Latest adventures

I've been really busy and maybe a little lazy also. Things have been kinda hectic both at home and at work. So... here are a few recent happenings.

FOOTBALL

Jacobs team "The Coyotes" have started practice and are looking forward to their first game on the 22nd!!!





Loyal fan:




FISHING

Earl and I went to Texoma on the 5th and fished with Scott Bridges.
We had a fun day on the water and caught some nice stripers on the fly.





I now have a new 2wt rod and reel. The rod only weighs 1.2 ounces and is 5 feet long.
It is very sweet.









Jacob and I took the canoe to Waterloo last week and did a little fishing.
Well, I did a little. He did a lot. I did a lot of paddling. :-)



Stay tuned for more...

MONSTER TRUCKS INVADE Fort Worth Texas...

and we were there!!!

Friday night Jacob and I went to Texas Motor Speedway for the monster truck races. He had never been so it was quite an experience for him. When we got there they had all the trucks, quad runners, and tough trucks on the track by the finish line. We were able to go down on the track and see them all up close.













Here's Jacob trying out one of the jumps.





He got a little air going the other way. Whoops!!!

Then the "wheelie contest" started...















Then quads and tough trucks.

And then... MONSTER TRUCK RACES

Two trucks racing against each other over jumps and crushed cars.









And then there was Dirty Dingus McGee who walked around with a live chicken on his head, drove his little monster truck "Pond Scum", rode a little motorcycle, skied on the dirt behind a four wheeler, and then came out in a little car which started smoking like it was on fire. He bent over to put out the fire and his drawers fell down.



It was a really good time for both of us.

KID FISH @ ESP July 11, 2009

On Saturday, July 11th Eisenhower State Park along with the Red River Fly Fishers sponsored a Kid Fish event on beautiful Lake Texoma. Approximately 60 kids were in attendance and a good time was had by all.

Big Bass Friday...

I went to Prosper Lake on friday with Don and some friends to do a little yak fishing.
I fished with my fly rods and did real well on the 2wt but only got a few "pecks" on the 5wt fishing a 4"lizard or a 4" metal flake worm. So, I decided to just fish the 2wt and catch some gills and redears until I wound up catching a 2 1/2 inch bluegill. Then I got the bright idea to hook the bluegill with the worm hook on my 5wt and cast it out. I paddled around the lake for a while with the bluegill swimming and tossing my 2wt when BAM !!! The 5wt bent double and the fight was on. I fought it for approximately 8 to 10 minutes before it took a jump so I could see what I had on. It then sounded for a while and I was finally able to get her to the top and lip her. She measured a little over 22 inches and we guesstimated her to be right at 5 pounds.

RIVER MONSTERS

People keep asking me if I watch the TV show "River Monsters" and I keep telling them "no, I catch river monsters, why would I need to watch that show?"

Well this week was no exception to that statement. I fished The Red River Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and slaughtered the stripers. The biggest I landed was in the 26 inch range. I also caught a blue cat in the 6 pound range, a small channel cat, and a couple of gizzard shad.









Thursday I hooked into a fish (that I never saw) and it took off like a rocket. It was stripping my line off the reel and the reel was singing. When it got into the backing I decided that I better try to turn the bad boy. When I put pressure on the line it snapped at the connection to the backing. I could still see the floating portion of the fly line so I'm running (in 2 1/2 foot of water on slippery rocks) after that fly line. I would run a few feet and fall, run a few feet and fall, and then I lost sight of the fly line.

Bye bye Mr. River Monster.
I'll hook you again one day.

TBF Get Together at Ray Bob

We loaded up and took off early Friday morning for Johnson Branch State Park on Ray Roberts.

The event was the 2nd Annual Texas Best Fishing Forum get together. The event officially started on Saturday morning so we had all day Friday to do what we wanted. We got there and immediately got bad news. I had overlooked calling for a reservation and they were completely booked. Therefore, we were forced to make a decision to leave or camp in the overflow. We chose to camp in the overflow. The overflow is a parking lot with picnic tables and a fire ring for each space.

Oh, did I mention NO electric or water?

We setup and it started getting HOT.

So, we went to Sanger and bought an 8x8 canopy which helped a bunch.

It was then time for some dinner. I fired up the charcoal and when they were

hot I put the potatoes in the coals to begin baking. Patty seasoned up the steaks.

After the potatoes had been in for a while I started the steaks. They turned out

great. Tender and juicy with just the right amount of seasoning.

I got up Saturday morning really early to get on the water at sun up and the wind

was blowing around 18 to 19mph and gusting to probably 23-25mph.

The bass tournament started at first light so I decided to give it a shot.

You know, of course, that I'm fishing from my yak and using my fly rod. :-}

It was tough but I managed to ease back into a creek and avoid most of the wind.

The fishing was slooooowwwww with me only getting two blow ups on a topwater

popper and no hookups. After about 2 1/2 hours I decided to throw in the towel.

I went back to camp and we started preparing the chicken, sausage, and dutch

oven apple cobbler for the group luncheon.

We tore down our camp, packed up, and headed to the pavillion for the afternoon festivities.

There was tons of food and prizes. It was a great time. Patty won some very nice prizes

(which I better not receive as Fathers Day gifts) and I won some good stuff too.

We headed home after lunch to get a little R&R (yes, camping is not always R&R).

New Toy for our collection...

Early this week I sold our little Heritage kayak.
I then beat a path to Academy to buy a canoe they have on sale.
It is a 15 1/2 foot Pelican Dakota.



I took her out to Waterloo Lake yesterday for the maiden voyage.
She's a very sweet boat and I was impressed at how sweet she paddles.
I used a single paddle but have decided that when solo I need to use my yak paddle.

I took my Tadpole fly rod and did a little fishing. I caught several members of the sunfish
family and a decent sand bass.



Here's the whole fleet ready to go camping.