Don't Scorn Bank Fishing

People scorn bank fishing. They say, "Look, loser. Where's your Mercury rig Bass Boat?" and I know what they mean. Having a boat should equal catching more fish, as well as planing about on the lake like the King of Texas. But that's not always the case.

Just the other day, on Lake Whitney's spillway, there I was, casting off into the current from the bank while a boat full of guys anchored opposite me and started fishing. Who caught more? I did; 8 Bass to their 0 Bass. Mind you, they drank 8 beers to my 0 beers. So they won that part of the contest.

I reflected on that and the message was clear. You can have a perfectly good fishing experience from the bank. In fact, you might even do better than some clowns goofing off in a boat, and that's the way it was this evening.

No boat, but plenty of fishing action from the shore of Lake Whitney as the sun was setting. Was it beautiful? Yes. Was it exciting? For sure, especially when a decent Bass smashed into my lure. Was it expensive? Not nearly so expensive as a boat, or a night out in Dallas.

Still, I'm looking forward to one of my rich socialist pals redistributing part of their great wealth to me in the form of a Skiff. For that matter, I'd be happy with a canoe, maybe one with a motor.

And, let the record show, I've resolved to learn fly fishing. I've heard that can even be done from the bank.

Carry on,

LSP

#I'llGoWithYou?

Students at Oregon State are getting serious about fighting injustice and oppression, which is why they've launched a campaign to provide transsexuals with a "companion."

Potential "companions" are identified by a special "#I'llGoWithYou" button, which can be worn on clothing or a backpack. PJ Harris explains the logic behind the special buttons:

“If someone is walking around with the button displayed on their backpack, a person who does not feel safe in gendered spaces, such as bathrooms, locker rooms, or even talking with a professor, can walk up to someone with a button and ask them to come with them.”

Well done, Oregon State, for tackling the greatest civil liberty and justice issue of our time.

Whether UFOs are "gendered spaces" is presently unclear.

Ad Astra,

LSP

Mark Zuckerberg, Billionaire Socialist

I'm a Billionaire Socialist!

Mark Zuckerberg, billionaire socialist extraordinaire, with a net worth of over $30 billion, is against America having borders or protecting them.

A Typical Billionaire Socialist's Palace, With a Border.

Maybe that's why Mark Zuckerberg lives in a mansion with a high-security border and's demolishing homes around his rich leftist compound, to turn the border between himself and the rest of the world more to his liking.

The Facebook Logo

Facefraud, which has a "trending news" section, is a well-known pawn of the NWO, globalist elite. That would make Zuckerberg its stooge.

Kick out the JAMS,

LSP

The Awesome Power of Topwater Fishing

I know what you're thinking, all 5 of you that read this shallow excuse for a mind blog. You're thinking for someone who's always banging on about the awesomness of topwater lures, you sure don't seem to use them much. In fact, you spent the best part of Trinity Sunday afternoon fishing with a spoon, so-called LSP, if that's your real name, which we doubt.

OK, I stand rebuked, but it's a mark of character to be able to take constructive criticism and improve performance. And with that in mind, I set off for an evening of Tiny Torpedo topwater engagement with the aquatic opposition at Lake Whitney.

Lake Whitney at Dusk, Choppy

I won't bore you by saying how still, tranquil and glassy smooth the lake was, and I won't take up your time with the conversation I had with a fellow Angler, a youngish black fellow who proudly announced that he was "a Harris" and that he'd bought his rod at a pawnshop. I liked him; good for you, taking pride in the family name. Anyway, he left for Lake Aquilla and I got on with business.

In a short while Perch were swirling around the Torpedo. That got my hopes and adrenalin up, hey the Torpedo works. But no bites. Bass, on the other hand, were breaking the water off to my right towards the dam. Go where the fish are, says Fishing Wisdom, and that's what I did.

Catch That Bass! On a Torpedo

The Torpedo whipped those Bass into a frenzy and before long one was on the line, leaping and fighting. I brought him in, a decent fish, and for about 20 minutes it was fish on and big action. Exciting, one of the best things out there, as the ferocious predators explode around your lure.

Then it was dark and time to go, the awesomness of topwater fishing vindicated.

Fish On,

LSP

Holy Trinity Fishing

It's the Feast of the Holy Trinity today, so I decided to celebrate by fishing Lake Whitney's spillway after the second Mass. After clambering down the steep and treacherous rip rap, I set up on the shore of the fast moving Brazos and cast off with a striper lure. It seemed to be getting bites, very encouraging, and then it got snagged. Well done, striper lure, you caught a rock.

In the meanwhile, Gar, some of them large, were cruising the bank like submarines. Maybe the Gar will go for a crankbait shad, I thought decisively, and sure enough they did; before long it was ambushed by one of the prehistoric creatures. 

Great excitement! Get that fish! But don't rush, let the Gar take the bait and run with it, don't go for a premature hookset and lose it all, that's the method. But in this case, the ferocious looking monster, and it was, lifted the lure up out of the water, fixed me with its eye, shook the fakey little plastic shad about and then spat it out. You could almost hear the spit, I think I did hear it. Take that, LSP, spat the Gar.

Hunh. Back to the tackle box for another solution. Seeing as fishing is all about science, I relied on intuition and picked out a cheap silver spoon, the kind you buy at Walmart for $2.00. Throw that in the water and see what happens.

A small Hybrid Striper was what happened, who hit the spoon about 30 yards off the bank and fought all the way in. Fierce little fella. If it's not broken, don't fix it, says Fishing Wisdom, and I repeated the silver spoon trick, casting out to midstream, letting the current take it across the channel towards the bank and then reeling it in. The idea being to get opportunistic hits midstream and pick up fish waiting in ambush out of the current. Science.

7 or 8 Hybrids/Sandies and one baby Widemouth later I called it a day and clambered back up the treacherous rip rap to the rig. Don't fall off the rocks and break your neck, fool, I thought grimly to myself, rods in hand. Several carabiners, pitons and traverses later I was back at the truck, unscathed. Not only did I get some neat after Mass fishing in, but also a well-needed rock climbing refresher. Two birds, one stone, as it were. And here's the thing.

The fish weren't large but they were big fun, and that's what it's all about.

Fish On,

LSP

Hillary, The Old Witch

This teaching infographic was sent in by a member of the intelligence community, and I think it speaks for itself. But go right ahead, vote for Hillary before she melts, or gets cuffed.

And while you're at it, boycott Target, which is a kind of transsexual megastore, plagued by tanking stock value.

Your Old Pal,

LSP

Archbishop of Canterbury Wants to Get Rid of AIDS

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, wants to eradicate AIDS by 2030. I hope he succeeds, that'd be grand, no more AIDS, though some have questioned why Anglicanism's top prelate isn't focusing on on other more widespread and equally deadly diseases.

In related news, the Church of England invests heavily in the rainbow tech giant, Google. How much money does the venerable CofE have with the Big Gay NWO champion of alternative gender identity and same-sex marriage? 

According to RT, some $22 million as of 2011.

Make of that what you will.

LSP

Topwater

Heddon Tiny Torpedo

Fishing with topwater lures can offer explosive action and big fun, no doubt about it. Bass will attack that twitching bit of plastic, hitting the lure like steam train before pulling it down into the depths, and the fight's on. 

The emphasis here is on can; a lot of the time, if you're me, poppers, torpedoes, spooks and the like produce no action at all. Still, the other day at Lake Whitney I had good success with a Torpedo and decided to read up on the subject. I found this article helpful, here's an excerpt:

Wham! When the strike came, I stifled my jerk reflex and waited for the fish to pull the bait down. Then, when I felt tension, I set back, and in short order a surprised three-pounder was flopping in my net.

Heddon Spook

...Most every brushpile harbored bass, and my Tiny Torpedo and that stay-put, irritating retrieve were the keys to catching them. Those fish never hit when the lure first gurgled into range. Instead, it was the twitching that changed their mood from neutral to aggressive. By tantalizing them long enough, the lure triggered their instinct to kill the "helpless prey" even though they weren't hungry.

So this is the object with topwater lures, to present bass with a vulnerable, unaware "creature" that is an easy target, then allowing nature to take its course.

You can read the rest of it here and learn something about the why, where, when and how of topwater lures. For me the why's simple, sheer excitement at the ferocious, leaping, impact of the Bass. 

Lake Aquilla, The Challenge Is On!

Nothing like it and while I'm no expert, the success I have had makes me want more. A lot more.

Fish On,

LSP

When The Man Comes

One of our churchmen died early today of a heart attack. It was sudden and a shock; we'd been talking only yesterday and he seemed in excellent health, promising to bring some quail to Mass this evening. "You might want to bring a small cooler!" he said, and that's what I was getting ready to do when I received the news.

I got on the 'phone and one man, who I respect very much, said, "When the Man calls, you gotta go." There's no arguing with that.

My friend had been an explosives person in SE Asia and carried on the lifestyle into the '80s, finishing up in Uzbekistan before becoming a civilian contractor, most recently in Afghanistan. He'd retired here to raise quail, grow herbs and be midway between his children and grandchildren. 

He was a good man and a committed Christian.

LJ, rest in peace and rise in glory. You will be badly missed.

LSP

Spanking Time!

Are you looking for that perfect gift? The one that says it all to your loved one or friend? Then look no further than this realistically styled and affordably priced action figure.

"Vladimir Putin is a charismatic president loved by many people. He has often been a subject of good and harmless jokes. This action figure is no exception. It shows how the head of the Russian Federation in the search for alternative solutions is committed when diplomacy does not work."

Sold by all_russian_treasures, the Putin Spanks Obama action figure can be bought on ebay here, for a mere EUR 51.95.

Worth it at twice the price.

LSP

It's Hard, Country Hard

Life may be easy if you're a hedge fund manager, lobbyist, or one of our privileged, deracinated, bi-coastal ruling elite. Everything's laid on; there it is, just watch the cash roll in off the gravy train. But that's not the way it is in the country, you have to get out there and make it happen. My philisophical pal, GWB, reminded me of this, sometime after Morning Prayer.

"Look, LSP, you can sit around all day in slack-jawed dismay at the Deep State of this country, or you can do something about it. Like fish." I took that to heart.

Reeled In.

Thirty minutes later I was on the water somewhere in Texas, making it happen, with worms, plastic and real, and a variety of spinners. The fish scorned that like the American public in the face of yet another Hillary lie. Contemptuous indifference was their hallmark and like I said, it's not easy in the country. Do you give up? No, you don't, you keep going at it.

Bass

With strawberry dough bait. And guess what? The fish thought it was the best thing. A Catfish went for the delicious red strawberry morsels like a commie on a five year plan. Then a Bass tore into it, fighting and leaping all the way to the bank. 

Catfish

Not the privately owned, create your money at interest for profit Federal Reserve Bank, no the bank of the lake. And it wasn't over, another cat hit the delicious strawberry bait and ended up at the shore. It was a mutated kind of yellow, which was interesting, if off-putting. 

Strawberry Dough Bait. Who Knew?

New rods vindicated, I drove through the waterlogged fields, praying that my 2x2 rig didn't get stuck in the mud. It's hard enough in the country without having to tow a fisherman out of the clay... But no worries, the truck made it to higher ground and out the gate, which I closed.

Fish On,

LSP

Get Back in The Fight

When the action goes against you, you can give up, defeated. Or you can reengage, get back in the fight and win. I chose the latter path, it wasn't easy.

After vicious setbacks, culminating in thieves stealing my rods right out of the bed of the rig this morning, I was tempted to pack the whole fishing thing in, at least for the week. But no, that would've been useless and defeated, so I rearmed.

Several Ugly Sticks and an Abu Gracia and a Mitchell reel later, there was Lake Aquilla, fish beckoning. I tried my luck by the ramp with worms, and sure enough they were biting, but no strikes. So change it up, put a red treble hook on the line and try some strawberry catfish bait. Yum, fish love that, although, to be honest, I've never caught anything with it.

First cast and... bam! Something hit the hook and ran with it. A Bass and a decent little fish at that, putting up plenty of fight and leaping out of the water like Bass are supposed to do. Great result. Reel it in.

Next up, a catfish took the line. It wasn't big but not shy of a fight either, and there it was, another fish. Then low ominous clouds scudded in from the Northeast, the wind picked up and the lake got choppy, so I called it a day.

Moral of the story? Don't give up, like a sad loser, get back in the fight and fish.

Fish On,

LSP