Father's Day Weekend Catfish...

The lake was in great shape for fishing this weekend. Maybe a few less at the boat ramp but I still had to park outside the parking area on the entrance road. This photo is looking south down the boat cut. Wish I had a nickel for every time I have made this run. 

With Mary and Miguel both working we had help with the fishing. He's been operating a full grown rig pretty good but he showed up with this and spent a solid hour casting into an old stew pot. That's pretty much how my dad did me. I had been a cane pole fisherman and one day my dad brought home a tiny Zebco rig maybe a bit stouter than this and sat me in the backyard casting in a bucket. That experience has certainly paid off.  

Cathy and Ezra fish. 

We got in a little boogie boarding in the Sam Rayburn surf. Cathy picks up litter in the background. Litter is like smoking and not wearing a mask to prevent Covid 19 spread. Everyone should know by now those things are bad. 

Return to the ramp. 

Total for the day was 18 catfish. A little better size wise than the last couple of trips. The fish may be settling into a deep water summer pattern. It took us about an hour maybe a bit longer to catch these. We cooked them for supper.  

Ratcliff Lake Swimming and Canoeing...

After a day of household and yard chores we felt like an afternoon swim. I loaded the canoe and me, Cathy and Ezra took off for Ratcliff Lake. 

If you don't know Ratcliff was built in the late 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. It was an old logging pond and source of water for the central coal and coke company from 1902-1920. and to have a park I would imagined that the loggers had moved on because all the trees were gone. Thankfully all have grown back.

 I must say that the park was beautiful and very well kept. Two swimmers were leaving as we arrived, two more arrived as we left and I caught the glint of what may have been an occupied campsite on the other side of the lake. I used to never like a place like Ratcliff preferring instead more isolated, obscure places but age, easy access and my Forest Service Boat Ramp permit allowing free entry has made public swimming holes guilty pleasures. 

It also gave us a chance to see what an almost three year old would do in a tippy boat. He did great and his parents report he often awakes each day asking if chances of fishing or boating are going to be available.

I think once at Ratcliff at a family reunion or company picnic of some type my dad had to wade in in his leather shoes to pull me to the surface by my hair. I did not have to do this yesterday.  

A fishing rod, a paddle, he is happy with something that stirs the water. 

Signs warn of gators. No big deal for this crew. 

The Tuesday Ratcliff swim might have to be on my agenda for the rest of the summer. I'll bring fishing gear next time. This little lake usually produces enough action that I bet we stay happy.  

The Five Fish Fishing Reel...

I've been real handy around the house since I retired. Most folks think I'd be fishing all the time but I have found good satisfaction in decluttering, cleaning up, yard work and making things out of discarded items such as this rod and reel rack made from an old pallet. I think I must have between 20 and 25 combos set up for various fishing situations, some like a couple of surf rods that might only be used a couple of times a year and none are particularly expensive. Quite a few of these are 70s and 80s vintage, some I have had that long and others of a type I keep on the lookout for at thrift stores. A good bit of it is made in the USA back when you know, factories were here. 

The main thrust of making this rack was to declutter the boat a bit because it had become a situation where I was carrying 8 or 10 rods to the lake and the boat itself had become a floating rod rack. Now I can decide what the fishing situation is going to be and only carry the ones that apply leaving the others snug in the rack. All this going over of equipment brought to mind a story a friend told me about the five fish fishing reel. 

My friend was a bit older than me and grew up around Houston and spent a good bit of time at the beach. You could drive about anywhere on Texas back in these good old growing up days. I hear you can't drive on any Galveston beach anymore but back then driving, drinking and fishing up and down the beach was good summer fun. I did not grow up around Houston or the coast but as soon as I heard about this combination I made it a point to become involved myself. 

Back to my friend's story though. He described himself as in a situation, I can't recall but maybe his vehicle was stuck in the sand or he was out of beer or bait. Certainly was not that he was out of sun screen as such did not exist back then. Some guys came along and as an enticement to rescue him from the situation he offered to trade a rod and reel he had. To establish a proper value for what ever this trade may have been he told them that he thought the reel had "about five fish left in in." 

Now I have spent a fair amount of time at the beach stuck, out of beer, out of bait, sunburned and seen the effects of salt, sand and large fish on my tackle. As my friend told this story I knew exactly what he meant by a reel that had "about 5 fish in it." 

There might be a reel or two in that rack that has about five fish left in it. Five fish is supper around here. It's a good trade. 

     

Canoe Trail Martin Dies Jr. State Park...

I made two day trips this week to Martin Dies Jr. State Park for canoeing and fishing the Walnut paddle trail. Entry fee is $4, pretty cheap fun and I certainly got my money's worth in fish. 

That's a big old goggle eye perch. I talked to one local who had entered the creek in a small flat bottom boat and that guy said, "there's major goggle eye in here." I had fished around with my old stand by ultra light lures but found that the thing they wanted was a 1 inch Charlie Brewer Crappie Slider. Charlie Brewer makes what he calls do nothing baits. You cast it out and reel it back. You cant fish in wrong if you fish it slow. 

Beautiful swamp with cypress trees and water hyacinths.  

Lots of birds which is always a good sign of fish near by. Can you spot the blue heron blending in with the bridge? 

This was my first days catch. Actually I had one other fish and for awhile there it looked like it was all I was going to catch. As I paddled along I came up on a elderly couple bank fishing the creek. The woman says "Hey didn't you used to work at the old folks home?" From 2011 till retirement I was making 1500+ patient visits a year. Not all those stick out in my mind but when she told me her name, it was unusual and I recalled her from the Jasper Nursing Home. I think that's pretty good, a patient you rehabbed several years ago is out scrambling up and down a creek bank. They had a few bream in a bucket and I gave them my one fish. Wish they had not left or I would have given them the ones I caught later.  

This is the second days catch, 19 fish. I had the pattern down. They weren't just every where but the slider fishing is kind of a finesse type fishing you spot a swirl, a shad jumps and then you take several fish from that spot. You then move around looking for other spots like that.  These were big bream and I filleted them all for a pile of what's going to be cajun popcorn.

I caught this one bass also and hooked two alligator gar. The gar were probably 15 to 20 inches long and one of them I had alongside the boat and had the landing net in hand but the hooks are hard to hold in their boney, toothy mouths and get thrown easily. 

I believe this bird species is a Little Blue Heron. They migrate as far south as South America and north to Kansas and are a bird the Audubon Society expects to have migration and ranges to shift due to climate change and urbanization.   

Blooming hyacinths. 

The crappie slider. It's a bait that I find they either eat it up or they want the small beetle spins instead. Seems if goggle eyes are around this is the best bait. One of those big google eye had a crawfish in his belly when I cleaned him. 

There are alligators. This one was only two to three feet long, seems like the photo makes him look larger and there was no problem getting quite close to him. I use a floating mesh fish basket and I hoped he would not try to bite it and get his teeth tangled in the mesh. He was very friendly. 

The catfish report and a crowded lake...

With my retirement I have found myself on the lake on Saturdays a lot more. When working I had more off days on week days so always seemed that not too many people were around. Boat ramp was crowded and when we got to our spot someone was fishing there. We still managed to catch 20 catfish and have a very fine time. 

I don't know if my fishing on the weekends have exposed me to reality of how crowed the lake can get or if because of Covid 19 that activity families would normally be involved in is shut down right now and people are using the lake as an outlet for fun and safe social distancing. Either way it's a good thing to see all these people out. I remember the lake being crowed as a kid when you could tie up to any dead tree for a mess of fish but seems like in recent years we are often by ourselves out there. 

I think Ezra has the fishing gene. He was not too much on letting a stink bait down to the bottom and waiting on a catfish bite but he showed great interest thrashing the water to a froth with a small spinner bait. That yellow rod was in my mom's barn and I think it was the one she used to fish with. I replaced the reel with a Lew's spin caster and with it's single handle crank it's perfect for small hands. 

Mat fished with us. As I say someone was in our spot and I have noticed that the last few trips that seems like there are a lot of small fish. That is one reason I never fish a spot where they say they are biting. If everyone knows of the spot the big fish have been picked and only little ones left. I prefer to find my own places and it might be time to be moving on. 

Cathy tries to show Ezra her catch but I think he was reaching as deep as he could in the water with that rod. I mean that only makes sense to get down there where the fish are. 

We swam on a good old East Texas red dirt beach. I had forgotten my depth finder so I don't know how deep we caught the fish or the water temps but water seemed a bit cool this trip. 

Catfish will swim again in our belly for lunch today. 

Farmers Back Pete Fountain...

When some one passes away there is all the stuff of their life left. The people they leave behind have to go through it.  After my father in law, Bill Cooney went to his eternal rest there was a box full of caps and hats of various kinds and I picked this one out because it reminded me of something that happened when he was wearing it or maybe one like it since the incident was about 20 to 25 years ago and that would be a pretty old cap. I've written about the incident on these pages before but in light of this day and time it's a story I'll tell again. 

I'm guessing it was mid/late 90s, heck maybe even early 200os because the kids were pretty young and we took them as well as Bill and Geneva to New Orleans for St. Patrick's Day. It's just like Mardi Gras with all the parades, just more local people, more Irish people and then a couple of days after St. Patrick's Day you have the Italians and St. Joseph's Day and it's feasting and parades all over again. We were on our way out of town and stopped in the Metrie/Kenner area to catch a parade and while we stood waiting for the floats to roll down the street on foot came David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Klan, conviced felon, presidental candidate, Holocaust Denier and recently endorser of Donald Trump's 2016 Presidental Campaign. To Trump's credit he declined Duke's support but the question lingers what did Duke see in Trump?

Without going into all that this day in New Orleans Duke had an entourage that included photographers. I recognized him as he came down the street, handing out campaign materials and shaking hands and as the kids were young and excited about all the throws from the parades I immediatly told them do not take anything from that man or his people. 

Bill stood there looking, with that John Deere hat, that hat in the photo and the overalls he always wore. Duke made a beeline for Bill and with the photographers snapping grabbed his hand and gave it the old campaign shake. Good thing Bill was not a baby because then Duke would have kissed him. Bill, a life long Democrat, avocate for equal rights and someone who led every blessing at meal times with the petition that those with less might have a better day looked sick. Of course it's an old family tradition with the Cooneys of anything for a laugh so we told Bill with the overalls and hat the next day his photo would be in the paper with the headline "Farmers Back Duke." 

Later in the parade things stalled out and Pete Fountain, the famous Dixieland clarinet player and his band stopped right in front of us and played about a 20 minute set. It made Bill, a tenor banjo player and huge Dixieland fan feel better. 

Years later Bill and I sat in the Economy Hall Tent at Jazz Fest and saw Pete again. As far as I know Duke was not there that day. The year before he had been arrested in the Czech Republic on charges of "denying or approving Nazi genocide and other crimes." They released him from custody and told him to be out of the country by midnight that day. We stayed and watched the whole set by Pete Fountain and no one asked us to leave. Best I remember Pop had on the John Deere hat and overalls. Farmers back Pete Fountain. I know that for sure.  

I have been wearing the John Deere hat while I mow the yard on my John Deere. It's a bit soiled and sweat stained. I think I'll wash it and wear something else while I mow. I'm all about changing things.  

    

Kinda Normal...

Our church friends probably know but we have been retired from playing music at church for about 2 and a half years. We were a bilingual English/Spanish group and other than the occasional special occasion, funeral, wedding, or quinceanera the popular winds for what music was at church had swung to other directions and a mixed language Mass was not as important as it once had been. Things are to each his own these days but this weekend for Pentecost Sunday there was a Confirmation Mass and First Communion for those coming into the Church. 

We were asked to play because we have been involved with the RCIA group through the years so with social distance precautions in mind me, Cathy and Mary formed up, actually rehearsed a bit and pulled out the old music and played songs in English. Well, except for one bilingual tune slipped in at the end. It was fun to back singing and playing again. We have not had that as church has slowly been getting back up to speed in the age of  Covid 19 and hopefully the other regular groups will resume soon.  

Blackout Tuesday...