FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

I am going to take the week off, give or take a day.  There is a thing or two that I will be working on this week that have been ignored long enough.  Real life never stops intruding.  Looking at the long term forecast things just might be finally headed towards a more summer time pattern early next week.  It seems every day the wind comes up leaving me headed to the ramp before I normally would.  Hard to spend the money for 4 or 5 hours.

And one way to tell that fishing has slowed some was our trip to Bubba’s last week so I could pig out on the boil.  From the time we left the house around 4:00, ate, then went home the long way around at 6:00, we saw NO boats coming or going.  A rare occurrence when you can make that drive at that time and not see a boat.  Probably the wind blowing like a banshee had something to do with that.

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The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.

For all your wading needs.

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It sure was ugly back at the gas pumps, which is depressing for so many folks.  I only needed a little over a half a tank and it ended up costing over $50!  As the cost of fishing continues to increase folks, me included, will just respond by going less often but try to take advantage by staying longer.  Part of the cost of the blog is the cost of the fishing, and when you fish 125 days a year it is not cheap.  With a one-man operation someone has to pay for the fishing, and that would be me.  So it will be a little break as I re-evaluate where the blog is headed.

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But it is not like there is no fishing coming, in fact there is a bunch on the way.  It is only a little over 20 days before we head out on a 2 week bucket list trip to Alaska.  The piles of “stuff” are starting to grow.  It is going to be a little tougher pack with a 30lb restriction on the float plane.  Can’t wait to see how the Boss handles that one.  We will have a chance to do laundry once so at least packing for half the time helps with that.  Additionally not having to pack any fishing gear (Of course there will be a small box of Knockin Tails, can’t wait to add some trout and salmon to that list!) as everything including waders and baits is provided will be nice.  Never fished anywhere I did not have to bring stuff.

Then July it will be off to the Everglades and I am doing the research right now on trying to add a peacock and a clown knifefish to the list.  They are one cool looking fish, and though they are basically nocturnal there is a lake a couple of hours away from where I am staying that has them.  If it works out will spend a day doing that, though it has a trade off, losing a day in the Everglades.  Tough choice that I am lucky to get to make.

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There are plenty of differences in living in Arkansas and Texas, they both have their good and bad.  But the big one, property taxes.  Victoria County has gone insane and people are bitching big time.  Some folks have gotten increases of over $10,000 and up, and unfortunately some people are even threatened with having to sell as they can not afford the tax.  When the Boss retires and we hit the road we will actually get about a 75% monthly break on the same value house based on what we are looking at.

Of course I have a couple of comments and a little story.  Arkansas had a rule that property could only be re-assessed every 10 years.  And guess what, someone actually at least did a freaking drive-by.  In Texas it is done at a desk with not a clue as to the condition of the property, and is then combined with some voodoo to arrive at a magical number.  According to the research property taxes in Texas have gone up $20 billion over a decade.

So now the story.  When Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas he raised the driver license fee to something like $25.  It was not much, but instead of just bitching and moaning the voters got together and voted him out.  End of story.  A lesson he learned as he never lost another election which got him to the White House.  It seems in Texas this insane property tax is nobodies fault, well I call bullshit.  Trust me, if the voters would rise up and vote out all incumbents no matter their party affiliation things would change.  It is a simple as that, but obviously folks like whining and moaning better than taking action.  If we keep doing what we are doing we will keep getting what we are getting.  Thats the way it works

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Not much else on my mind today.  Just have to see how long this break lasts but it will depend on how much progress I make on my projects.  If you get a chance to go fishing hope you catch a few and have a great day.  And it won’t be long before I am back on the water.  So keeps stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

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