Getting the Bug

 My blog has been severely neglected. When I read that my last post was from the summer of 2021 I almost felt maybe this blog should die. When I read the old posts I'm still very entertained by my past experiences and I think no matter what notions I have to killing this blog I'll keep it around. If not only for my own entertainment. 

What have I been up to? 

Nothing worth bragging about. My family survived Covid and I was able to fish some last year and even a little this year. My last few excursions with the kids were fun but they never had that bonding aspect I was hoping for. The fishing trips usually ended prematurely and the kids looked forward to where we were eating out after more than the trip itself. 

My daughter and I hit a river that should have some white bass and I was knew if she could get in a school she'd have a great time. The problem was there was considerable hiking involved and her waders aren't the most comfortable. We made the trek to the spot I had picked out and were able to get to the water without much incident. Even after I mentioned the ground bees along the trail and she couldn't walk after without staring down the rest of the time. She was terrified they were going to attack her. 

The water was dingy and visibility was horrible. There was random debris in the water but I figured fish still had to be there. While I was rigging up I heard on my right "oooh, oooooh, I got one!" 

On her second cast she hooked her first white bass. I thought it was on at that point. Usually after one white bass many are soon to follow. All we seemed to catch though were leaves and sticks. I couldn't tell if the fly wasn't getting deep enough or the fish just weren't there. 

We tried a different spot and I finally found some fish. Caught on a white wooly bugger of course.

I got into a few more after that but by white bass run standards this was a pretty slow day. At least the blue skies of NC didn't disappoint.

My daughter started to get bored and at one point I saw her in a tree messing with her sketch book. She showed me this later and maybe because I know it's me I'm fascinated by it.

We talked on the trail about our philosophies on life and I think just maybe she understood other reasons why I love fishing. It was exactly the kind of day I had imagined I'd spend with my kids fishing. The smile says it all.

Hot Water.... Literally

It's the second hottest summer on record and the lake I recently fished is showing it. I went out last week to let my kids swim and when I got in I thought the water was usually warm. Some guys were treading water next to their kayaks enjoying the warm evening with some cold beers. I asked if they knew how hot the water was and was blown a way with the answer of 91 DEGREES! I didn't believe them and figured it was probably more in the high 80's. A storm was rolling in and with thunder in the distance I decided to get off the water. As I was loading up a guy with a really nice kayak setup came in. He had a fish finder that looked like it had to be in the thousands. If anyone knew the true temp of the water this guy would know. His answer was the same 91 degrees. It blew my mind how can anything live in that? I'm guessing that temp is only so many feet down but still that is hot. I've been in Jacuzzi's that weren't much warmer. I'm worried about what the temps will do to the fishing. 

Catfishing seems to be going fine. A guy in my fly fishing club posted a bunch of pics from his recent outing.

He's caught a few this size and it makes me sick. If you want to check him out his username is Andy.724 on Instagram.

With the warm water temps I'm reluctant to let my kids swim in the lake. I'm sure it's paranoia but I figure why risk them getting some weird bacteria or crud. If we get some cool rains or at least some days in the 80's I'll try my luck again.