Saturday Fishing Report - 5/13/17

Welcome again to the fishing report for less than competent anglers. 

The flood waters are slowly receding, but the majority of my fishing spots are still inaccessible.  I took it upon myself to make my go-to spot accessible because not going fishing was making me jumpy.  Not that I didn't try other spots, but it wasn't the same.

Sunday - Went to a different park.  Fished off one of the camping spots into what would've been other camping areas.  Got some solid bites, but no go.  Tried fishing in the parking lot, but I think it was too sunny.  Back into the car and off to another spot, which was a bit of a haul.  Flooded boat ramp and one of the few with most of the parking lot still above water, so a ton of fishermen had put in there.  I saw someone in a boat catch a walleye off where the end of the boat ramp would be, but no luck for me.

Monday and Tuesday - I spent the mornings clearing logs and timber and sticks and crap out of my go-to spot.

Wednesday - Alternated cleaning and fishing for a bit, but the fishing was so damn good I stopped cleaning.  I lost count of all the fish I caught.  From what I could piece together later, I caught at least 8 bluegills between 4" and 8", and 7 bass between 8" and 14.5" (spotted, largemouth, and smallmouth).  And one 10" sucker.  All on worms.  All in the flooded parking lot.

Friday a.m. (8:30 to noon) - Cloudy, rainy, windy.  Did a little more cleaning but only because the wind had drifted some logs in my way.  The fishing was amazing again.  9 spotted bass between 12" and 15" in short order.  Two of them were over the size limit, but they were full of eggs, so I put them back.  (Silly fish laying eggs in a parking lot.)  Then the bass bite tailed off and I tried throwing under the trees.  Caught a 20" sucker - awesome fighter that was.  Woohoo.  Moved back to the parking lot proper and caught one more spotted bass - 8" - then a big redear sunfish and two big bluegills.  Caught some more bluegills and went home. 

Friday p.m. (3:30-6:00) - Mostly cloudy turning quickly to mostly sunny with some wind. After hearing about my amazing morning, Hubs got the fishing bug and we went back out in the afternoon.  The bite wasn't quite as good, but it was still there.  Hubs caught the biggest at 13", but we both caught bass.  Probably a half dozen between 8" and 13", and two bluegills.

I might try to go out again this morning, but the fog's pretty bad.  I've never had much luck in fog.  Then again, I've never had the kind of luck I've had this week, so maybe it's worth a try.  Check back next week to see what I decided to do today.  ;o)

That's it for me.  Have an awesome week and try to get outside a little. 

Thursday This n That

I cleaned my coffee maker last night and this morning's coffee tastes awesome.

If I seem kind of testy lately, it's because I am kinda testy lately.  Every time I turn around I read about something else that makes me want to poke people in the eye.  Since I can't go around poking people in the eyes, though, I've been bottling it up, and since I'm not hermetically sealed, it's leaking out in other ways.  I usually bleed it off by fishing.  Except due to the floods, I hadn't been able to go fishing.  Yesterday changed that.  I hope to be less testy soon.

Of course, there's always the possibility that the irritations will build up faster than I can bleed them off.  And I'll pop like a balloon.  Little bits of B.E. everywhere.  Ew.

I really did have the most amazing morning fishing yesterday.  I caught so many fish I lost count.  Rebuilding some of it in my head, though, I'm pretty sure I caught at least 18 fish.  Big fun. 

I just now got a notice from Amazon of a new release by B.E. Sanderson.  Only a little over a month late there, Big A, but thanks.

Okay, that's it for me.  Anything popping up on your this n that meter today?

Crazy Lady at Work

I've spent the past two mornings cleaning up at my go-to fishing spot.  It looked like this...

Looking west toward the entrance to the parking lot.

Looking north at the exit to the parking lot.

 The parking lot, as you can see, is underwater.

I spent about 90 minutes straight yesterday cleaning the flotsam out of the exit.  I spent about 2.5 hours alternately fishing* and cleaning this morning.  All the logs are moved to the side of the exit.  Most of the logs are moved to either side of the road to the entrance.  Except the ones I couldn't manage alone.

Alone.

Hubs was working, so no aspersions cast on him.  No aspersions cast on anyone, really.  Except maybe those who wait for someone else to come in and clean instead of rolling up their pantlegs and wading in.

I did this because I love to fish.  And I love my fishing spots.  This one has been abandoned by whichever government entity owns it.  The concrete picnic tables are all smashed.  The bathroom is locked and overgrown.  The only people who take care of this place are people like me - the fishermen, the nature lovers, the dog walkers who want someplace pretty to wander through on a spring afternoon.  We're the ones who pick up garbage year-round.  And before now, they were the ones who cleaned up after the floods.  Now I'm one of the cleaner-uppers of flood damage, too. 

Some people came down to the park while I was there.  I'm not sure if they came to stare at the receding flood waters or to stare at me.  I don't care.  Come and stare at the crazy lady with her sweatpants rolled up to her knees and her t-shirt tied up under her ribcage acting like a lumberjack, tossing limbs and branches and rolling logs.  Sweat-soaked and stinky and covered in dirt. 

I did it.  And I'm pretty damned proud. 

I'd go and clean up my other favorite spot, except the government has locked the gates there.  Liability, I'm sure.  Protection from the numbnuts who would run amok inside, perhaps.  (Lord knows that during the winter when the park isn't watched, some idiot decided to offroad in part of the park, tearing huge grooves in the lawn.  Asshole.)  I'll wait and let the official park personnel do their jobs - because I have to not because I want to. 

Tomorrow, maybe, I'll attacked the go-to spot from the other end of the submerged road.  I'll need to bring a saw.  A couple of trees had fallen across there before the flood even began, when we had that EF0 tornado in the area, and if those are above the water line, I'll need to get those out of the way so I can work.  We'll see.

All I know right now is that I can fish at my favorite place again because I didn't wait for someone else to clean it out.  Maybe I can't fish all the way out on my standin' rock, but I can't make the water recede any faster.  I'm good, but I'm not that good.  ;o)


* I didn't catch anything, but the fish were jumping and I did get some bites.  I'm blaming not catching on getting used to the new-old rigs.

Sunday Update - Week 'Oh Who Cares'

Seriously, does anyone really care what week it is?  Oh, I'll probably still note the week number in subsequent Sunday Updates.  This morning, though?  Meh. 

Now to get to what last week looked like...

The lake crested at 934.53' above sea level.  As of this morning, they've got it down to 931.28.  At this rate, it should be back to 'normal pool' in July.  If it doesn't rain any more.  Seems they've stalled the dumping of water from the dam because there's too much water in the Mississippi - which is where this water will eventually end up.  Perhaps once the Mississippi chills out, they'll dump faster.  Time will tell.

I didn't get any writing work done.  Still not sure what to do about the general malaise.

I've read a bunch, though.  A mystery, a SF, and a romance.  And I started another mystery last night.

Fertile Ground is still on sale worldwide. 

Took loads of pictures.  Here's one:

That's a female rose-breasted grosbeak.  I tried to get pics of one of the males, but he was camera shy.  We've also had northern orioles in the yard, but they're camera shy, too. 

Here's a baby goose butt...

One of these days, I should compile all the bird butt pictures I've taken over the years. 

Speaking of female rose-breasted grosbeaks, I had one ditch into the window this week.  I held her and stroked her little head until she stopped looking stunned.  Then she flew away.  I hate that birds knock themselves silly on our picture window, but I love being able to hold them. 

Well, that's it for me.  What's going on your world?

Saturday Fishing Report - 5/6/17

Due to the flooding, the fishing report has been canceled - because fishing all week had to be canceled.

It's actually down 3 whole feet from when that pic was taken, but 3 feet down still leaves my fishing spots underwater.  I'm jones'n bad, folks.

On another note, my nearly new Pflueger fishing reel that broke a week ago Friday has been operated on, but it's looking grim.  The surgeon - aka Hubs - can't figure out what's wrong with it so he can fix it.  I know what's wrong with it.  Crappy workmanship.  It's everywhere, so why not at Pflueger, too?  I could've bought 5 cheap reels for what I paid for that one and had them last me as long.  Feh.  I babied the hell out of that thing, too.  Bah.

Here's hoping I have actual fishing to report next Saturday.  Not fishing is making me grumpy.  =o\

Thursday This n That

The other day, Hubs got a call from someone he went to high school with.  He hasn't seen or spoken to the guy in 45 years and out of the blue... bam.  It was pretty cool.  And they had a nice conversation.  The whole thing led me to thinking about the people I went to high school with.  Which led me to the FB page for alumni and teachers who've passed away.  Some of it was decidedly depressing - like seeing that a long-ago friend of my mom's had passed away.  But two teachers I had despised also passed away, which made me happy.  Yeah, I'm that kind of person.  What can I say?  They were mean to me.  Googling, I also discovered someone I was friends with in HS is alive and well and teaching 6th grade at a local (to where we grew up) private school.  I tried calling her after our 10 year class reunion, after which we went out and talked for a while, but she never called back, so meh.  Glad she's doing well, though.  I tried googling another friend, but I only know her maiden name and she's dropped off the radar entirely with that name.

I'm in a slump with regard to writing again.  In fact, I found myself asking if I really want to do this anymore. Again.  I expect this too shall pass.  It usually does.  Right now, though...  Meh.

So, I got something in the mail from someone I haven't seen in 4 years, and it was a graduation announcement for one of their children.  Which left me wondering a couple things - 1) were they doing a blanket announcement to everyone they've ever known trying to get grad prezzies?  2) since they never sent my kid a grad prezzie or card, what exactly was my obligation?  Yeah, I'm that kind of person, too.  I sent a card.

I'm connected to a cousin's wife on FB - and she keeps asking me where I live... on FB... as if I would blurt it out there.  Other than 'SW MO', I don't really like telling people on social media exactly where they can find me.  Yep, that kind of person, too.  If she wants my address, she can ask my mom. 

BTW, my mom is total awesome dipped in awesomesauce and covered with awesonesprinkles, so I fail to understand why anyone would want to lose touch with her.  I talk to her as often as our schedules allow.  And I'm hoping she lives at least as long as her grandmother, which would give me another good 20 years with her in my life.

Well, that's it for the this n that today.  How's 'bout you?

The Flooding

Yesterday, I drove around to a few places and took pictures of the flooding carnage.  Of course, being who I am, I focused on the carnage to my fishing spots.  (I refuse to take pictures of other people's misery.  It's just too awful.)

First, let's take a look back...

My go-to fishing spot October 11, 2016

Same spot April 23, 2017

And now for how it looked yesterday... Sorry, I couldn't quite get the same angle - as where I was standing before is now underwater.

My go-to spot May 1, 2017

The park where I go is off-limits.  They've put up the gate at the entrance and there's no way I'm walking the mile or two to get back in there. 

The road is also closed to three of my other spots.  There is a back way in, but it's a craptastic dirt road now being used by the residents of all the neighborhoods up that way and I'm not interested in fighting those poor people for road space.  (Did it yesterday just to look-see, but I won't do it again.)

And another road is closed to an auxiliary spot I've used but never caught anything at.

The road runs straight through there.  If you enlarge that, you might see where the road picks up again way in the background. 

And then there's my spot on the main lake underneath the hwy bridge.  There is no underneath anymore.

And the parking lot is flooded...

It says 'no parking' in the parking lot because they don't want people to park on that side.  Parking is in the non-lake side... except that's underwater now, too.

This morning, I'm going to walk around the neighborhood here - something I haven't had the heart to do yet.  It's not going to be pretty.  Worse than in December 2015, for sure.  =o\