Fish Catching Travel
Hard to believe it is still summer. We finally got a small break in the temperature, at least in the mornings. Now the weatherman has kept saying possibility of rain, up to 1″ even, and we have gotten 5 sprinkles at the house. So we are still stuck in the same old same old.
Trail Camera Pictures – Thinking about fall.
I got these trail camera pictures from Terry in Nebraska. He is a good friend of my brother and we were fortunate to have him here for our first trip to Falcon. That was a trip I will never forget as I caught my 2 biggest bass in a lifetime of fishing. A trip to remember. He sent these to me with the heading: “The Hunt Is On.” Funny how it does not feel one bit like deer season is anywhere close, but serious hunters have their trail cameras up and they are already scouting.
A nice wide rack slipping through the woods mid-morning. Notice the temp reading? How lucky can you get, we have been twice that.
A good deer with a nice high rack for what looks like a young one.
My brother goes up there annually to hunt deer, and always puts something in the cooler. There are lots of deer in Nebraska, and some of them are bruisers. Maybe I will go with him sometime. The problem with that is the fishing is always so hot then it is hard to drag me out of the boat.
Another couple of “It only hurts for a minute.”
I got this from Faye, one of my regular readers. Who in the world does not have a “Is the plug in?” story. And all of us love that first time we mess up with the new boat. Just remember, a new boat will get baptized at some point, hopefully it is not permanent.
“This post had me laughing hysterically. Anyone who has fished regularly has had
many mishaps!! Here’s a couple: It’s a hot July day about noon in Temple, TX. We are sitting in the beating sun as the boat dealer goes over our 1st new boat, a 18′ center console, deep V “Sea Pro”. It has all the bells and whistles. We proudly leave, stop at 7-11 to fill up and get 3 big gulps. Off to take a spin; try it out at Lake Belton. We launch at the long bridge and take off to start the breaking in of the new engine. After about 20
minutes, we decide to stop and take a swim. Well we’re swimming around admiring our beauty from the water when Steve says, “what’s that sloshing sound?” “They put the plug in right?” Nope, it was in the glove box. HOLY SHIT!! We quickly get in and start up, the battery was under water. Off we go trying to let the water flow out while I’m bailing water out of the battery compartment with that big gulp cup. So much for going easy during the engine break in period. We get close to the dock and put the plug in. We weren’t sure if we could load it. I ran up and got the truck and we just barely got it on. Certainly a good
example for Steve’s 10 year old son, Luke. LOL We still can’t believe we did that!!
One other in the same wonderful boat. We were fishing a cove in March at Lake Ouachita. We were trolling motoring 8 lines for stripers. One of the rods was brand new. As Steve went to put it out from the back of the boat, he dropped it. Uh Oh, not the 1st time. Well we were making a 2nd troll along the same bank and had a soft bite. I reel it in, hmm doesn’t feel like a striper. It’s our rod we just lost and as I’m reaching to get it; I
dropped it. It’s still in that cove by Shangri La Lodge. Of course there are many more but the new boat takes the cake. Thanks for taking the time to post. Have a great weekend.”
Thanks Faye, I appreciate the story and your occasional comments. Nice to know there are real live people out there reading my stuff.
I did want to share one other story I heard while I was up fishing the Big Bass Tournament on Fork earlier this year. While staying at Aaron’s camp assorted fisherman would stop by and of course the story telling would begin. Three younger guys stopped by, guys who Aaron had fished with in the past and who worked in the same field. Sorry I do not remember your names, but I love the story.
The one young man was wanting to get into fishing big time. He had a beautiful Skeeter he bought used that was in like new condition. Of course off the to the lake he went. Now I am not exactly sure how the story went but here is the punch line.
The prior owner had put those Slik Stiks on the trailer, and then to make sure it would slide off and on he sprayed the carpet with silicone. So they unhook the front and start down the ramp, and his “new” boat immediately slides off the trailer. To bad he was no where near the water. So here he is with his new pride and joy, sitting on the ramp. Nothing like the inaugural voyage to be on the concrete with tons of folks watching! To make matters worse apparently it was fairly busy and some idiot comes over to him and tells him to hurry up and get out of the way so he can get in the water. What a jerk.
That is the kind of thing that when it happens we should all lend a hand. Just remember, it could be your turn next. I am a big believer in what goes around, comes around. So be nice.
The Blog
One of the biggest things I hear from folks is about having their own blog. So here it goes again for those of you who are thinking about it. Host Gator is the company I use to host my blog. As part of their services they keep your domain registered, and provide lots of services to keep it running. I use WordPress as my platform, because that was what they had when I started. I like it. If you want to keep it simple like I do, WordPress is for you.
As far as the actual design I just chose something simple. I wanted it easy to read and navigate. There are tons of cool blogs with fabulous designs out there, but that part of it is completely irrelevant. After visit one it is not about how cool you look. People come for whatever it is you are blogging about.
Expect to make mistakes as you learn. I knew absolutely nothing about web sites or blogging. I even managed to lock myself out of my own web site. You have to spend the time to learn how to make your platform, in my case WordPress, work. Once you get the hang of it you will be fine. But remember, it is not about how cool your site looks, unless it is about cool looking things.
So with that in mind let me give you out there who have ever thought about doing something like this a couple of pieces of advice. You have to write and post on a regular basis. You can’t willy nilly post here and there and expect people to come back, they want new content no matter what you are writing about. And when I say new content I mean something they can sink their teeth in to.
They want to learn something. If you regurgitate the same old stuff about your subject, folks may come once or twice, but they will not come back. Never forget your purpose. It is ok to vary from the theme on occasion, but it has to be at least peripherally tied to your purpose.
Get ready to deal with spam, comments that are out of the realm of intelligent, and actual inquiries and questions. Try to deal with them as quick as you can. It is hard, but if you want it to be successful it has to be done. You are not doing the readers a favor by putting your ideas out there, they are doing you a favor by coming to your site and you should not forget it. So no matter how tired or lazy you are, get your work done.
So there is my quick lesson for you potential bloggers. As most of you know who read my stuff, my first month, August 2011, I had 69 visits. This year I have had 64,529 so far and climbing. It ends up being work, but it is such a joy to hear from folks who like and read your stuff that if you have ever considered it, give it a try. The worst thing that can happen is you don’t like it. No harm no foul.
So there you have it for a hot Saturday morning. I have already cleaned the boat, walked the dog, and written this. I got a good early start, wouldn’t want to miss the Cowboy game at 3:30. I still have a couple of things to mess with on the boat, and there is always tackle to straighten up and reels to oil. Who knows, I just may hit the water in the morning. So thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
