The Beach...

The beach. I bet there is more than one post with this title to be found if you look through the blog. We took a couple of nights to stay at a nice little beachfront hotel in Surfside for a fishing/big grandkid visit. It turned out really good because on check out day we were close by when Parker was born so we were able to make just a short drive and be there in a timely manner. 

Warren and Coraline float ashore under a full moon. I always imagine this is how Cabeza De Vaca looked coming in through the surf all those long years ago on the Texas coast with the Karankawa Indians peeping from the dunes and wondering what new hell is this?  Old Cabeza probably only had a little bit more sand in his pants than these two.  

The water was blue green clear. This is usually good for beach front fishing but for some reason it was not to be this trip. I started out with one of those big salt water Zebco 808s and a dead shrimp fished on the bottom just to see what was out there and maybe give the kids something to reel in. I should have came loaded for bear because something grabbed that shrimp and took off like a freight train and probably arrived in Cuba sometime yesterday with my leader in tow. 

I rearmed with a heavy pole and hooked this personal best stingray. He gave a nice fight, peeling off 75 yards of line before tuckering out. Since I was stung by a ray several years ago every time I catch one I clip the stinger before the return to the water so they sting no more.    

Lady fish. This is a pretty good size one. Not swimming in my belly.  They are a member of the tarpon family and make skittering leaps when hooked. I lost a Mackerel on a lure right at the net and hooked another something on  a lure I did not get a look at.  

I think maybe the low river flows make the salty bay environment and the passes more pleasing habitat for the fish. With water this clear it was also hard to catch bait in a cast net. I think they saw it coming.   

The kids with a whiting I caught under examination in the net before release. 

Brother in law Matt throws the net. Note the clear blue water. 

Say hi to Cathy. She usually don't fish this early but I guess it was a can't beat em, join em. 

New Granddaughter...

On Sunday August 26, 2018 our newest granddaughter Parker Faye was born to parents Morgan and Ali. She weighted 7lbs and 14 oz and was 20 and 1/4 inches long. I put all this down on the blog because we celebrate family here and also next year when Cathy asks me when Parker's birthday is I can look in up. It's not going to be a date that is easy to forget because that is also Miguel's birthday. 

I have not got a good hair photo yet so we are still waiting to see what that is going to look like. 

Now we have our eyes open and are ready to go. 

Great job Morgan and Ali. I think they should be going home today. Ali has time off from work and since Morgan's company is a global operation the benefits are a bit different from what you might find in the good old USA and he actually has a bit of family leave time. 

She will be out and about before you know it. 

  

New System...

We recently had a catastrophic septic system failure. It was an older aerobic type system probably 40 years old. The pump failed and I had always maintained it myself. I hauled up the old pump, sized the pipe and all and when I went to lower the pump back I hit an obstruction. A wall of the tank had collapsed. Here's to hoping this new tank last 40 more years. 

I am going to be busy filling this thing up! Apparently they had never had anyone make a joke about how they finely found something to take their crap.  I'd think plumbers would know every joke in this category but the world is just not the same anymore I guess.    

Here's this tank buried in the ground. Lots of bells and whistles. 

Found some curious stuff. In addition to a very solid cedar post that they dug up and I will use for some project it was discovered that the water line runs crazy out here. I knew that because recently I had some water meter work done and replacing the line was a possibility. We tried to trace it out and finely managed to decide it went past the house and cut back and was not worth the cost and trouble. 

Digging the lines that will go to the sprayer heads that will disperse the chlorinated waste water about my property the plumbing company hit the line twice. I think maybe the previous owner had a trailer house on the property while he remodeled the house I bought from him and the line runs out in the yard and makes a "T" somewhere.   

Ezra inspects. 

The crew will finish today. The left their tractors. Me and Ezra had fun on the tractors. 

I used Truss and Sons Plumbing. I took three bids and while not the cheapest I am very satisfied with the work and communication. I recommend them. 

I'm Voting for Beto...

In November I'll be voting for Beto O'Rourke. If you know me you probably knew that already and I have the sign in the yard and the bumper sticker on the car.  I had an invite this past weekend to hear Beto speak at a private fundraising brunch. Later that afternoon he spoke at a public rally in Nacogdoches. I like his message. 

This message is old school LBJ Democrat and in fact he invoked Lyndon at several turns. Sure LBJ was a complicated man. He passed some great social legislation but he screwed up a war. He's definitely of the school that we see too much of in that there is bad to be taken with the good. There is a lot of good in Beto's plans. He talks about working together, Democrats and Republicans. It's gonna take everyone at the table. He speaks of fiscal conservatism when we spend money to solve problems. He speaks of addressing healthcare, mental health and immigration in ways that add to our economy. I think we all agree on that this is important. 

Here's a photo of about a third of the folks at the gathering this weekend. You can just see me and Cathy in the back. 

It was a kindergarten friend that invited me here and I saw a couple of more old high school friends. One leaned in to me and said "it does my heart good to see so many elderly southern white males supporting a Democrat." While there is always room to change your mind I think a good many in this room were young Democrats once. It's just a time for them to be out in force.    

Canoe Trip Lake Houston Wilderness Area...

Morgan and Ali are living in Kingwood now. That's a flat 2 hours from my house. Saturday morning I loaded the canoe and knocked on their door at 8am. We probably had the boat in the waters of Peach Creek at the near by Lake Houston Wilderness Area before 9am. 

Fishing was not great. We each caught one fish and Morgan hooked something that fought deep and threw the hook so a return visit is called for to see if we can pattern this body of water and find out what they want. 

No other boats on the water. Jets coming in to Intercontinental whined over head. There was a path that paralleled the creek and we caught occasionally caught sight through the jungle like foliage of a hiker, runner or biker. 

No pine trees. I really like the stands of some type of elephant ear plant lining the creek banks. We paddled a good long way toward the lake but never reached it. Seemed like all fish bites we had came up creek.   

Lot of steep banks indicating that this creek drains a good bit of water. Note all the leaners here. Next flood some of these will be in the water. 

I caught one small Kentucky Spotted bass. The part of the park we were in had nice roads and parking areas at trail heads. Very secluded for being so close to an area where millions live. Later we drove around and discovered primitive camping areas, a nature center with regular programs, cabins to rent around a small lake and group camping areas which look like might be a good place to gather our tribe sometime in the future. 

Spotted this step up on a little point between the junction of two creeks. There's a ladder, a street light, tarps on an incline to the water and rod holders stuck in the sand. A homemade slip and slide? With evidence of fishing maybe they catch big catfish and the tarps facilitate dragging the beast up the bank and the ladder is used to climb on his back to slay him. Help me here, I'm brain storming.   

The sandy banks are nice and while we did not swim the water, while not to clear felt cool. It seemed to be not too deep at this water level so a good place to sit and cool it. 

This shady photo is kind of dark but that's some kind of floats or buoy hung in a tree 20 feet above the surface of the creek. I'd say water comes through here forcibly at times. We saw signs of human owner objects such as coolers and once the shaft of a paddle embedded in a brush pile that looked too be swept to final resting places by water power.    

A nice place all in all with not too many visitors on a hot summer day. We will be back. 

Catfishing with Quince...

One of my oldest buddies from SFA Came for a fishing trip. I think I looked out in the dorm hallway from my doorway in the spring of 1976 and I saw Quince come out the room next to me in old Mays Hall. A few semesters later I moved to the old Samstown trailer park north of town and I looked out the window of the trailer and there he was next door again. I guess it was meant to be that we find our selves on one more adventure here in 2018.

 Good sized fish. These fillets will go for an upcoming Wiley Family Fish Fry. 

Quince is not up here for fishing too much. He had to do the ritual kissing of the catfish to be a vested member of our club. 

Cathy and Quince score a double.

We put 6 pounds of fillets in the freezer and a couple of more pounds are swimming in our bellies. 

 

Small Water Fishing Report...

We made a trip to Pop and Geneva's yesterday. While Cathy took the opportunity to shop sewing materials in nearby Conroe I took the opportunity to check out the pond to see what lurked in still quiet waters. It turned out that there were quiet a few lurkers. 

After sitting out a bit of afternoon rain I made my way down and while it was a bit steamy with humidity and I think the shower freshened things up a bit. A power  line crosses the pond and note the herbicide sprayed to keep right away growth down. I guess that is the way of the world. Seems that spraying is so notable on fence rows and pipelines in East Texas that it goes without comment. Just another one of those birds to come to roost sooner or later.   

I probably caught 20-30 of these fat boys and girls. They were hungry for a yellow beetle spin in the 1/32 ounce size. Later on after this jig body and been mauled beyond use I switched to the minnow style that has been my go to light tackle bait on Rayburn this year and while they hit it maybe not as good as yellow.  

Also caught about 10 bass anywhere from about six inches long up to this size with one about 14" lost at the bank. Last couple of light tackle trips I have also caught fish on a little mini size hot spot type lure you see here. The bass really liked it and so did quite a few bream.  

The beetle spin, developed by a fisherman named Virgil Ward in the late 1950s is sized just right to fit right in a bream's mouth. He sees it and thinks it's the perfect bite of goodie. 

Looks like from the size of that mouth he might need a few extra minnows to fill him out. 

Bit of unusual color on this fish. I think that Bill might have had some of the hybrid bream stocked at one time but this does not seem to match any photos I find. All fish on this trip were CPRed, caught photoed and released.  

Good luck to all you would be pond fisherman. They are biting but old Mudbelly done lipped every thing here so you best move along.