One More Fishing Trip, Back to WorK Tomorrow...

Boxed 39 cat fish today. I take big fish awards had one like this and one a little smaller. Did not weigh him but my guess is that eight blue cats from today's and Saturdays trip have averaged about 4 pounds each. For the fishing geeks I found an underwater grass bed, 6-8 feet deep cast your bait with a slip cork in the grass, gently pull free and a cat would be there waiting. Don't ask me how I figure this stuff out, I just know things like this.

Here's Cathy with a better than average channel cat. She sacked up quite a few this size today.

Threw the cast net at the boat ramp and picked up a few wild shiners but only caught one fish with them. Had hopped to catch some big ones with live bait but too hard to make the long casts that are sometimes necessary.

Pelicans and Water Turkeys...

Winter time is pelican time on the east Texas Lakes. A friend reports thousands of these huge birds behind the dam on Lake Livingston. Here you see a bunch mixed in with water turkeys on Lake Rayburn. I would like to measure that wing span. best information I get is that they migrate from the Great Lakes region each winter.



Little bit of zoom little bit of crop makes that state Highway 147 bridge look a lot closer than it is. It's about 5 miles away. In the background behind the pelicans and water turkeys (also known as cormorants and federally protected) is a lone blue heron. Just out from that heron is a quick drop to 50 feet deep into the old Angelina River Channel. I bet between those birds there be catfish. Good article on cat fishing in the Lufkin paper today, mentions fishing under the trees these cormorants roost in. I will have to try that.

Blog users can click the label fro more lake bird photos.

Good Bite Today...

Here's me, Morgan and Mary with some big blues we caught this morning. That's about 20 pounds of catfish on the hoof right there folks. Total catch for the day was 26 with some of the smaller channel cats going a solid 2 pounds.

We cooked all these guys, throwing together an impromptu fish fry that gathered 14 fish hungry folks on short notice.

Cathy lands big fish honors for the day. Everyone caught at least one big blue. The big ones bit first when we arrived with the little ones coming in to bat clean up. We caught them at of usual shallow water spot, 2'-5' deep under slip corks. We have started calling this spot "The Place."









Even a big fish for old Dad. This guy is swimming in my belly right now.

Happy Thanksgiving...

We don't always celebrate in the traditional manner around here, people got to work holidays, come in from out of town, whatever we get it done. Today me and Morgan were able to give thanks for a successful duck hunt.

The sun comes up with a little fog hanging over the Big Slough Wilderness Area.











Water is a little higher than I like for jump shooting wood ducks but as you see here we did ok, killing one duck each. Pretty good, I only saw 3 ducks, shot at one, heard more in the back waters close, but out of reach today. Saw quite a few deer driving in before daylight.

That's my dad's old Model 12 Winchester shotgun I am holding, one of the premier duck guns ever made, vintage 1950s. Together we make one more duck season.

These ducks went in the freezer, no swimming in the belly today, they will be on the menu for Christmas when all are here.

The Response Was Overwhelming...

So many sent cards, emails, letters, called and of course there were those that actually came over to the house with big pick up trucks to cart away the prizes for our latest big screen give away I was just overwhelmed. So overwhelmed that on my way to play music at church Sunday evening I was distracted by more prizes found by the wayside of the decline of modern civilization.

Here's one for boob, who was worried about a real big big screen TV fitting in the house.


Just a couple of more miles down the road I just had to stop and photograph this great find. I mean what more could you want, it's seat and all. There was also a plastic package discarded nearby that according to the label had held a brand new toilet seat. Figure that one out, they threw out the crapper, but still have a new seat? Smacks of some R.E.D. neck business. I have given out a lot of crap, taken a lot of crap, but never give out the whole crapper.

Thank you, thank you very much for not thinking I am making all this stuff up.

I Forgot....

Yesterday was Rose and Juan's wedding Anniversary. Happy anniversary!

Here is a link to a photo album from that weekend. It's one of the first online photo albums I ever made and I was recently looking through all pictures from that weekend and there are still some good ones that have not seen the light of day. Don't know why I left them out, need to add some more.

http://www.pbase.com/wallace_6/wallace_photos

Time to Give Away a Big Screen...

We have not not given away a big screen in a long time. Facebook readers may not know that this give away contest is one of the things that put this blog on the map so to speak, got that green Internet money rolling in. Everyone wants a big screen and what with Christmas coming and big holiday football games to be view time for us to reach out to the mass, stimulate the economy and instill hope that yes, you too can have a big screen in every room.

I'd like to thank our sponsor of this latest give away, who ever they may be for leaving our latest prize on a country back road near my home where it would be easy findings for me. Note the features. It is technically a big screen, but tall screen might be a more apt description because it is not too wide hence it has a increased fitability in those tight places where you haven't been able to fit more traditional wide screens. It is also portable, movable with all terrain casters that rolled quite well out the ridged pick up truck bed this machine was transported to prize headquarters in. It is capable of delivering good quality sound, see the small speakers? That means efficient and modern, miniaturized so to speak (better in speakers but not screens) they are able to blast labyrinths of complex stereo sound quite unlike the great old big cheap speakers that teenagers stack in the trunks and back seats of their cars for the purpose of broadcasting in low frequency bandwidths (think opposite dog whistle) that only the aged can hear. Good quality particle board construction brings beautiful East Texas forest products directly from the chipping mill to your living room and last but not least built in storage right in front for those vintage VCR tapes in your collection.

Click the labels or the link for more big screen info.

Guess What...

These people, son in law Juan and our daughter Rose, here pictured at his DPS Trooper graduation a few weeks ago, are going to be parents. First ultra sound is tomorrow. I know this is not possible but they are like just a little bit pregnant.

That means we are going to be grandparents. As they say "the older you will get..."

You Need One of These...

A navigator. One who can find the way. Here she is picking her way through the standing timber heading back to the boat ramp. Note the professionalism in the backwards cap. Don't want that blowing off in the water. I had a cap that said "Navigator" on it one time. I mean it said "Navigator" all the time not just "one" time and I often wore it to events so that people could know what my job was.
Stiff north wind makes a cross wind heading back to Hank's Creek. Glad the lake is up, I always hate pitching and rolling through the stumps, don't want to be picked up and slammed down on one. Some one said the other day, "I'll go fishing with you but I don't like it rough." I assume they meant the waves. Some of our best fishing comes with the waves. I warn people I have only nearly died once or twice out here and only nearly sank several more times. You need a hand like that on every boat, some one who knows the ropes.

See the white speck in the back ground? That's camp catfish where Pop and Geneva set up the camper a few weeks ago. Someone else got that spot for now.

Cold Weather Catfishing Begins...

With winds from the north the cats were on a feeding spree today. We caught 36 fat channel cats, all about 3ft deep under slip corks. See those two cypress trees behind Cathy? Looking back on blog posts from last spring, using them as a fishing log we have caught about 225 cats around them. They took a little break from the shallow water through the summer but now are back.




Seems like the double, each person hooking one at the same time was the order of the day. We did it lot. See those bushes behind me? When the wind is from the south we tie to the trees in back ground of the first picture and catch the cats behind me. Wind is the key, nothing bites here on calm days.







Tub full, a shonuff good mess of cats. Right now we have a pot of courtbouillion, a Cajun fish soup, cooking on the stove. These guys will swim in my belly tonight.

Pictures From My Cell Camera...

Sometimes I forget I have a cell phone camera. I know younger readers may find this idea preposterous because they cannot remember that once upon a time phones weren't cell and when they got to be they did not have cameras. They may think I am raving mad when I mention that I used to have a camera with a lens as long as my hand and I carried it around by myself. So my point is not to be get off my lawn nostalgic but to simply show that sometimes I miss good action because I forget i usually have a handy camera.

I downloaded some pictures from my phone, some dating back to earlier this year. Action scenes I did not miss. Here's Cathy, at the Ranch Restaurant in Broddus, Tx. after a hard day of fishing having the fried Oreos. Note there is just two per serving, not like they give you a whole package like on of those appetizer onion ring piles.

Signs Signs Everywhere a Sign...

That's a song I heard on the radio one time, but not anytime lately. This is not technically a sign, unless we are talking reading sign as in some type of shamanistic sense (it would reveal someone has been cat fishing) but a bumper sticker I saw on a truck parked in my garage.

Seemed to be a familiar figure there, maybe the shrill talking heads are right. In addition to trying to pass a health care bill, stop the war and bail out the economy Obama is now trying to tell us what kind of cat fish bait to use. I was wrong though, not Obama and I figure any way if you could pull a shrill talking head out where you could check the skirt length or trouser cuff style you would learn way more about health, war and the true state of the economy than would be useful to know.

Back to the bumper sticker, J Pigg's is a current favorite cat fish bait in this house hold. I know we have a link on the blog side bar to Danny King's and old Danny has put the meat in the boat for us but we continue to try new things all the time. Fact of the matter is Danny King really does not have anything to do with his bait anymore, he sold the name. It's still pretty much the same stuff to me but there are purist who think not. You can get Danny's bait at the big box stores these day so back to the economy that means it may well be outsourced to a factory in China. Hope it has been well explained to the workers there by a bilingual person what it is that rural Americans do with this stinking stuff. Wouldn't want any wrong ideas about democracy to get started out there.

We do have another new bait in the boat right now as yet untried and it's made by Lewis King, who happens to be Danny's brother. I know by now it may seem like I am making all this up but the word on the street is that it is better. Lewis is suppose to mix it with his own hands.

The Traveling Amp...

Here is a picture on my little Peavey Bass Amp that I leave in the choir room at church for use each Sunday at Mass. It's handy, not too loud, not too valuable for occasional use by the general public and perfect for playing with the acoustic guitarist I accompany at Mass each Sunday. It's made in Meridian Mississippi and to my best recollection I picked it up in a pawn shop no later than sometime in 2003 but possibly a couple of years earlier. The 12 inch speaker housed in there can get a little poopy pushing it with a group where everyone has an electric guitar, nothing that spending $150 or more on an efficient speaker wouldn't solve but seeing how my neighbor recently picked up one of these at a garage sale for $70 that mod might be a little drastic. It is a solidly constructed closed back cabinet of the style that I have used to kill and commit mayhem with in the past so there are possibilities if like my wife increases my allowance or something like that. Until then I still have the Bassman amp for the big jobs.

The reason I call this the traveling amp is because it was absent from it's storage spot for about a month. It all started the day of the recent church festival. Regular visitors saw the photos here. Los StratKats played, I used my big amp. When time to get ready to play our usual 5pm Mass came, I stowed my gear in the car, went in the church to set up the Peavey to play there and it was gone. A quick check of the gym showed it to be in use with a mike to call the numbers for (Mexican Bingo) Lotteria. I was ok with that. I played at Mass that day with the big amp.

I never thought about amps for the next week, busy blog writing, when I arrived to set up the next Sunday no amp in it's storage spot. This time I had no back up in the car. I did have a Bass Driver stomp Box preamp, that and a monitor turned up to face the congregation made a pretty good amp, better speaker than I usually use. Next week I forget about it again, show up no amp, but I set up the same way and all is ok. That next week I make calls, to various folks around that might know where it went. Finely a little more that a month after the festival one Sunday the amp is in it's spot as if it was never gone. No one takes any credit for the return.

There were several bands that played the church festival that day, I was afraid it got loaded up with some of their gear. Maybe it did. Maybe it made a little East Texas tour and when finished returned to it's quite little spot at St. Patrick's. If any of you had it, thanks.

More Signs...

This contemplation on signs is proving fruitful. Funny how you get to thinking about something and then it's just everywhere, pervading society, spreading like giant salvinia until all is choked and this is all there is signs and more signs.

Here's a picture of a pilgrimage. On the left My Mom, then Dixie and Betty Sue, her nieces, my first cousins. All sharing the maiden name of Wiley, they made a little afternoon trip to the Wiley Hotel in Garrison to get their pictures made in front of the sign. Pretty cool, they had a great time, and a good lunch. I wasn't invited but they did sent the pictures. One of those deals, I am sure it's happened to you.

Speaking of signs, what about this? What's my Mom doing coming out of a room with the signage "Gentlemen?" What kind of hotel is this? Do we need signs in another language? Do signs have any effect at all? Should they be posted where we can see them?

A Few Casual Observations...

I started my online career as a blog writer. I never knew it was going to make me rich like it did so it was just natural when everyone began doing the face book thing that I rig things up to rake in the cash both places. I mean you have noticed that this is all about me haven't you.

I've noticed folks like to take part in polls on face book. Did you know if you voted in the "Do you think Carl Wallace is the Sexiest Man Alive" poll I can see who voted yes and who voted no? Some might think that's subversive, but if you voted yes I kind of knew you would.

I also noticed some have taken part in the "Do you Think All Signs Should Be in English" poll. I don't know that I think that so as a good scientist I went and gathered evidence, like this picture here I submit for examination. What's the woman doing? Climbing on the wall. What's the sign say not to do? Climb on that wall. So what do we do? Assume a non English speaker? Then we need signs in her language. Post a larger sign with lots of languages? There is plenty of room on the post (ha! I made a funny) seen in the picture wouldn't have to make longer posts so no economic effects whatsoever. Declare war on wall climbing? Probably not, latest wars have been pretty messy, not a good time to start another.

How about we just allow all wall climbing? Let the vote counting begin.

More Halloween...

Halloween, we like it.














Did I ever mention how much I like maple guitar necks and fret boards? Just wrap your hands around one sometime, you will see what I mean. Ok, maybe it was just the hat made it feel that way.

Looks like disco, sounds like a North Mississippi hill country romp.
Ok kids, I let trick or treaters in. Ask nice, your mom might let you too.

Halloween Gig...

No, it's not Winterland 1969 and we were not holding a Trips Festival it's just the annual State School Halloween party. We threw together a makeshift band, Danny on guitar, Miguel on flute, Mudbelly on bass and not shown in this photo is Jasmine on harp and Dan on drums. Photos by Cathy and good decorations by the school staff.





I was real happy with the music this evening. We were lacking a couple of usual members but they were not missed as we cranked up some 35 year old Fender amps, some cheesy fuzz pedals and got down to an evening of greasy stinking blues.





Dan on guitar, I think he was dressed as SRV. A raw three chords, a $50 guitar and nothing but the truth, some say that's what songs are for.











Admiral Tripps on drums. He sends all pictures of his gigs to a drum company he endorses which is located in the Republic formerly known as West Germany.








The band, Danny and daughter Jasmine who honks a fine blues harp, Miguel on flute and me on horns. Facebook users can see the whole photo album on line there.

Another Birthday...

Happy birthday Pop!

This picture recently taken in Austin shows him and Geneva living it up at a trendy Austin eatery.