July Bass'n and BS'n Happy Birthday America

[Lipripper]

Afternoon everyone and Donald sounds like the Stratos has to go back out in the heat  Rodney how you feeling today? SHC that's a nice looking Crappie we only kept 15 out of the 60 we caught this morning in a few hours of fishing and one 7 lob Channel Cat caught on a Roadrunner. Bud it's a good thing it was cloudy cause your going to be out there mowing for sure. 

[Oldfart9999]

Evening everybody!! The weather's really been tearing up my arthritis, laid me low yesterday, feel better now and the therapy session was good. There were 2 tornadoes in Erie County and 1 south of there Friday, a fair amount of damage was done, while that many are rare we do get 1 or 2 a year are seen. We've had quite a bit of rain too, downtown Buffalo had several manhole covers geyser and the town of Canandaigua has flooding problems.Last year we were in a serious drought and set a record for the number of days over 90, this year we're setting records for rain and we have had 1 day 90 or higher. Lake Ontario is still very high, the bays still have a 5 mph limit and many of the launches are closed, still!
Lip, 15 is better than 0, the good news is you're fishing, I'm jealous!! Hope you start getting into the biguns!!
Bud, mowing the and trimming aren't bad, I told the gentleman doing ours 2 more weeks then I'll be behind our mower, never thought I would miss mowing the lawn but I do. I'm sure that eventually I'll get tired of it but for now I'm looking forward to it.
SHC, looks like all is well with the new outfit, good job!!
Donald, good deal getting the Stratos done and ready for the Bass Wars, too bad your wife won't let you keep it in garage, wives just don't understand!! You'll be looking good on the water anyways!!
Rodney

[Lipripper]

Rodney sorry to hear that the weather is playing heck with your arthritis. Your right 15 is better than none and they will eat real good.  I'll have to catch some for you tomorrow. 

[Donald Garner]

Good evening to everyone,

74dgrs and partly sunny skies presently   /   We got rain in the area but it's not falling here at my place 
Wednesday I'm going to power wash the exterior of the windows and door frames at school   The only thing left after that is cleaning under the bleachers at the stadium and sweeping off the running track     The teachers have started arriving and setting up their classrooms.  The kids won't be far behind with school starting on the 21st of Aug    While moving the Stratos back outside yesterday I noticed an oil spot in the driveway.  Looks like it leaking oil from the rear of the engine   Guess I'll be taking it down to the GMC dealership to see what the heck is going on.  Its got a 150,000 on it and has been really reliable vehicle.

SHC; Congrats to the wife on the catching    Those little fiddler catfish will do a job on the hand if not handled right    Tks for sharing the pictures with us.  Glad things are working out for her with the new outfit.

Bud; You got that yard mowed and trimmed yet?  I'm a lucky individual my wife takes it upon herself to mow the yard when (She's Bored) and it needs it   She only does this once in a while but she does a great job mowing with that John Deere 42" riding mower.    She put down some weed killer around EVERYTHING / Areas that needs trimming   She doesn't know how to use the gas trimmer and make it clear she isn't going to learn either.   Have fun buddy and make sure you stay hydrated   

Lip; Tks for the trip update and 15 is better than ZERO    Yep the Stratos is back in its parking spot next to the G3   

Rodney; Sorry to hear about the arthritis flaring up you.  Weather these past few years has been weird for sure.  I remember towards the end of the Drought Years here in Texas.  It started raining and it kept on.  Next thing we all know is all the lakes ramps are closed and every place is flooding out.  We missed out on all / most of the Spring fishing this year due to the lakes being closed here in Central Texas.    Hopefully things will get right for ya as your shoulder gets better and your able to get out.

To everyone have a very pleasant and enjoyable day tomorrow.   

[Bud Kennedy]

Got the lawn stuff all done this morning.  Just don't like doing it in hot weather.  Wasn't too bad today as it was cloudy most of the morning.  The wife loves to work on the lawn and her flowers but can't do much these days due to her back problems.  She used to do all the lawn stuff most of our married life and over time we have has some monster sized lawns.  Wasn't too hot today and we are expecting some showers over the next few days.  Hope it happens.  A lot of rain fronts get close to the beach and break up or stay just inland and misses us.  Storms out there tonight but they seem to be running just west of the Intercostal waterway missing us at this time.

[Oldfart9999]

Good morning UB nation!! Shoulder is doing much better, made it to the gym about 4 added another 5 minutes to the stairmaster gig, lots of sweating, lots of heavy breathing, felt good when I finished, keeps the sugar under control, helps me keep moving and able to fish when the shoulder is ready. Felt terrible yesterday and was in a foul mood when I got to the gym, didn't talk to anybody because I knew i'd say something wrong, did therapy and she gave me an ultrasound treatment, just a couple of stretches and then stim and ice, this freaking weather is terrible!!! We still have flooding going on, it's hitting different areas, been doing it since march, a lot of people are hurting from arthritis in the area. We have family going through the heat in Missouri, not sure if I'd rather be there than here.
Bud, congrats on finishing the lawn stuff, looks like you got back from vaca just in time to enjoy some cooler weather. If I could send you some of our rain I would!! Hope your wife's back lets her do some fishing with you!!
Donald, hope it's cool when you guys have to do the outside work!! Sounds like a possible rear seal on the truck, be interesting to see what it is and what the cost will be, maybe it won't be too bad.
Lip, hope you catch a bunch of them for yourself, I'll take some for me if you have enough!!!
Have a great day!!!
Rodney

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Mornin' y'all! Story time!

Cruised down to Baton Rouge with the boss man yesterday. He was asking me how my Lady liked the rod and reel I got her, and I told him all about it. Told him I was thinking of getting one myself.
Turns out, he had one and offered it to me for $20. I didn't care what it was, he said it was brand new so I gave him $20 on the spot and went to his house yesterday evening to pick it up.
His brother had given it to him because he's a perpetual tinkerer like myself, told him it was a piece of crap and the line kept tangling.
Boss man said he hadn't bothered with it, don't care for fishing and had plenty of other projects to keep him busy. He's trying his fat fingered hands at clock repair. Hehe... good luck dude.
Asked him what it was. He didn't know, said it's tiny. Okay... whatever.
After making our stop to drop off some water samples at the state lab, we decided to go to Cabela's.
I came across some Daiwa J-braid 8 pound line, and remembered he said the line was tangling on the little spinner I'd just paid him for.
Looked up reviews. Some seem to think it's the worst crap since the invention of government, some seem to think it's the best thing since sliced bread.
Been wanting to try out braid, not been wanting to spend the money. But this stuff was on clearance! $3.99 for I think 150 yards? So I grabbed three spools! Figured I'd give one spool a try and if I don't like it I'll put one in my trauma kit and one in my craft kit.
Y'all should see the wind chime I made from my old motorcycle pulley and a bunch of bullet casings. I'll share a pic sometime.
The rod and reel turned out to be a Mitchell 310 on an Abu Garcia 5" light rod. NICE! A STEAL! It calls for a max of, I think, 80 yards of 6 pound line. It had about half a mile of what looked like 12 pound line. Golly gee, no wonder it's a "piece of crap". Could hardly see the spool!
Took it out to the gravel pit this morning and checked it out after yanking off about a lightyear's worth of tow cable. Caught a little bass! It's gotten me excited again! I was starting to feel a bit demotivated.
Little fella didn't hit hard at all and didn't pull a bit. I thought I'd finally found the grass on the bottom that I was looking for, then the line started slowly moving sideways. I said "What the hell? Is that a fish?" Gave it a yank and reeled it in. He didn't put up a fight until he was about two feet from the bank in about a foot of water.
Had many more much more aggressive hits, enough to scrape a good deal of finish off my cheap hook. Lost all the rest of the fish though. Gonna take some practice to set the hook properly with this bitty lightweight spinning rod. Problem is, that's my biggest trouble with my other rigs too! Oh well, I'll get there eventually.
Meanwhile, I was getting majorly PISSED. Someone else has been sneaking out to this fishing hole, and they've been leaving a bunch of trash behind. Beer cans, walmart bags, tangles of line, styrofoam food containers, crap like that. I'm going to head out later with a rake and bag and clean it up, then I'll be patrolling that spot regularly. If I catch them, they're going to catch a lot more hell than simple littering really justifies. For one thing, it's probably the same dirty rotten sorry SOB who stole my pirogue. It's within 20 yards of where it was stolen from and it's not a public place, therefore, not many people are brave enough to get caught there. For another, it's on one of my work sites, which is a federal trespassing offense.

Oops, forgot to show off the lazy little guy. Less than a foot long, maybe 10" or so, and lucky if he's a pound.

[Lipripper]

Afternoon everyone and nice Bass SHC. OK Rodney here are a couple pictures from yesterday morning. John and his 7 lb Channel Cat he caught on his UL and 4 ib test line and a Crappie Slider. It took about 10 minutes to land it.

and here is me with a few Crappie one is 12" and a couple of 11 & 1/2 " ones. We kept 15 out of about 65 not to bad for 3 hours of fishing.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Afternoon everyone and nice Bass SHC. OK Rodney here are a couple pictures from yesterday morning. John and his 7 lb Channel Cat he caught on his UL and 4 ib test line and a Crappie Slider. It took about 10 minutes to land it.

and here is me with a few Crappie one is 12" and a couple of 11 & 1/2 " ones. We kept 15 out of about 65 not to bad for 3 hours of fishing.

Thanks!
65 in 3 hours? Sounds like a blast!

[Donald Garner]

Good evening guys,

Whew  Mostly Clear skies with the temp hovering around 103dgrs  here in Central Texas.   The humidity was killing me today   We're in the final cleaning phase now.  I've been putting off getting the power washing done but its going to start tomorrow.  Somehow another while cleaning the ringers and mop buckets my hose blew out in (5) different places   I made a run to Lowes and picked up a new hose and fittings.   We're going to fire it up in the morning    We'll be done with the power washing on Thursday morning.  Thursday we'll hit the football stadium bleachers and the running track.  Had to call a electrician to come and check out the kitchen lights and one of the spare bedroom lights.  The kitchen lights (1) set is flickering the other set is doing whet its suppose to do.  The spare bedroom ceiling light won't come on.  I've already changed bulbs etc.  I think the wall light switch is bad.  He'll be here Thursday afternoon between Noon and 5pm.

Rodney; Tks for the update on the shoulder.  Sure glad to hear its coming along good for ya.  While getting the wife's car inspected for license plate renewal I talked with a mechanic there.  He told me just what you thought.  The rear seal is shot and the estimated cost of repair is $ 500.00 dollars.  A large chuck of that cost is for labor.  Total down time will be 3 days which I'm not hurting for a vehicle.  I'll drive the wife's Silverado while the GMC is down.  I don't think she's driven her truck 5 times since getting that Chevy Cruze.

SHC; Congrats on the catching sure better than getting skunked.  Tks also for sharing the picture with us.

Lip; Tks for sharing the pictures with us.   Boy I know ole John had a blast fighting that catfish on that 4lb line.  Glad to see youns are catching pretty good.  Keep it up.

To everyone have a very pleasant evening and a great day tomorrow.  Tight lines if you're hitting the water.

[zippyduck]

Good morning guys,

Life has turned realy hectic in the last few weeks. Our oldest son is getting married in Sept. and there is always something to do for it. Plus babysitting the grandkids twice a week.
And my son is expecting his first boy in Sept also. Been busy looking for rods, reels, and guns for my new outdoor buddy.
Also just got promoted to night supervisor at work. Making me work 5 days a week instead of my 4 I used to work.
Fished an open tourney on Sunday. My partner fished with someone else and I paired with my neighbor. We both learned something new about the lake. I finished 6th  out of 20 boats. The boat closest to us won. So I know I picked the right area we just needed that one kicker to make a check.

Rodney hope the shoulder gets better by the tie the water levels drop.
Lip keep catching those crappie and I may have to come visit for lunch sometime.
Don you can keep the heat down there. I have been to Texas twice and that heat is unbearable.

[Donald Garner]

Good evening to everyone,

Bight sunny skies and 99 dgrs presently    Spent the morning with a couple team members power washing the lower windows and doors of the school Tomorrow another Team will finish power washing the East and North side of the school.  We're (All of us) in the morning before the sun gets up good are going to clean the running track and under the bleachers.  There's still a dozen exterior doors that need cleaning on the East side of the school then we're done with the Summer cleaning 

Rodney, Lip, Bud and SHC hope you guys are all doing well.

Zippyduck; Congrats to your oldest son on his upcoming wedding.  Congrats on the Top 10 finish.

To everyone have a very pleasant day tomorrow.

[Oldfart9999]

Morning ya'll!! Went to BPS yesterday to pick up a set guide rollers for the trailer and 2 rod & reel combos, got em all along with 2 filler spools of Power Pro. We started sightseeing but my wife neglected to take her motion sickness pills, that sure cut the trip short, she's doing fine now, good thing, I'm shipping her off to work! Shopping, therapy and a late deal at the gym for my day.
Lip, that's a right nice looking kitty John caught and those 2 crappie you're holding look good too!!! You're sure having a nice summer now!!
SHC, nice pickup on the rod/reel combo!! Enjoy!!! Hope you get the perp!!!
Zippy, congrats on the promotion and learning new things about your lake, a twofer is always good!!! Congrats on the new daughter-in-law!!! Enjoy life now, when you retire you'll really see what hectic is!!!!
Donald, hope you get everything done today and then you back off a bit on the workload for a bit!! Maybe you can get some more fishing in!!

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Yesterday my Lady texted me from work. Wanted to go fishing when she got off. It was way too hot, didn't catch a thing.
The weeds by the pier have gotten thicker and thicker over the summer. I think it's actually too thick for anything more than the babies. Nothing but silver dollar bluegill, and the baby gators are wearing them out. They've doubled in size in as many weeks, from about 10-13" to 2' or so. They're beginning to be not so cute anymore.
Too hot, weeds too thick, and the fish at the piers of Black Bayou Monroe are way over pressured to begin with. Being such easy access, everyone who picks up something new swings by on their way home from work to check it out. I think I'm scratching that lake until cooler weather comes around.

Then we came home to our fan club.

[Donald Garner]

Good evening to all,

Clear skies with the temps in the high 90's here in Central Texas    We got the running track and bleacher area finished up this morning.   Only thing left to clean it the doors on the east side of the bldg.  That mission should be accomplished first thing in the morning.  Finally got around to dropping the GMC off this afternoon to get that oil leak checked out and fixed.  I took it to Firestone they've done some work for me before and never had issues.  After the oil leak is fixed they're going to do a tire rotation, front end alignment and check the brakes out. I should have the truck back by Monday I would think.

Rodney;  Glad you had a good time at BPS.  I like going to the different stores and checking them out.  Every store looks the same but they are different.  Glad to hear the wife is doing better. 

SHC; Well at least you got out for a little bit.  Its pretty darn hot here in the afternoons to be out on the water. 

Lip and Bud hope you guys are doing well. 

To everyone have a very pleasant evening and a great day tomorrow.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

My car told me it was 101°.
This past Saturday or Sunday it was 89° with a heat index of 112° when we headed to the house after fishing. No idea what the high was, we stayed inside after that.
I have no idea what the heat index was yesterday, all I know is that it takes a lot for me to break a sweat and I had to wring my shirt out before I got in the car because we only had one towel.
You can almost drink the air here. I had to flick my windshield wipers a few times on the way home from work today, and it wasn't even raining!
Back before I wrecked my bike, I used to threaten to wear the same clothes for a month because I could just powder myself with laundry detergent and go for a ride!
Then folks would've called me "Bubbles" instead of Batman.

[Oldfart9999]

TGIF!!! TGIF!!! For all you what pays my SS and MEDICARE, THANK YOU!!! Take 2 days off, spend time with the family, fish, BBQ, relax, take a nap, enjoy!! Monday will be here soon enough!! Made it to the gym by 4:00, 40 minutes on the stairmaster, sweat pouring, heavy breathing, got er done!!! Time for a nap.
SHC, now you know why I live up here, I can deal with a bit of snow, 108 inches a year, piece if cake, 100 degrees, oh he!! no!!! I'm suffering at 90, just don't like it, never have, never will!!!
Donald, good deal having the end in sight, you and the crew deserve an atta boy!!!! Hope you can get out and enjoy the fishing!!
Lip, Bud, Zippy, hope you guys are able to wet a line!!
Have a great weekend!!!
Rodney 

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Old fart, I've considered relocating for a while! I used to love the heat, don't ask me why! But the past few years, I don't know what's happened, I just can't handle it anymore. My ex wife is originally from WV and now lives in MD, I've experienced northern winters around Christmas time. I was scared at first, gets a lot colder up there. But it's a dry cold. -5° was nothing. Down here, a wet and soggy 35° soaks into your bones and will make an arthritic person especially miserable.
I actually got out and played in the snow up north. I hate snow. Snow means cold. And when I visited Wyoming a few years ago, middle of June... still snow on the ground. That was really weird to me...

We had some fun at the house this morning!
My daughter fell asleep on the couch last night after binge watching Supernatural on Netflix.
Now, there's something wrong with her headphone port, so the only way to get sound from her computer is to just use the built in speakers or bluetooth it to the stereo and plug her headphones into the stereo.
Unbeknownst to us, when she disconnected from the stereo around 0200, my phone automatically reconnected.
Then my loud and obnoxious alarm went off at 0400. About 4 feet away from her head. And apparently the volume was maxed out.

I just layed in the bed giggling.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

I'm gonna take a moment to show off my spot. Probably a few posts and several pics. And forgive me please if the pics come through kinda crazy. Tapatalk has changed up features several times.
First is a westward view from the path leading to my hole.
Second and third are left and right sides of my spot. On the left, between those lily pads under the chinese tallow and the bank, there's always a few little dinks like the one in the fourth pic. Whenever I need a little confidence booster, I fish that until a catch one. When I let that dink go, I noticed the water was piss warm, I didn't try to hard after that.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

This is the spot where I found all the trash, it's on the right bank of the west view from my trail. If I don't catch the litterbug before cooler weather comes around, I'm gonna have someone drop me off to camp over the weekend. If my car's not parked there and I keep my hammock out of sight, I'm sure I'll catch 'em. Then we can have a nice and polite discussion on the virtues of not being a filthy animal. I don't even try this place because it's nearly a ten foot sloping drop off covered in pea gravel to get to it. Scared I'll hurt myself, it was hell getting down and back up to get the trash. And whoever's fishing it, is drinking beer while doing so. Brave soul that one.
Second and third pics are prime spots nearby that you just can't get to from the bank.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

These are just scenery and an example of why it's closed to the public. In the second pic, you can see some trash dead center of what looks like a path. And yes, I picked it up. Maybe someone likes to just enjoy the scenery there, cause you can't fish from it.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

This one's just a view from the public road. Can't even try here, can't fish the bank and Po-Po will show up in minutes to tell you to knock it off. No one ever really gets in trouble, they're just told to leave.
If you work for the company that owns it, as I do, you can get away with fishing it so long as you stay out of sight. You'll be told to not abuse the privilege too much and generally be left alone.
The satellite screenshot. In the lower right is the sump. Approximately 150' straight down. I fish somewhere else where I can hide, but every now and then I'll hit the sump on the weekend. It's one of only 5 places you can access the water from the bank and only in one spot. You can sometimes get a bite under the trees.
Being one of only 5 places is also why my employer mostly turns a blind eye. They know us peons aren't going to be showing up in droves.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

I kinda made a lure last night just for this place. I had this little rebel rattling minnow that I've had good luck with crappie in the past. But after young'uns kept tossing it in trees and snatching it out, the hooks were trashed. The hook on it here is from a rebel popper I found a few weeks ago. The body was damaged beyond repair, crushed with chunks missing. But the treble and tail were in fine shape.
It swims upside down though. I had several more small bass come and take a look at it, but none of them decided to taste test it.
I have a small Rapala minnow that I removed a damaged front treble from and keel weighted with a small split shot weight just for the heck of it. It's been very effective on deeper bluegill, I think I'll switch this treble onto it and see what happens. May attach a light weight single hook and some sort of tail to this one and see what happens. I'm thinking red hook with some red, gray and silver threads.
As you can tell, I'm not going after monsters in this small lake. I'm not too convinced there's even any here, but it's full of dinks ranging from minnow size up to maybe a pound and a half, and they're still a blast to catch.

[Bud Kennedy]

So far it looks like an easy day.  Gonna head over to Lowes and pick up some more mulch and as far as I know that will be about it for the day.  Supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow.  Planning on bringing the boat home on Sunday and get the batteries charged and make ready to go fishing on Monday and Tuesday if the weather holds.

[Donald Garner]

Good late afternoon to everyone,

We have clear skies and 102dgrs here in Central Texas presently.  It's fricking hot outside   We're officially done with our Summer Cleaning of the school.   Now it just a matter of assisting the teachers if they ask for help in setting up their classrooms.  We officially open the doors next Tuesday for Reregistration to begin.

SHC; Tks for sharing the pictures with us that's some great looking water there.

Bud; Glad to hear the day was an easy one for ya.  Tight lines if / when your out on the water again.

Rodney, Lip; Hope you guys day went well for ya.

To everyone have a very pleasant evening and a Great weekend.