Sun Fishing on Bushcraft Wednesday

Right, I know, it's Bushcraft Wednesday when everyone's supposed to be out in the bush with rare Scandanavian knives, tinder boxes, buckskin clothing and an encyclopedic knowledge of how to live off the bush itself. 

A Typical Bushcraft Scene

All of that, as opposed to trudging about some supermarket in homage to your Overlords in the Nanny State.  Sure, I respect that, but I didn't get out in the bush today, I went to the water instead.

A Fish

Lake Whitney, in fact, where I thought I'd try my chances against the fish and the objective was simple; get enough for a decent meal. To reach that objective I tried the old weightless worm rig (WWR) method, which is just as complex as it sounds.

Kindly Old LSP (Get a Haircut)

Tie a hook on your line, thread a worm around the hook, a real worm, not a plastic one, and throw it in the water without a weight. Then watch the WWR sink into the depths; it will, albeit slowly. If you're fortunate, sunfish will start hitting the WWR on its way down. Be ready for that and set the hook! If they ignore the juicy worm, twitch it about a bit and experiment with different depths. Fishing wisdom.

Monster of the Deep

Well, the old WWR methold certainly worked this afternoon and I lost count of the fish reeled in. To be sure, lots were small and had to be put back, but others were a decent size and worth keeping. 

Mission Accomplished

I ended up with five, which is plenty for me, and would've had six, but he jumped off the hook, flopped into a crack in the limestone and was eaten by a snake. There's a moral in that, somewhere.

I'll fry those fish up tomorrow, beer batter style.

Tight lines,

LSP

Cast Into The Blitz!

Guderian

Fishing can be fun and sedate, it can also be fast and furious. It was furious this evening. There we were, standing on the shore of Lake Whitney as the fierce white light of the Texan sun was starting to set, casting out in hope of fish.

No joy. The fish were there, jumping, but about 100 yards away out of range. Would they come in to the shore? We bet the monkey on just that and switched out to topwater lures, all in the hope that what looked like a school of Sand Bass would close in. Sure enough, they did.

Bang! Before you could say Heinz Guderian, there they were, leaping, thrashing and blitzing through swarms of Shad. You know the wisdom, where leap the Shad, so bite the Bass, and that's the way it was. It sounded like fire crackling through dry tinder. 

We couldn't cast fast enough. "Cast to the blitz, lads!" and "Fish on!" echoed around the dam like Charles Martel's victorious war cry against the Moslem horde. Crazy, intense, topwater action, and all the better for the youngest member of the team getting his first fish of the year. Well done! More to follow.

A Fish

Then it was dark and time to head back to the Compound, adrenaline up and fishing tales abounding. Big, victorious excitement. 

And that's just the way it was.

Tight lines,

LSP

Texas Bass!

At an undisclosed location somewhere in Texas, there's a large pond. It's called "The Big Pond" and it has Bass in it, some of those Bass are large, really large, 8 lbs and up. The Team calls them Leviathan Bass because that's what they're like, monsters. I went after them this evening with Yum's famous Ribbontails, which promise: 

"The Ribbontail worm is your basic curlytail with a difference. The curl is longer than most, providing more swimming action in motion that other similar worms, and the solid body takes the abuse of multiple bass without tearing." 

So much for the marketing, did the Ribbontails walk the walk? They sure did, producing strike after strike. Widemouth Bass on The Big Pond love a dark Ribbontail and it was like storybook Bass fishing, with the ferocious predators surging, jumping and leaping out of the water at the end of the line, rod bent double. Big fun and big fish.

Did I land a Leviathan Bass? Not this time, but I'm not complaining.

Fish On,

LSP

Tight Lines

Sure, you can sit around in slack-jawed amazement at the state of the Worldwide Anglican Non Communion (WANC), or you can get out and fish. I chose the latter option and RV'd with GWB, somewhere in Texas.

The Bass were biting in a small way and before too long I had a couple on the hook and reeled in; so did GWB. Then the the action was on. A monster of the deep took GWB's lure; tap, hookset, and out played the drag. 

Nice Fish, GWB

Big fun and a big fish. Good result. That Bass tournament was won by GWB. But then the sun was setting, the wind died down and the water smoothed out into a golden glassy stillness. Time for topwater.

Twitch that Torpedo and in fairness, a Bass exploded on my lure like a senior womyn clergyperson angling for a pointed hat. It was a close run thing, but the fish got away. Then it was time to get on the road and head back to the Compound.

And that was that, a good time was had by all.

Your Friend,

LSP

Basschaton

There we were , somewhere in Texas, fishing for Bass, and they weren't biting, until they did. Clamp! Vise-like jaws snapped shut on an alluring dark plastic worm and in came a fish, an apocalyptic leviathan of a Bass.

GWB soon caught up with some swift action, and after an hour at the lake we were neck and neck at 3 fish each. By then the sun was setting, the lake was still as glass and it just seemed right to try out the Tiny Torpedo topwater method.

A small strike, almost more of a gulp, later and kaboom! A big fish was on, leaping and fighting, playing out the drag as it stormed and thrashed out of the water. Excitement wasn't in it, this was a serious fish.

As if on cue, lightning flashed through the thunderheads, right there, at the Basschaton.

Tight Lines,

LSP