line that let go before we got them up to the boat. My line kept getting fouled because the spoon I was using was spinning, causing my line to get twisted. Eventually, I made a cast that snapped my line, and caused me to lose my favorite spoon. It was beginning to get dark, and I did not feel comfortable navigating these relatively unknown waters after dark, so we headed back to the dock.

After loading the boat back onto the trailer, I filleted the trout I kept so that it would be easier to carry. I managed to find a water hose and a bar of soap, so I cleaned off as much of the fishy smell I could before I got into the truck. The first stop we made was Walmart, to stock up on fishing spoons. Unfortunately, they only had the standard brass and chrome versions, so I could not replace my lost spoon.

Finally, we got something to eat, and started looking for a motel. After finding about five motels with no vacancies, I was beginning to worry that we would have to pitch the tent after all. It was hot and muggy, so I was not looking forward to this. Luckily, a friendly front-desk attendant at the Best Western made a phone call, and I managed to get the last room in town. The room was not very nice, but it beat the heck out of sleeping in a tent. I was thankful to have a shower and a bed, even though I dared not sleep under the covers.

We set the alarm for 5:00am on Saturday morning. Jim snored all night, but when the alarm went off he claimed that he did not sleep a wink. I kind of laughed, because it was I who did not sleep a wink. I was still somewhat rested, and now that I was at least partially familiar with the water, I was ready to do some fishing. We cleared out in a hurry, and headed toward the dock. As soon as we left the hotel, you could see a line of about 100 trailored boats, waiting to launch at a nearby boat ramp! There appeared to be some kind of tournament, and I hoped that all of the boat ramps were not this backed up.

We stopped at about three bait stores along the way to our launch point, and all of them were completely sold out by about 5:00am! You have to start early if you want to get live bait around here! The preferred bait are croakers, but there was some shrimp left, so we picked up a pint. Jim found a bait store that had a few croakers left, so we got what we could. I prefer to fish with artificial lures, but if the fishing is tough, it is good to have a backup plan.

The water was a few feet deeper in the morning, because the tide was at its peak. The water clarity was very good, and the wind was very light. It looked like it was going to be a very good day.

The first spot we tried was a large open area beyond a line of grass beds that were adjacent to the main channel. There was a small cut through between the channel and this area that we idled through. We spent about 30 minutes here, made many casts, but did not catch any fish. We decided to go back up the channel to see what other fisherman were doing.

We followed a boat past hog Island, and headed toward the Old Causeway, which is a series of small islands left over from an old washed out bridge. When we motored up to the spot, you could see the trout everywhere! There was jumbo shrimp jumping out of the water, and the trout were having a feast in the shallows. I parked the boat in a good spot, and we tried just about everything to catch one.

Nothing worked. Eventually, I put on a popping bobber and a shrimp, and cast past the drop off to the deeper water. I almost instantly caught a small sheepshead. The trout were really working in the shallows, and we saw a few redfish as well.

This prompted us to pole our way further into the shallows, which was a mistake. My bass boat did not pole very well, and all we managed to do was to get ourselves stuck. Jim had to get out and pull on the bowline as I pushed with the pole. After wasting about 20 minutes trying to get back into the deep water, we were both exhausted. So I moved the boat about 20 yards off the deep water break, and anchored down.

I cast my popping bobber toward the break, using a shrimp for bait. I started catching small trout. Jim wasn't catching anything, but he was trying. I caught a small redfish on a spoon, but most of the action was from the live bait.

There was lots of traffic in the channel, including a couple of larger shrimp boats, so when I got the opportunity I moved the boat around to the backside of the island, where another channel cut from the main channel into the flats. I anchored here, and started catching fish once every 15-20 minutes.

Eventually, I felt bad that Jim wasn't having any luck. Jim did not have a popping bobber, and I only had one. Since I knew there were fish here, I decided to use artificial and let Jim use the bobber. The water was very green and clear, and the sky was very sunny, so I used a chartreuse salt-water assassin on a jig head. Although Jim started catching fish at last, I actually caught several on that jig, including a couple of nice keepers. I rigged my other rod with a small weight, and a croaker. I cast out and used my rod holder to tight-line the croaker off the bottom. After a while, I caught a very nice trout on the croaker! Jim caught a few trout, and a small needlefish.

What the heck is that?

By about noon, we were running out of water, and it was getting extremely hot. We decided to go back to the dock, and take a break. I cleaned the fish that I had caught before we headed back out, so we could put the fillets on ice in the cooler. I was afraid that keeping those fish in my live-well all day was not very humane, and I did not want to risk killing the fish and spoiling the meat. The livewell in my boat is not very efficient (which is a big reason why I usually catch and release).

After lunch, we headed back to the same spot. This is when I miss-judged the entrance to the side channel, and ran up on that sand bar. After we anchored down, we saw two others hit the same sand bar. Someone should plant a pole there, because it is easy to miss.

We did not catch any fish here for the next couple of hours, and the wind started picking up. I saw a couple of small thunder-heads on the horizon, and it was unclear whether they were approaching or receding, so we headed back toward the ramp. We fished a couple of cuts along the way, but nothing worth keeping. I decided to head east along the ICW on the south side of the flats. I was looking for a couple of good cuts from the flats out into the channel. The fishing was slow, but I did find a spot where there was a couple of large fish in the area, apparent by occasional splashing, and a few large wakes chasing bait in the shallows. I put on a red weedless spoon, and tried to cast ahead of these larger fish. Eventually I got one to grab my lure, and it was huge! I think it was one of those wall-mount sized trout, because it bent my rod all the way over. I got a couple of good splashes out of it, and managed to get it about three fourths of the way back to the boat before it threw the lure. Damn! That one would have made a great picture, and who knows? It might have been an entry in the CCA Star Tournament. Oh well. That would have ended the day on a very positive note. The wind was really howling now, so we decided to call it quits, and headed back home.

Now that I have experienced navigating shallow bay waters, I'm not so timid about taking my boat. I'm planning another trip to San Luis Pass in the fall, but I imagine I will make at least one more trip to the coast before then. Until then, I will leave you with this picture of Jim, and his big fish of the day.

Jim's Nemo is really hard to find!

Aransas Pass

2006-06-23T08:27:00.000-07:00

I'm almost ready; just a few final things to do. I'll be leaving at about 3:00am tomorrow, heading toward Aransas Pass to try and catch some redfish. I'll pick up Jim at around 3:30, then we should arrive at about 6:00. I'm taking my boat -- I'll admit that I am a little nervous. This will be my first time taking my bass boat to the coast. We are going to fish Estes Flats. I plan to take the boat around the flats to Hogg Island hole, and maybe California hole. Since the tide will be peaking at about the time we get there, we will be fishing a falling tide all day long. This is not ideal, but my plan is to get my boat up into one of those holes where a creek channel empties from the flats. I'm guessing that the redfish will be coming off of the flats, and waiting in the deeper holes for the bait to swim out with the tide. We might try to pole around the grass flats early, then work our way back out to the deeper water.

I have my video camera, and digital camera ready -- I hope I have some good pictures to post when we get back.

I cleaned out my boat in preparation, removing anything that is unnecessary to try to lighten things up so we draft as little water as possible. I converted my anchor box into a fish box by installing a drain that goes into my bilge, and insulating all around where the plastic anchor box sits. Its not perfect, but it should hold ice for several hours. I also organized my rod box, and installed some brackets that will help keep my stuff from rolling around and spooking the fish.

I've been studying a satellite image of the area we will be fishing, and coordinating that with my GPS and Hot-Spots map. I have a good plan of attack, that I think will pay off well.

Jim bought us a push-pole, so I plan to kill the motor and trim it up as we get close to the fishing spots, then use the push-pole to get us the rest of the way in. Instead of using the anchor, I will use the push-pole, by pushing it down into the mud, then tying off the boat to the pole. I think this will be less damaging to the sensitive grassy bottoms than dragging an anchor across.

I also signed up for a CCA Membership, and enrolled in the Star Tournament. Who knows, maybe I will catch a tagged redfish, and drive away with a new truck and boat!

I'll let you know how it goes.

Tuna Time

2006-06-21T06:15:00.000-07:00

Here's some great pictures of my nephew, Justin. These were taken last weekend off the coast of San Diego. Justin went fishing with his dad and grandpa on the Bright and Morning Star, which is a 100-foot Sportfisher charterboat, that holds 34 passengers plus crew. The boat has sleeping quarters, so it goes out for days at a time in search of Albacore, Yellowtail, Baja, Bluefin, and Benitos. I believe they fish off the coasts of Isla Guadalupe and Isla Cedros, in Mexican waters.

Justin is turning into a terrific fisherman!

Justin has picked his spot on the boat, and is ready to catch a fish!

A very good start!

Look at the bow in his rod!

Another nice one!

Here we go again!

Wow! What a fish!

The Bright and Morning Star

Trinity River Catfish

2006-06-18T17:51:00.000-07:00

My wife reminded me of a story I once told her about a trip I made to the Trinity River when I was a teen. My friend Andy's parents had a small cabin, waterfront to an oxbow lake south of Lake Livingston along the river. There was a pot-belly stove, but no air conditioning. There was a little pier, and they had a small john-boat with a 12 horsepower motor. We would get up early, and drive the boat down to the river. We would go up the river for a couple of hours, set a trot-line across a fishy looking spot, then drift downstream back to where we started, fishing along the way. We would make it back by lunch-time, then head back after lunch, and do it all again. By the time we would get back to the trot-line, there would usually be several fish on the line.

This one time, we made it up to the trot-line to find it sagging deeply in the middle. I thought we had a snag, so I started working my way down the line from the outside to the middle, pulling off small catfish along the way.

Like a fool, I was standing up in the john-boat, with two hands on the line. This was not a very large john-boat, so it was not very stable. As I stood over what I thought was a snag, I pulled up with both hands to see if I could get it un-snagged. As I looked down into the water, and pulled the line up to the surface, I saw these two huge eyeballs come up from the deep. It was a giant catfish! This scared the u-know-what out of me, and I dropped the line. This was too much action and reaction for the little boat to handle, so I fell in. Right on top of that huge catfish! Now I know that Jesus walked on water, because I am positive I did at that moment! I was back in the boat in less than half a second.

We did not lose the fish -- it was a 45 pound blue catfish. I know blue cats get much bigger than 45 pounds, but that was the biggest fish I had ever caught. With the exception of a few large sharks, it is still the largest fish I have caught to this date.

Little Rock

2006-06-14T22:48:00.000-07:00

I spent the afternoon in Little Rock, Arkansas today. The plain ride there was over some interesting terrain. I saw lots of natural lakes from the air, and several reservoirs, with lots of trees. I remember fishing in South West Arkansas once, as a kid. I seem to recall catching a really big bass on a Zebco 33. The reel fell apart as I brought in the fish, but I still managed to get it in the boat. I was only about 12 years old. The guide didn't seem to happy that I caught that huge bass. The more I fish, the more I realize how elusive the really big bass seem to be. The largest I've landed in three years has been about six and a half pounds.

I also remember catching a bunch of rainbow trout on the Little Red River in Arkansas. That was a great experience, too. I remember we used a salmon egg on a small hook, and floated it above the bottom by one foot. We were on a fast moving, shallow but wide stream in a river boat. I found a large old-timer knife on the stream bed in excellent condition, that I kept for years. I would like to fish there again -- maybe I'll plan a camping trip, someday.

Estes Flats

2006-06-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

I've decided to take my boat to the coast. This will be a first for me; I have never driven my boat on anything but inland lakes. I bought a fishing hot-spots map, and I've been impressed with the level of detail. I'm planning out my trip, including how to navigate the grassy areas around Estes Flats, which is near Aransas Pass. I admit that I am a little bit nervous about taking my bass boat into salt water, but I have been assured by a local guide that there are lots of people who navigate these waters in a bass boat. I'm going to strip down my boat to essential gear. I won't be bringing any bass related stuff. I'm going to convert my anchor box into a fish box -- I'll fill it with ice in case we catch any keepers. I'll bring my drift sock, and my dansforth anchor. Maybe I'll try to make a push-pole out of PVC, for the really shallow areas.

Slow day on LBJ

2006-06-11T06:23:00.000-07:00

I found out Friday that my boss will be coming to town during the 4th of July week. He recently bought a new bass boat, and I have been bragging about all of the fish I have been catching lately. He hasn't done so well in the first few times he has taken out his boat, so I offered to show him around Lake LBJ, and practically guaranteed we would catch fish. When he called me to ask if we could go fishing on July 6, I decided that it would be a good idea to do some scouting in advance of the trip. So, Jim and I went fishing on LBJ again this Saturday.

Actually, we had intended to go fishing anyways. Initially, our plan was to try Buchanan. I plugged in my battery charger on Thursday to get ready for our trip. When I plugged my charger in, there was a red light flashing on my accessory battery bank. I soon figured out that my batteries were not holding a charge. I checked, and the batteries were almost dry! I left it unplugged for the night, planning to get some distilled water on Friday, to top them off.

After work on Friday, I bought some distilled water and topped off the batteries. I had to remove them from my boat to do this; there is not much room to work in the back of my boat. Actually, only one battery needed topping off, but I had to remove both batteries to check. I used my volt meter, which registered 2.5 volts on battery and 3.5 volts on the other. Not good. I re-installed the batteries, and connected my charger. The red light stopped flashing, so I took this as a positive sign. I left them to charge all night.

On Saturday morning, I checked and the batteries were still not fully charged -- at least according to the indicator lights on top of my charger. I checked the voltages, and each battery reported 12.8 volts. I was concerned that they would not last long on the lake, but the wind wasn't blowing, so I figured that if I took it easy on the trolling motor, we could make it through the day.

We got to the boat ramp at about 6:00am. The parking lot was already full, so it was apparent that there was a fishing tournament going on. With the blue sky, no wind, and a fishing tournament, it was shaping up to be a tough day.

We fished all of my regular honey holes, and even ventured up to the north end of the lake. We only managed to catch five small bass. The ones we did catch were away from shore in ten feet or more water. I think that with a little more patience, a carolina rigged worm or grub worked across the sand bars next to deep water might do a little better. I will try that next week. Maybe a few long casts would find the fish. I could then mark the spot on my GPS map, and approach the spot from the deep side, and anchor down to work the area more thoroughly.

I saw a feature on some of the GPS systems, which allows you to follow your trail, and mark your range from a waypoint. The fishing guide on my trip to Freeport was using this feature to keep us over an offshore pile of rocks. In open water, there is nothing to keep your bearings on, so the GPS really helps. I think my Lowrance 332c will do this, so it may come in handy.

I think the problem was that there was too much fry in the water. I kept seeing small dead shad on the surface. There were schools of white bass working these areas; I'm sure all of the bass species were gorging themselves. The shad were shiny and silver colored. With the clear sky and the full moon, I bet they were eating all night long. Now that I think about it, the bass we caught had disteneded bellies. I'll bet they were full of small shad.

I don't like to fish with live bait if I can avoid it. Its not that I'm squeemish about live bait -- its just that I prefer the challenge of using artificial lures. I simply find it much more convenient. Using live bait means my hands will likely be slimy, my clothes will be fishy, and I have to do more work when I clean out the boat. I try to catch and release as a general practice; it strikes me as wrong to kill bait if I don't intend to kill the fish that I'm after. I should bring my casting net though. I could catch a net full of shad, then let them go just to see what they look like. I might find a lure in my tackle box that can approximate their shape and color.

I have a couple of small spoons that are about the same shape and size as the shad I saw on the surface. They have small treble hooks, so they tend to catch small white bass. I like catching large white bass, but they do have sharp spines, and the ridge up like a porcupine when they are excited, so they can be difficult to handle. I usually end up with a sore finger or two by the end of the day. I consider chasing white bass a diversion from my primary prey, which is the Largemouth Bass.

That being said, its good to know that white bass are in the area. It means that there is forage, and there are likely black bass close by. I bet there were some big 'ole lunker bass down deep beneath those schools of shad, leasurely feasting away. Catching them is the hard part.

After fishing the South end of the lake for most of the morning, at about 10:30am, we decided to look for tournament fishermen, to see where they were fishing. As we were motoring up to the north side of the lake, I passed a big slick, with a large school of stripers feeding at the surface. Unfortunately, I did not see this in time to slow the boat down without spooking the fish. I quickly tied on a big 1oz chrome and blue rattletrap. I can cast it a mile, and it sinks quickly enough to get down to where stripers like to feed. The water was very because of the wakes from passing boats. I wasn't getting any strikes, and there was lots of boat traffic, so after about 10 minutes, we decided to move on.

Why is it that jet skiiers feel so safe on the water? They make the stupidest moves, rarely if ever travel in a straight line, and the noise from their engines keeps them from hearing horn blasts from other boats on the water. Those jet skiis are way too fast. I had one pass my boat at over 50 mph! He was weaving and doing little stunts without looking, and was heading straight into my path. He was approaching from my port side. The rules say yeild to starboard, otherwise stay on a straight course at present speed. Of course when the rules break down, its time to take action. I blasted him about nine times with my horn, which is plenty loud, but he did not acknowledge. He probably had water-proof earphones on. I had to stop my boat to avoid a collision. He finally noticed me, and gave me this little look. I think they should be outlawed all-together. I know they are fun, but they lend themselves to stupid behavior, and are typically piloted by teenagers who think they are invincible. My house is only a couple of miles from Lake Travis. We see the life-flight helicopter heading toward the lake at least a couple of times per month.

We fished a couple of coves on the North side of the lake, but caught nothing. After a couple of hours, we headed back toward the launch point. I had been wanting to fish the jettie that goes from the power plant to the main body of the lake. The water drops off quickly on the Eastern side of the jetties to about 35 feet deep. We drifted the entire length of the Eastern side of the jetties, but caught nothing. So, that was that. I'm going to have to go back a couple of times this month, to figure out where the fish are.

Good Knots and Lessons Learned

2006-06-07T17:54:00.000-07:00

This is nothing new, but I was just thinking about what lessons I have learned since I purchased my boat.

First and foremost, you have to look at buying a boat in terms of total cost of ownership. The purchase price is just the beginning. The good news is that if you take care of your boat, the ongoing expenses come down quite a bit after the first couple of years, but you will probably double your boat payment in extra stuff before that.

Learning to operate the boat wasn't always fun. Believe me, the first couple of times I had to launch or retrieve my boat at a busy ramp was daunting, to say the least. Especially when I was by myself. It reminded me of learning to play golf (which I have since given up permanently). All you really have to do is line-up, step-up, take a smooth swing and hit the ball. But after a day with a golf-pro, you are thinking about so many variables, there is no wonder you end up slicing the ball. The same is true for retrieving a boat. There are so many questions going through your head -- Is there room at the dock? Am I going to have to beach the boat? The wind is blowing 20mph, how do I get between those two boats at the dock without having an accident, especially when some jerk just threw a two-foot wake past the boat ramp? Luckily, with a little practice, these things become second nature. Someone gave me a simple piece of advice once, which in retrospect seems completely obvious -- head into the wind or current. This makes perfect sense, because since you steer the boat from the rear, you need some sort of wind or water flowing past the steerage in order to control the boat.

After operating a boat for a while, you learn to be prepared -- to anticipate problems, and take steps to avoid them. Getting out of the way of a drunk water-skier is a no-brainer. Its the little things that will get you in trouble. On one of my first fishing/camping trips with my new boat, I took my wife and dog with me on the lake. I learned a couple of important lessons on this day.

First lesson - make sure you walk the dog before you put it on the boat. Trust me, dealing with dog-poop on a boat becomes a whole new experience. My poor wife bore the brunt of that attack -- I noticed my dog (which is a 60lb German Shepherd) was looking quite uncomfortable. I thought it was just a little scared of being on the boat. At one point her uncomfortable look turned into a look of panic, so I stopped the boat just in time for her to have an explosion. Right on my wife's lap! At least she didn't soil the carpet. Good girl! My wife was in shock. She had to jump in the water to clean off! Afterwards, my dog looked much more content, but my wife was the one looking uncomfortable.

Second lesson - expect the unexpected. We were on Lake Buchanan, which is a pretty large lake, with decent size swells on the water. I was using my trolling motor to navigate around some rocky bluffs, while casting a crankbait against the shoreline. My wife was reading a book, and my dog was keenly eyeing my lure every time I cast it out. The sound of the rattling lure, and the whine of my reel as I made each cast eventually was more than my dog could stand. She was wearing her collar, and her short-leash so that I could control her if necessary (or so I thought). I made a long cast, and she decided that she would fetch the lure! So she leaped into the water to catch the lure! We were in a pretty deep part of the lake, with a moderate wind blowing -- not the kind of place you want to give up control of the boat, even for a minute. After calling her back to the boat, and hauling her on board, we had drifted dangerously close to the rocky shoreline. I went to start up my motor, to get us to a safe distance, when I noticed that my motor would not start! I looked down to try and figure out what was going on, when I noticed my kill-switch lanyard was gone! When my dog jumped overboard, the leash had snagged on the kill switch lanyard, and pulled it in after her! Of course, it sank straight to the bottom of the lake. Luckily, I had a pair of lockable pliers in my tackle box, so I pulled out the kill switch, and locked my pliers onto it so that I could start the motor. Just in time, too -- it was definitely getting too close for comfort. Needless to say, we went straight back to camp, and I made a little trip to the marina store. I bought two kill switch lanyards, and a few key-floats. I attached a key-float to each lanyard, and my boat keys, and put the extra lanyard under my seat. When I told the marina attendant what had happened, she looked at me like I was an idiot. She said, "You should wrap the lanyard around the throttle control when you are not driving, and clip it back onto itself". This seems obvious now, but at the time it was quite a revelation. I don't think I'm an idiot; I was just a little green at that time.

There are some accessories that come in handy. I spent some time rigging my boat out for night fishing. I installed a series of red LED lights up under my gunwale, with a switch on my console. At night, when I flip the switch, the front and rear decks are flooded with red light. The red light does not interfere with your night-vision, and there is plenty of light to tie on a lure. I installed the lights close to the deck, so that from a distance it would not confuse other boaters. The red and green night running lights on the bow of a boat, combined with a white light at the stern, are designed to let other boaters know whether you are coming or going. I also installed a white map-light under my console, so that I could get a better look at something if necessary. I installed two marine DC power adapters (cigarette lighter style), one for the starboard side, and one for the port side. I have a couple of submersible lamps that I can plug in, and drop overboard for serious night-fishing. This works extremely well.

Another great accessory is a keel-guard. This was somewhat expensive, but I saved money by installing it myself. It was not easy to install, and sealing it was not pleasant. But I have been very pleased with the results. It has opened up a whole new realm of opportunities, because it makes it very easy to beach the boat. This helps tremendously when launching my boat alone at a ramp that has no dock. I have also brought my wife and dog out to picnic on an island in the middle of the lake. The keel guard, plus a good trick another boater taught me, made that possible. The trick involves a long rode, and a few good knots.

Before I tell you the trick, I need to explain the knots. It's helpful to know a few good knots. However, it does you no good unless you can quickly tie the right knot when necessary. I taught myself while watching TV by tying knots over and over again on a scrap piece of rope. Eventually, I got to where I could tie a few useful knots with my hands tied behind my back -- just kidding, that would be something though, wouldn't it! I can tie them quickly without looking, and this has helped me on numerous occasions. I wont tell you how to tie them -- a Google search turned up over 2.5 Million web pages that will show you. If you found my page, you can probably figure it out pretty quick. One good resource is Knot Knowledge, which has easy to understand instructions and illustrations. Another good resources is the US Powerboating Course. I will describe the knots, and what they might be useful for. You can figure out which knot to use, and look up the details yourself.

One of the most useful every day knots is a bowline. A bowline knot is easy to tie, and more importantly, it is easy to untie. It is a loop knot that doesn't cinch up, and it can be tied mostly with one hand. It is easy to tie around another object, such as a bow ring, or a drift sock. I have read that it should not be used under heavy load, and that you should leave a tag end that is about twelve times the diameter of the rope. If you are paranoid, consider tying a figure eight knot on the tag end, to keep it from slipping out. I have a small boat (17' Skeeter), and I have used it as part of a system to secure my boat to land without problems. The method I will describe to you takes most of the strain off of the line anyways; it is used primarily to stabilize the boat. Incidentally, a line tied to the bow of a boat is called a 'bow line'. Do not confuse this with a 'bowline knot', which is a type of knot that makes a loop.

Before I go any further, I need to tell you that I am not a certified boat captain, so if you are concerned about the safety of this method, or anything else I might tell you, I defer to the nearest authority. My knowledge comes mostly from experience, and I am learning new things all the time.

Another couple of knots I use in this method are the 'In Line Figure 8 Loop', (a loop that can be tied in line with a rope, even when the tag ends are not free), and the Tautline Hitch (also called a 'Rolling Hitch', it is a knot that can be fastened back onto the standing end of a rope, with easy adjustment, and locking ability).

The first time I used this trick, it was to secure my boat for over-night camping. I was camping at Black Rock Park on Lake Buchanan. I managed to get a decent camp-site, close to the water. I wanted to beach the boat where I could have easy access to it, that way I could take the boat at my leisure, without having to launch and retrieve the boat. Lake Buchanan has a rough sand made up of decomposed granite. Its interesting that they call it Black Rock Park, when the rock is mostly red granite. The sand is fairly abrasive, but it lends well to beaching. I was having trouble securing the boat -- I was worried about an approaching thundershower, so I wanted to make sure I didn't anchor the stern down in such a way as to flood the boat.

This other camper, who had also beached his boat was watching me with some amusement, as I struggled to secure my boat. Finally, he offered me some advice. There was a sandbar about 50 feet off the shoreline. He told me to run up to the sandbar at idle speed with the motor trimmed up, then turn off the motor before the keel runs aground. Once aground, he told me to trim down my motor, so that the skeg would dig into the sand. After this, I tied a bowline knot at one end of a 100' rode, securing it to the bow ring of my boat. I walked the line around an upright tree on the shore. I tied an in line figure 8 loop about halfway between the boat and the tree, on the standing end of the line, with the loop facing toward shore. I ran the tag end through the loop, then walked back toward shore to take out the slack in the line. This acted as a pulley, allowing me to double my pulling force on the front of the boat. I pulled the line as tight as I could go to swing the bow of my boat around, in line with the rope. Finally, I secured the tag end to the standing end using a taughtline hitch. This kept a good tension on the line, so it kept the boat from swinging out in the wind, and working its way free. It worked so well in fact, that I had to chase off some children who were using the tight bow line as a swing set.

The bow line was used primarily to keep the bow of the boat from swinging around in the wind. The keel of the boat rested on the sand. The motor skeg held the stern of the boat in place. This worked exceptionally well, even though we had quite a deluge from that passing summer storm.

The water facing camp-sites at Black Rock park face toward the South. Ideally, you would want to beach the boat facing South, because most Summer storms come up from the South East. Its better to have waves hitting the bow of your boat rather than the stern. I did get a small amount of water in my bilge, but I think it was mostly from the rain, because I did not see any waves breaking over the transom.

I have since used derivatives of this method on several occasions. If you are trying to beach on a desert island, with no trees, you could run the line through a mushroom or dansforth anchor, then bury the anchor in about two feet of sand. If you feel the anchor slipping when you cinch up the line, bury it more deeply.

Another useful knot is the Butterfly Knot, which creates a loop that can be tied without access to the ends of the rope. The loop stands straight out from the line, and is useful for making a lean-to out of a tarp and two trees. If you have a long enough rope, you can tie a butterfly knot that aligns with each grommet in the tarp. You create a frame by staking out the bottom corners of a square that extends at a 45 degree angle from the ground to the tree trunk. Secure the ends of the rope to the two trees, 45 degrees up from the corners of the rope square. Now, use bungy cords to attach the tarp grommets to the butterfly knot loops you created. I have used this to keep firewood dry in a rainstorm, and it works well. The bungy cords absorb the shock from the wind, and the water runs off the tarp well away from the wood.

that's enough from me for now. If you have any stories about using knots in interesting ways, please post a comment.

Huge Gator Lurks in Lake Conroe - debunked!

2006-06-06T13:15:00.000-07:00

Look at the size of this alligator! It has a whole deer in its mouth. These pictures were taken by a KTBS helicopter flying over the west end of Lake Conroe! Lake Conroe is in Conroe, Texas which is about 45 miles north of Houston along IH-45.

Wanna go fishing?

BTW, I did a quick Internet search, and found out this is a hoax -- it had me going, though! Here's a link to the real story!

Hackberry Hustle part deux

2006-05-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

I left straight from work to go to Houston, last Wednesday afternoon. I wanted to get out of Austin before evening rush-hour. My bags and my gear was packed in the truck, and ready to go. I had to drive the entire distance in business clothes, but visions of a great weekend ahead drove my heel.

I made it to Houston in record time (I did not speed, officer -- honest!). Actually I left at about 3:15, and arrived in the Woodlands at about 6:00. Two hours and forty-five minutes -- not too shabby. Somehow, the rush hour traffic in Magnolia was very light for a change. I thought I was on a lucky streak! (Little was I to know about how the weekend would shape up).

I arrived at Will's house to find him in the garage, sorting out his gear. I unloaded my bags, and went inside.

Will had about 8 huge AC plugs (big balsa plugs, jointed in the middle). They looked like something you would tow behind a boat to catch a Marlin! I figured that if we ran into a big school of red-fish feeding at the surface like last time, it might actually work. I helped Will pick out a few - trying to match a mullet on a clear and cloudy day, so that he could be prepared for either condition.

I brought some jig-heads, and a few packages of Saltwater Assassins, in various colors. I also brought some extra line; fluorocarbon for use as leader material. This would prove to be useful for other purposes as well.

We cleaned and oiled the reels, checked the line, and got all of our stuff together so that we could pack up and go in the morning.

The next morning, Will was upset to find out that a few more people bailed out of the trip. This put us in a bind, because we had already reserved 4 boats, with the latest round of dropouts, it meant that two boats would only have two people -- this makes the cost per person go up considerably.

We finally left the house at about 11:30, and went to pick up Ronnie. Afterward, we went straight to Woofies (the local tavern) to meet up with Bill and Kendall. Kendall and I would leave our vehicles under the security camera in the parking lot at Woofies, and we would take Bill's suburban land-yacht.

We were happy to find that it was Bikini-Day at Woofies, and Christine (one of the bar tenders) was looking hot. Will had some fun with the video camera, while we had a few beers, and waited for Bill. Bill was supposed to show up at 12:30, but he was late as usual. He arrived at about 1:15, ate a burger, and had a beer. By this time, we had been drinking for about two hours, so I'm glad Bill was driving.

Finally, we loaded everything up into Bills truck, and hit the road. Bill had a great shortcut (we all remember last year's shortcut, which ended us up in Jasper, Texas. Not the kind of place you want to get lost in, but that's another story...). We would drive North to Conroe, then take highway 105 to Beaumont to avoid Houston all-together. Of course, as soon as we got onto IH45, the traffic was at a stand-still.

Once we got to Conroe, and off of IH45, the traffic lightened up dramatically. To Bill's credit, we made record time. It only took a couple of hours to get to Hackberry, even after stopping about a half-dozen times for Ronnie to do his business.

We stopped off at a dock where there were some shrimp boats. Will bought a few pounds of shrimp, and some crab-claws for the gumbo. Will was wearing these goofy bright red sunglasses that he found at Ronnie's house. I caught a few funny looks from the locals at the dock, as they sized up Will wearing those sunglasses.

As we approached Hackberry, you could see lots of damaged buildings, and blue-tarps covering damaged roofs. We had all seen the news footage from Hackberry after Hurricane Rita blew through. All of us expected closed roads, and total devastation. Interestingly, the damage was sparse. One house would be almost destroyed, while the house next door looked untouched. Freddy would later tell me that there were lots of tornadoes spawned off by the hurricane; he climbed the levy next to the camp to survey the damage after the storm, and he said that you could see clear paths of destruction where tornadoes ripped through the area.

To our surprise, the roads were mostly clear. There were noticeably fewer trees, and piles of debris, but Hackberry was by no means a ghost town. When we pulled up to the camp, the scenery had definitely changed from last year. Freddy's house was gone; replaced by three FEMA trailers. The lodge was gone, but replaced by a new lodge that was finished being installed that very morning. There was a crew of people busy at work putting grass down around the new lodge.

This is the view from the fishing dock to the boat ramp. Its pretty quiet in the afternoon, but is bustling as soon as the sun starts coming up in the morning.

The boat dock looked like it was in good shape, and all of the boats were intact. So the basic elements were all there.

Freddy and his staff were there to greet us. They were all talking excitedly about the fish they were catching. All of them said that the fishing had been great since the hurricane, so we were all excited about what the morning would bring.

We unloaded our gear, and each of us claimed a bunk. We met up with the other members of the party as they arrived. We all settled in, talking, and waiting for the Gumbo to finish. Monica and her helpers were hard at work in the kitchen.

Here is Kendall, Ronnie, Me, and Will (from left to right). We are pumped up, and ready to catch some fish!

The new lodge was very comfortable. There was lots of room for everyone. The patio was too small (you should see 11 guys standing on a three foot by twenty foot patio deck). I'm pretty sure they are going to build a larger one; I was happy we had a lodge to stay in at all.

By the time dinner was ready, everyone was hungry. The gumbo was delicious! I mean it was perfect. There was potato salad to go with it, and an awesome crab dip as an appetizer. Will brought some tabasco peppers from his garden. He chopped some up, and put it in one container of crab dip. It really kicked it up a notch, so to speak -- but it actually tasted great. There was chocolate cake for desert, but not much room, because everyone had gone back for second helpings of seafood gumbo.

This is Monica and I, on the front porch of the new lodge. Monica is the best darned Cajun cook that I have ever known. She makes the best seafood gumbo I have ever had. Really. The absolute best.

After dinner, we all sat around the dock shooting the bull. I brought a couple of lawn chairs with me, which proved to be handy. They were by far the most comfortable chairs on the dock. Some of us cast a line around the dock, but gave up after about the fourth or fifth time getting hung up. There was lots of debris in the water. I dragged up a nasty old mop, and a rubber glove. Will caught a beer can. I lost about one hundred feet of line, and a favorite lure. At some point, one by one, we all slipped off to bed.

After the aftermath of Rita, there was lots of debris in the water around the dock. I caught a glove (there was no hand in it -- I checked), and an old mop. Will caught a beer can (there was no beer in it -- he checked).

I guess I stayed up later than most, because when I went to bed, Kindall was in my spot, snoring away. Kindall is a notorious snorer. He literally shakes the walls when he snores. The only empty bunk was the next one over. Luckily, Bill had the forethought to bring some extra ear-plugs. They provided about a 50% reduction in the decibel level, so eventually with the help of a pillow over my head, I was able to get to sleep. I couldn't help getting a few seconds of Kindall snoring on my video camera, before I went to sleep.

At about 5:00 in the morning, I awoke to the sound of people getting ready to go fishing. Kindall was snoring louder than ever, so I got a few more seconds of footage before I got up. After about 30 minutes, someone realized that the clock on the stove was an hour behind, so it was actually about 4:30 in the morning! Oh, well. We were already up, so there was no sense in going back to sleep. I poured myself a cup of strong coffee to shake of the cob-webs. They had some Jimmy Dean sausage biscuits, and some honey-buns. I had one of each, then went outside.

It was still dark outside, and the mosquitoes were beginning to feed. I could see a truck at the boat ramp on the other side of the bayou that was backing his trailer down into the water. This later turned out to be Phillip, one of the fishing guides. Along with the other guides, Phillip drove his boat up to the dock. Max, who was my guide, was using one of Freddie's boats, which was in the lift.

Will was busy filling the cooler up with beer. I checked to see if there was any water, and of course there wasn't, so I went off in search of some. I found about a dozen water bottles, so I put them in the cooler along with the beer.

Ronnie was supposed to be on the boat with Will and I, but with the number of people who didn't show up, Kindall would have been stuck by himself on a boat. Ronnie opted to go with Kindall, so the price went up for all of us. We had all of our gear on-board, and were ready to go. The boat was still up on straps in the boat lift, and Will had already popped his first top. He offered me one, but I said, "Let's wait until we get out over the water, OK?" Max, our guide said, "Well technically, you are over the water..." I decided that I would drink water instead.

So, we were off. The air felt nice, the temperature was fine. The problem was that the previous extra high tide, along with a South West wind that blew all night, had the lake muddy brown. This is not good for fishing. The plan was to go in search of birds, which tend to follow schools of fish picking up the left overs. After locating about five different groups of birds that were 'picking', casting all around them and coming up empty, we began to realize that there were no fish under these birds. The birds were chasing shrimp, but the fish were somewhere else.

By mid-morning, we had driven all around the Southern part of the lake, and only managed to catch a couple of small fish. It was shaping up to be a long day. At some point, Max (our guide) decided to try something different. The tide was peaking, and getting close to changing directions. This would draw clean water back into the lake, and start clearing out the muddy water. Max figured that if we could get as far upstream as possible, we might find some good water. We took a gamble, and drove 30 minutes to the north west side of the lake, on the way to 'Black Lake'.

We had to go under this draw bridge. After driving the boat about 30 minutes to get to this spot, the guide was worried that we wouldn't fit under it. He forgot that he wasn't driving his own boat! Captain Freddie's boat (that we were on) has a high windscreen, and a handrail that goes over it. We actually cleared the bridge by about 6 inches!

When we were about two minutes away, the guide started looking worried. When I asked him what was the problem, he said that he had forgotten that he was driving Freddie's boat, which has a high windscreen and handrail around the center console. Max was afraid that there would not be enough clearance under the drawbridge.

Right before the drawbridge was a dock with some shrimp boats. Will needed more ice for his beer, so we made a stop. The guide made a fancy maneuver with the boat, that had me quite impressed. There was two shrimp boats moored to the dock, with about 40 feet of clearance between them. The front boat was idling its engine, so it was pushing a pretty strong current behind the boat. On top of this, the wind was blowing and the tide was shifting. Max nosed the front of the boat in close to the dock just behind the front boat, then used reverse to draw the rear of the boat in to the dock, pretty as you please. Great job parallel parking the boat!

After we picked up some ice, we continued down the bayou to pass under the bridge. Luckily, we cleared the bridge by about six inches! We anchored at a bend in the bayou, hoping to catch fish as they moved from Black Lake back into the main lake.

Unfortunately, all we caught was catfish. Salt water catfish taste terrible, and they are covered with nasty spunky goo. This is where the guides make there money -- taking nasty catfish off the hook. Believe me, it doesn't take more than a few of these before the guide is ready to move on. So, move on we did. Before we left the area, a couple of fisherman passed by on the way out to the main lake. They said the fishing in Black Lake was no good -- nothing was biting. So, we decided to fish a grassy bank that we passed for flounder.

Here is a real fishy looking spot. We were trying for Flounder, but ended up catching a few small 'Rat-Reds'.

I caught a couple of "Rat-Reds", or baby red-fish by casting my lure past a grassy point. They are small, but fun to catch and release. Will caught a small croaker, but no flounder. By this time, the tide started flowing back out, so we left the area in search of better water.

We ended up at an area called 'The Washout', which is where the ICW and the Western shore of Lake Calcasieu meet. The guide caught a couple of nice trout in this area, but I think it was luck more than skill. There just weren't that many fish feeding.

The last spot we checked was an area called 'Old Jetties', which is a line of rocks that break the surface over open water. Someone caught a 40lb black drum here earlier in the day, but all we managed to catch was a few large catfish.

So we called it a day, and went in.

When everyone got back to the dock I got my camera out to take some pictures. I got a good picture of Phillip with a net full of red-fish. One group did pretty good, and got into a school of keeper size reds.

Most everyone else came up light; the fishing was really bad. Oh, well -- maybe tomorrow, right?

Everyone decided to donate their first-days catch to the fish fry, for dinner. Even though the fishing was tough, there was plenty of food to go around. We probably could have fed the entire neighborhood!

Phill fried the fish and hush-puppies outside, in a wok filled with peanut-oil. This is a great method of frying fish. He's got this aluminum wind-shield that wraps partially around the burner, to keep the flame concentrated. You can fry a lot of fish this way, very quickly.

Phillip was frying the fish that were caught on the first day. Since Hurricane Rita, Captain Freddy and the rest of his staff were living in FEMA trailers, so they only had small refrigerators. They did not have any fish to fry. Anticipating a big day of fishing, we decided to have Gumbo on our first night, and have a fish fry with our first day's catch. The fishing was really slow on the first day, so Will was worried that we would not have enough fish to feed everyone in the camp. After everyone pitched in their fish, we had enough food to feed the entire neighborhood!

to be continued...

Kendall and I fished together on the second day. Here is Kendall trying to catch a trout.

There were lots of ship-wrecks, including these two that drifted out of the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway), and ended up on land. What a flood!

This is a Liquefied Natural Gas tanker that passed by the camp on the ICW, named Methane Princess. On the front of the bridge, there is a huge NO SMOKING sign, painted in bright red, for good reason! This ship was on its way back out to the gulf. You can tell that it is mostly empty, because it is riding very high in the water.

Here is the purple-martin house that stands in front of the lodge. There are 24 apartments in it, and every one had two or three chicks. The momma and poppa birds were working hard keeping all of those hungry little mouths fed.

These are shrimping barges. They drop their nets when the tide is moving, and passively catch shrimp as they swim by. According to the guides, the shrimping industry on Lake Calcasieu is close to an all-time high. The lake is chock-full of shrimp!

This is what we woke up to on the second day of fishing. The wind was howling out of due-south, at about 20 mph! This put a damper on our fishing luck, big time.

Here is a picture of the 'Night-Hawk', which makes night-fishing runs for trout. The Night-Hawk rode out the storm, thanks to some fancy line work by the fishing guides. They had it tied to the dock, so that it would ride up and down with the storm surge. Although the rest of the camp was wiped out, the Nigh-Hawk was completely undamaged. I believe Captain Freddy slept here for a while after the storm passed.

Gearing up for Hackberry

2006-05-22T19:01:00.000-07:00

I took down my redfish rod today, and started getting ready for my next trip. I cleaned and oiled my Shimano Calais reel, and spooled on some fresh line. I'm torn between bringing my Quantum 7:1 bait-cast reel, my old Ambassador bait-cast, or my Shimano spin-cast. They all have their pluses and minuses.

The Quantum is really geared too fast for this type of fishing. Although I can cast a mile with it. If I hook a big redfish, its going to be tough to reel it in. And, I only have one true redfish rod -- my only other bait-cast rod that might work is my Carolina rigging rod, but its really too heavy. I think I will leave my Quantum behind, because its going to wear me out one way or another.

I used to think of the Shakespeare Ambassador as a decent reel. Although, since I bought my Shimano Calais its spent most of its time on the shelf. It holds a lot of line, but the bulky roundness of the reel wears my hands out by the end of the day. Also, the reel handle is a little small for my taste, and it certainly isn't a smoothly geared real, at least by Calais standards. And, once again my rod choice is somewhat limited.

Lastly, I could bring my Shimano spin-cast reel. I much prefer a bait-cast over a spin cast, but I do have a nice Fenwick 7' medium weight rod, that has a similar action to my redfish rod. Its not quite as long, but it is as long as my other bait cast rods, and not so heavy. Its got plenty of 'give' in the tip, which keeps me from jerking the bait out of the fishes mouth when I revert to bass fishing tactics (as I always do), and try to set the hook. I think I have made up my mind. I will bring the spin-cast combo. I'll clean it, oil it, and spool on some fresh line tonight.

I have a couple of packages of salt-water assassins, and some jig hooks to bring. I'm going to go through my tackle box, to see if there is anything else I might try out, too. I think I will keep it as simple as possible; there's no use fumbling around with too much tackle when you have 4 people on board. I'll bring some shorts with lots of pockets, so I can keep most of my gear on my person, for easy access.

I'll be leaving on Wednesday right after work, or right after lunch -- whatever I can get away with. I'll drive down to Houston, and stay at my brother's house. We will leave in the morning on Thursday, and make it to Hackberry by Thursday mid-afternoon. This will put us there early enough to claim the best bunks.

I checked my video camera today, and made sure my batteries were charged, and I had plenty of blank cassettes. I'm going to try to capture as much as possible on film, so that I can have some good footage for my blog.

My next post should be a great story, so stay tuned.