Time to sign off

Well it has come time to officially sign off... both of you are wondering what took so long. After months of inactivity I did manage to take the boat out a couple of times to Fort Phantom for a couple of hours each time (even caught a near four pound bass). But due to a number of factors I sold the boat this past weekend; not what I would prefer to do, but that's life. I had heard it said that the best day in a boat owner's life was the day he bought his boat and the day he sold it. Not true. After 8 years of much fun, relaxing, and a few caught fish I watched the boat pull away with feelings of a friend moving away.

Someday I hope and expect the friend will move back in with me, at least into the garage. By that time all the little fish I have caught in the past few years should have grown large and be ready for me! And when that happens I plan a much better blog and one that is updated with fishing reports from weekly trips (okay that may be a bit much, but at least a lot more trips). Meanwhile take an extra cast for me and practice catch & release; I'll be coming along as soon as I can.

Still Alive and Kicking... well, sort of

My apologies for the long delay to both of you who still might even look at this blog from time to time. I have no fishing reports for the fall and unlikely any forthcoming until Spring. I hope by that time that I am fully recovered from my third foot surgery (back in October) and able to sit and/or stand without chronic pain. The last surgery transected (cut) the tibial nerve going down into my foot to stop the pain and restart circulation in my foot. We think this should resolve the problem...

One result is that my left foot will be weak and thin from this point forward, not to mention completely numb on the bottom. But, hopefully, the pain will be no more once I heal from the surgery. I can't report "painless" yet; I'm a long way from that point  - some days more than others. But I am making progress. My hope is that the pain will lift and that I will not have to live with chronic pain - though that still appears a real possibility.

So, hope someone is catching fish on my behalf these days. If so, I'd love to hear about it.

Fishing out my front door?

No fishing news to report - but some progress on the foot which may yet lead to new fishing reports.

Meanwhile it appears that I might just have opportunity to back the boat out of the garage and just fish. Not really, but with all the wonderful rain and now Ike cutting a path toward West Texas perhaps a 7 inch worm tossed just to the side of our fence might get a bite or two.

End of Summer

I wish this was a fishing report but sadly, it is not. The foot problem continues and has pretty much left me without the energy or health to get out and fish - it's just not worth the pain. 

On the bright side, my lack of mobility has led to an avalanche of reading this summer. So, as summer ends and classes begin here is my reading list from the summer.

May 2008:

  Alex Haley, "Roots" - classic

  Peter Block, "The Answer to How is Yes" - quite good on learning to ask the right questions

  Ted Kerasote, "Merle's Door" - it's a dog's life, literally (and a bit over-the-top)

  Edward Robinson, "The Fight is on in Texas: A history of African American Churches of Christ in the Lone Star State" - Edward is a colleague of mine at ACU; this is a good primer on African Americans and the Churches of Christ

  Ron Hall & Denver Moore, "A Same Kind of Different as Me" - if you haven't read this one yet, go get it. 

  Daniel C. Snell "Twice-Told Proverbs and the Composition of the Book of Proverbs" - okay, I had to get this one in there

June 2008:

  Tim O'Brien, "The Things they carried" - historical fiction out of the Vietnam war, very good.

  Erin Schlosser, "Fast Food Nation" - a critical examination of the social system created by and driving our fast food industry

  Mark Haddon "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" - good, but just odd

  Stephen King, "Duma Key" - yes

  Greg Mortenson, "Three Cups of Tea" - with "Same Kind of Different as Me" - on my "must reads" recommendation list

July 2008:

  John Grogan, "Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog" - another true-life dog story. In some ways much better than "Merle's Door" - funny

  Malcolm Gladwell, "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" - one of the best non-fiction books I read this summer, really makes one think about prejudices and how sometimes our best decisions are snap judgements that we really cannot explain.

  Don Robertson, "The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread" 

  Malcolm Gladwell, "Tipping Point" - his book that preceded "Blink" - also very good.

  Tony Cohan, "On Mexican Time" - enjoyable slow read

  Thomas Merton, "The Wisdom of the Desert" - selections from the Desert Fathers

  Larry McMurtry, "Lonesome Dove" - first Western I can recall reading, outstanding

  Larry McMurtry, "Books: A Memoir" - okay, but the best thing about this book was that it only took two days to read it.

August 2008

  Darryl Tippens, "Pilgrim Heart" - very good

  David Kinnaan, "UnChristian: What a New Generation Thinks about Christianity" - worth the time to read for every Christian - especially ministers & church leaders.

  Larry McMurtry, "Commanche Moon" - prequel to Lonesome Dove, not as good - but a fun "how did they get to this point" read.

I'd like to be able to say that the bass fishing is going to rebound soon, but truth be told it is likely to be a while yet... 

Table Rock Fishing Report

As the previous post demonstrates, we did catch a few nice fish last week on Table Rock Lake. I fished for 8 wonderful days. The water temp varied from 78-80 degrees. We had both clear & windless days and overcast with a breeze but I couldn't tell a great deal of difference in the bite. Most of what I caught came in the flooded brush off main lake points in 12-15 feet of water on some form of red-shad worm - either the 5 inch stick worm, 4 inch shakey head worm, or regular worm. I couldn't get a bite on any other color or size; I tried a jib with a grub and caught one or two. We also caught a fish or two trolling bleeding shad rattle traps (larger size seemed to work better) and medium running yellow-green crankbait near the same areas. (We saw one boat take a 5 pounder trolling a blue-white crank bait.) I marked up our Table Rock map with all the key areas that we hit (sorry - no scan here).

If I had it to do over again I'd go back with a heavy football jig with a twintail grub tipped with a live worm and fish off the same main lake points. Drop the jig to the bottom in 30-35 feet, roll it up a crank, and then jig it. I'd let myself drift off the edges of the point and hold the same depth with the jig.

Table Rock Lake Pictures

Just a few pictures from Table Rock fishing last week - a full fishing report will come soon.
David took the prize for the largest fish - a nice 2.5 large mouth.

T'auna scored a nice fish with this 1.5 pound sand bass.


David and Lannea scored a solid double with their Sand Bass. If you look closely, Lannea's fish is slightly larger. Sorry David..

The Curious Incident

While I continue to be an impatient patient my reading list grows. On the recommendation of Randy Harris I read "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time." Quite curious indeed - written from the perspective of a young autistic mathematics savant.

One short passage: "And people who believe in God think God has put human beings on earth because they think human beings are the best animal, but human beings are just an animal and they will evolve into another animal, and that animal will be cleverer and it will put human beings into a zoo, like we put chimpanzees and gorillas into a zoo" (165). Curious, never thought about evolution leading us to be the featured exhibit in a zoo.

On to Table Rock lake later this week. I hope to have many reports and pictures to share when we return.