FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Knockin Tail Lures by My Coast Outdoors

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The Bite

67 years ago on the bank of the Vermillion River under a mulberry tree in Pontiac Illinois I caught the disease.  My dad took me to the river and there we joined a large black lady fishing her cane pole under that tree.  I remember putting on worms and from that point on catching what I thought was hundreds of bluegills and sunfish.  She meanwhile was catching nice carp on the mulberries that were falling in the river.  The anticipation of the bite was mesmerizing and watching her catch those giant carp had me, from that point on I was a fisherman.

When I got this from my buddy Michael it reminded me of a comment I made in the past about the Livescope.  After 67 years of fishing from the Great Barrier Reef to the creek on my grandparents farm, I have been chasing the bite.  The anticipation of what might happen on every single cast enthralled me no matter where was.  Hoping one is there, then out of nowhere the bite.  The bite is the moment when fishing comes full circle.  It is what we get up early for, spend way to much money on, and bore people when we talk about it.

Now we have Livescope.  It seems to me that Livescope takes the anticipation and wonder of fishing that attracted us in the very beginning out of the equation.  We spend enough time staring at screens and this seems to reduce fishing to an industrial level.  Like a fishing game at a casino.  As one pro said on a TV tournament, he was going to have a sore neck from staring at it for days.  That is not fishing as far as I am concerned, it is a video game.  I understand why the pro’s use it, and I am sure the application for crappie guiding is tremendous.   But in my case I am not the least ambivalent about Livescope, I do not like the whole idea.  The cartoon above is spot on.

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Colorado

As  I got closer to South Fork yesterday started seeing more deer, Sandhills, a coyote, the things that we love about the house.  When I drove up there was 4 deer in the yard, and would be a good dozen as the evening went on and of course dozens of turkey.  Then last night something triggered the motion lights in front of the garage and as it was garbage day probably the local bear cruising for cans.  Then this morning the neighborhood was covered up with the works.  In fact makes it hard to not spend time just staring out of the window waiting to see what is next.

Though it is not cold, in fact the weather is stunning, but I had to crank up the stove and enjoy the warm heat it gives off, my favorite feature of the house.

Love the fireplace.

Though we are basically a year away from the full time move nothing says the final decision more than this.

Done it now!

The slow steady moves continues.  And as soon as I finish this it will be off to the river to see what that holds.  But it was clear driving in the water is down.  But with the temp reaching the high 50’s low 60’s should be plenty of fishing until I head to Arkansas.  The forecast looks like snow this weekend and winter will start.  Boy we love it here.

*************y The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.

For all your wading needs.

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I headed to the river to see what was up and shallow is what was up.  It is going to make for some interesting fly fishing this week.  Of course stopped at my favorite hole and tossed a couple of jigs and like that place does the fish were there.  It is nice to catch them on hand tied stuff and they really like the olive color.

Talk about well fed this guy was a fattie.

Even though I waited until it warmed to head to the river there was still a fine layer of ice on the shallow side.  My good spot has a deep-water pool with a protected shallow side so it tends to have ice earlier than the swifter places.  So this will definitely be a learning curve with the river so low.  And I will be heading to a couple of close lakes before they start to freeze and the snow comes.

The other nice one of the 4 I caught.

I stopped at another place and  a guy was just starting so I watched him a while.  He was fishing a 2 handed cast.  Other than that I just cruised the various accesses and saw a couple of places that look promising.  And with the weather looking good it should put a few on the end of the line this week.

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Rusty our Fayette guru with a good one.

Rusty says the fishing on Fayette is finally improving some after a tough fall and the subsequent turnover.  He reports they were scattered but seeing a few of his other pictures the last day or so it is about to be on.  Fayette the last few years is like the little girl, when she is good she is very good, when she is bad she is very bad.  So nice job and will be watching from afar.  And for the rest of you Rusty is an accomplished fly tier and fisherman and knows his way around a trout stream.

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Football News

Well A&M is about to pay big time for one of the dumbest choices in the history of college football, giving Jimbo a guaranteed contract worth a stupid amount of money.  It looks like it will cost them 10’s of millions to get rid of him.  And the funny thing they fired Kevin S. over his record when Jimbo could not even do that, the writing was on the wall.  The grass is always greener on the other side, but money appears to be no object to A&M so good luck with the search.  If college football does not learn from this the big payouts will continue.  And I was a little surprised that they did not elevate Petrino, so he should be looking at other options as nothing says “it is not you” like being passed over.

And only 2 words to say about my Razorbacks:  They suck, end of story.  The last game was the worst they have played in my memory, it was ugly.

Speaking of paying college coaches to much money Penn State comes to mind.  The call near the end of the game was stupid, and I mean flat dumb.  Down by 15 they scored and instead of taking the extra point to be down by 8 they went for 2 and did not make it with 4 minutes left.  Think about just how stupid that was from someone who makes millions.  If you kick the extra point you are down by 8, or one score, and if you get the ball back you have an outside chance to score and go for 2 and tie the game.  But once you do not make the 2 point try you are down by 9, or 2 scores, with no chance to win.  Just how dumb is that?

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Not sure what exactly is next but it will be outside.  And can’t wait for the snow that will come and put the sheep in good photo distance.  The elk will follow at the same time and the wildlife viewing will only get better.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

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