The older you will get...: Our 5th Camping Trip This Year...

After a busy month that saw not much fishing but plenty of other business including the birth of grandchild #9 or Milo as his parents call him we headed over to Martin Dies Jr State Park on B.A. Steinhagen Reservoir for three nights. We stayed in the Hen House Ridge Unit.

I have had good pan fishing in the other unit, Walnut Ridge and we did ok catching about 10 fish of various species. Mostly we just sat by the water and watched the alligators swim by. They need someone out there directing traffic because if one gator swam up the creek two would swim down. Probably there is no telling how many gators are in the area. I know besides the lake there are a lot up the river around the Forks were the Angelina runs into the Neches. When I worked at the nursing home in Jasper many residents came from the river houses below this lake and they reported many gators there.

Here's Cathy on the bank at our campsite which we picked by blind choice from the campground map. I believe it was one of the best, most private, with good fishing from the bank, and by canoe nearby. Also very good bird watching in the park and on the lake.

Old big boy. One thing I noticed is that two nights I left the catfish bait sitting by the water and no critters bothered it. Last night I did a little pre packing and put the stink bait in the truck bed. Coons got in it. Their tracks were on my windshield. My theory is they stay away from the water because of the gators.

All these gators gives me an idea. I think I will turn old Milo into a gator fighter. If we start training now in two or three summers I send him up a gator hole like the one seen here and have him pull the gator out. I can see him now. He has the gator by the tail and looks back at me and says, "Like this?: and I say, "yes, like that."

This is our 5th trip this year. So far none have been further that 4 hours from our home and this park is about 60 miles away tops. We have plans for later this summer but this was a nice getaway.