Bass, Bluegill and Dinosaurs

I'm not sure about other fisherman but when I have a horrible day on the water I have to do another trip to wipe it off the books.  Saturday was an abysmal day on the water.   A thunderstorm hit the night before leaving the river muddy and high.  It was the highest I had ever seen it.  I was leading a fishing trip and I tried to make the best of it.  Too say it was rough is an understatement.  To top it off I had a friend drive an hour just to be there.  I was going to try teach him how to fly fish and maybe get him on a white bass.  The river conditions were too dangerous.  Basically he stood on the banks and watched me fish.  He was a good sport about the whole thing but I felt bad.  The water was so dark and high I figured the fish were deep and hunkered down.   I managed a couple fish but I had to really work at it.  I almost went to another fishing spot right after just to get this one out of my mind.  I needed to get home to put in some family time. 

Sunday we went to the NC Zoo.   There was a new Dinosaur Exhibit that I wanted to check out.  I have always been fascinated by dinosaurs.  I can still remember as a kid watching the movie Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend.   I was always into dinosaur books and finding fossils in the California desert.  Even now I enjoy watching the Jurassic Park movies.  My daughter has recently been talking about dinosaurs a lot and I was hoping she would be really into them.  I was a little afraid these dinosaurs might scare her.  They were animatronic and made noises.  They also moved a little and provided a special surprise for myself. As we walked through the entrance I could hear the dinosaur sounds in the background. I kept watching my daughters reaction and she did the opposite of what I expected. She ran towards the first dinosaur she saw.

I knew right away she was going to enjoy this. She had a blast and it was fun to watch her get excited when there was a new creature around each turn.

The detail on the dinosaurs is amazing. I imagine a lot of work went into making them. The movements were pretty good too. They didn't have the robotic lifeless movement I've seen in the past. My son didn't know what to make of every thing. I think he was just going with the flow and watched his sister.

There is a kids show called Dino Dan that my daughter used to watch all the time. I think that is the only reason she knew what a T-Rex was right when she saw it. It was probably my favorite one and really gave you the feeling of how scary it must have been to be chased by this guy.

While we were walking by one dinosaur we all felt a strange sensation. It was like someone shot water at us. I realized it was one of the robots on the side but while I was checking it out I felt water hit me in the back like a kid was behind me with a super soaker.

This guy nailed me. Luckily I took the brunt of the water so none go on my family. It was pretty funny though my back was drenched. The water scared the kids but it didn't take long for them to forget about it.

This was an awesome exhibit and I'm sure we'll check it out again before it leaves the zoo.

I was still a little bitter about the fishing experience yesterday. I wanted to get out some where even if it was a local lake. I knew my wife wasn't going to be happy about me asking. I decided to give it a try any way and she gave me the go ahead. I hurried to a local lake that I usually fish in the summer. I figured with the warm weather we've been having maybe the fish will turn on early. The water conditions were perfect. I started around a small island. I noticed a swirl and cast right for it. Instantly I had a small bass on.  This lake always seems to have fish with in 8ft of shore. It's almost useless to cast straight out. All of my success has come casting parallel to shore. The closer to the bank the better. This day was no different. There are drainage pipes that usually always hold a bass. I put on a popper and worked the edges. After a couple of casts I had a fish on. Most of the bass are like this.

They are small and skinny but fun to catch.  There seemed to be bass every few feet. The hard part was they hit so close to shore it was hard to get a decent hook set. I had tons of fish stay on for maybe 10seconds and come off a foot from shore. Honestly I kind of like that. It's like the perfect release. I get to fight the fish and feel what it had to offer and then it's gone with out much stress. The panfish weren't about to let the bass have all the fun. They were out in full force too. The gills were enormous.

You can't tell from the picture but this fish is very large. I tried to take another pic with my hand behind the gill and you could not see my hand at all. The fish flopped off literally as I was snapping the picture. I caught a red breast the same size and it came off as I grabbed the hook. I'm going back another day and seeing if I can possible get one over a pound. Today I was targeting bass and I caught so many that I almost didn't even bother going further than half way around the lake. It was the kind of day you dream about. You'd see a swirl or disturbance in the water throw your popper and have something hit it instantly or with in 30 seconds. It was ridiculous. Definitely one of my best days ever fishing this lake. I guess it takes a horrible day like the one I had before to make me appreciate this one.