Late Evening Canoe Trip...

Left home alone again I took off for a late afternoon canoe trip to Townsend Park on Lake Sam Rayburn. I chose this spot because I could remember a few trips here with my dad where we launched the boat but never cranked the big motor. All the fishing was right there in a little creek by the boat ramp. I thought this would be perfect for the canoe. 

The wind was up on the main lake so this was a pretty good choice. The lake is still high but I do not think it would get high enough to close this ramp. It's a good deep one. To get out of the wind I fished the flooded forest. 

I know there's a gator somewhere around here. 

The cajuns have studied the mouth of the bream quite extensively. The came up with a small spinner lure called the beetle spin that fits exactly right for the hook up. Now a days I suspect that now that they got the bait just right the Chinese are making this lure that's been a fish getter since the early 60s. 

Final score for the day was 10 fish. All were CPRed to fight another day. The freezer is full. Soon as we have an open weekend it's fish fry time. Note how these were caught among the trees of the flooded forest. 

Here's a little bass. He took one of the old 1970s vintage lures I bought at the downtown craft fair. A good old Cordell Hotspot, a predecessor of the modern day rattle trap.  Cordell produced the Hotspot from 1958-1980. Headquarters for the company was in Hotsprings, Arkansas. By 1980 when the company was sold they had factories in El Salvador and Taiwan as well as Hotsprings and made 22,000 lures a day. I don't think Cotton Cordell ever got a patent on this lure shape and that is why there are so many copy cats on the market today.    

These dried catfish heads were hanging in a bush right off the point across from the boat ramp. This is a message. "There be catfish here" it says to anyone interested. 

My rig for the day. It's mix of a few items you might find on a Gulf Coast wade trip, a couple of Eastern European Army surplus items from a country that no longer needs them, a dry bag that has served me well on Texas river tube trips and a matched pair of 1970s Lew's Speed Stick Rods. One was my dads and I think I got the other in a thrift store. I remember when these came out. They cost $10 and that was an unheard amount to give for a fishing pole. Besides this they were much stiffer that the old noodley S & H green Stamp rods we had been fishing with. I checked Ebay while writing this and I see a fellow has a matched pair just like my two that he wants $80 for. I don't think I have any rod and reel combos that I gave more that $40 for and most less. I don't consider any of them cheap just well selected versatile gear selected for durability.  I might have one rod that cost more than $40 but after years of fishing it is not going to be collectible on ebay.