As today was July 4th, I could not help resisting the urge to do something sort of patriotic when fishing today. The idea would be to strictly use lures that were in a USA color theme. I chose an L & S Mirrolure and a Beno...both jointed and red and white in color. I've done well on these over the years for smallies and LM bass so in the water they went...one at a time of course!
I don’t see any skunks in there! And I agree,at least have a PFD with you,I use the inflatable ones,very compact 🎣
My wife wanted to join me for the "paddle"...without fishing...so we did that for a few hours until it got hard to be stable in all of the caddywampus waves that were being thrown from jet skis and pleasure boaters. After constantly bobbing around in just about every direction at the drop of a hat she looked over at me and said..."i've had enough, let's go back to the truck." She was not angry...just not having fun. She is a fast paddler, and enjoys the water when things are much calmer! We headed back to our launch site where she curled up on the beach under some shade and sent me back out on the prowl.

Caught a single fish on both lures, just casting in shallow water with a clean beach sand bottom, devoid of any cover or structure. That was really all I was after....just proof of purpose for my own curiosity. The proximity of heavy boating traffic nearby did not help matters in terms of a "quiet time" on the water, but I certainly appreciate that everybody likes to be on the water doing whatever they enjoy...especially on a well deserved Holiday. I took no pictures of today's fish, so the one posted below is a surrogate from a previous outing using the same L & S Mirro-Lure.

After an hour of steady fishing I was reeling in to call it a day, only to notice that one of our local sheriff's had come in from deep water to inspect a couple of kayakers. There had been 3 "boating accidents" yesterday, and I think the police were in a state of higher alert today. Anyways, and much to my disappointment, he pulled out his little ticket book and began to take dictation from the kayakers to fill in the "form"... because neither vessel had a PFD on board. The air was still enough for their voices to carry my way and I heard the ensuing conversation as I paddled by. In my heart, I felt empathy for the couple, and had hoped they would just get a stiff warning. It was a good reminder that PDF's, whether "law" or not, are always a "must have" item whenever you are on the water...regardless of what type of craft you are in. Sometimes learning a lesson the hard way ends up sinking in deeper, and perhaps it will save their lives one of these days. I hope they did not leave too embittered, because nobody likes getting a ticket!

Best regards everybody, and I hope that you truly enjoyed the past weekend having spent it with friends and family...the things that matter most!

As today was July 4th, I could not help resisting the urge to do something sort of patriotic when fishing today. The idea would be to strictly use lures that were in a USA color theme. I chose an L & S Mirrolure and a Beno...both jointed and red and white in color. I've done well on these over the years for smallies and LM bass so in the water they went...one at a time of course!

My wife wanted to join me for the "paddle"...without fishing...so we did that for a few hours until it got hard to be stable in all of the caddywampus waves that were being thrown from jet skis and pleasure boaters. After constantly bobbing around in just about every direction at the drop of a hat she looked over at me and said..."i've had enough, let's go back to the truck." She was not angry...just not having fun. She is a fast paddler, and enjoys the water when things are much calmer! We headed back to our launch site where she curled up on the beach under some shade and sent me back out on the prowl.

Caught a single fish on both lures, just casting in shallow water with a clean beach sand bottom, devoid of any cover or structure. That was really all I was after....just proof of purpose for my own curiosity. The proximity of heavy boating traffic nearby did not help matters in terms of a "quiet time" on the water, but I certainly appreciate that everybody likes to be on the water doing whatever they enjoy...especially on a well deserved Holiday. I took no pictures of today's fish, so the one posted below is a surrogate from a previous outing using the same L & S Mirro-Lure.

After an hour of steady fishing I was reeling in to call it a day, only to notice that one of our local sheriff's had come in from deep water to inspect a couple of kayakers. There had been 3 "boating accidents" yesterday, and I think the police were in a state of higher alert today. Anyways, and much to my disappointment, he pulled out his little ticket book and began to take dictation from the kayakers to fill in the "form"... because neither vessel had a PFD on board. The air was still enough for their voices to carry my way and I heard the ensuing conversation as I paddled by. In my heart, I felt empathy for the couple, and had hoped they would just get a stiff warning. It was a good reminder that PDF's, whether "law" or not, are always a "must have" item whenever you are on the water...regardless of what type of craft you are in. Sometimes learning a lesson the hard way ends up sinking in deeper, and perhaps it will save their lives one of these days. I hope they did not leave too embittered, because nobody likes getting a ticket!

Best regards everybody, and I hope that you truly enjoyed the past weekend having spent it with friends and family...the things that matter most!

As today was July 4th, I could not help resisting the urge to do something sort of patriotic when fishing today. The idea would be to strictly use lures that were in a USA color theme. I chose an L & S Mirrolure and a Beno...both jointed and red and white in color. I've done well on these over the years for smallies and LM bass so in the water they went...one at a time of course!

My wife wanted to join me for the "paddle"...without fishing...so we did that for a few hours until it got hard to be stable in all of the caddywampus waves that were being thrown from jet skis and pleasure boaters. After constantly bobbing around in just about every direction at the drop of a hat she looked over at me and said..."i've had enough, let's go back to the truck." She was not angry...just not having fun. She is a fast paddler, and enjoys the water when things are much calmer! We headed back to our launch site where she curled up on the beach under some shade and sent me back out on the prowl.

Caught a single fish on both lures, just casting in shallow water with a clean beach sand bottom, devoid of any cover or structure. That was really all I was after....just proof of purpose for my own curiosity. The proximity of heavy boating traffic nearby did not help matters in terms of a "quiet time" on the water, but I certainly appreciate that everybody likes to be on the water doing whatever they enjoy...especially on a well deserved Holiday. I took no pictures of today's fish, so the one posted below is a surrogate from a previous outing using the same L & S Mirro-Lure.

After an hour of steady fishing I was reeling in to call it a day, only to notice that one of our local sheriff's had come in from deep water to inspect a couple of kayakers. There had been 3 "boating accidents" yesterday, and I think the police were in a state of higher alert today. Anyways, and much to my disappointment, he pulled out his little ticket book and began to take dictation from the kayakers to fill in the "form"... because neither vessel had a PFD on board. The air was still enough for their voices to carry my way and I heard the ensuing conversation as I paddled by. In my heart, I felt empathy for the couple, and had hoped they would just get a stiff warning. It was a good reminder that PDF's, whether "law" or not, are always a "must have" item whenever you are on the water...regardless of what type of craft you are in. Sometimes learning a lesson the hard way ends up sinking in deeper, and perhaps it will save their lives one of these days. I hope they did not leave too embittered, because nobody likes getting a ticket!

Best regards everybody, and I hope that you truly enjoyed the past weekend having spent it with friends and family...the things that matter most!

As today was July 4th, I could not help resisting the urge to do something sort of patriotic when fishing today. The idea would be to strictly use lures that were in a USA color theme. I chose an L & S Mirrolure and a Beno...both jointed and red and white in color. I've done well on these over the years for smallies and LM bass so in the water they went...one at a time of course!

My wife wanted to join me for the "paddle"...without fishing...so we did that for a few hours until it got hard to be stable in all of the caddywampus waves that were being thrown from jet skis and pleasure boaters. After constantly bobbing around in just about every direction at the drop of a hat she looked over at me and said..."i've had enough, let's go back to the truck." She was not angry...just not having fun. She is a fast paddler, and enjoys the water when things are much calmer! We headed back to our launch site where she curled up on the beach under some shade and sent me back out on the prowl.

Caught a single fish on both lures, just casting in shallow water with a clean beach sand bottom, devoid of any cover or structure. That was really all I was after....just proof of purpose for my own curiosity. The proximity of heavy boating traffic nearby did not help matters in terms of a "quiet time" on the water, but I certainly appreciate that everybody likes to be on the water doing whatever they enjoy...especially on a well deserved Holiday. I took no pictures of today's fish, so the one posted below is a surrogate from a previous outing using the same L & S Mirro-Lure.

After an hour of steady fishing I was reeling in to call it a day, only to notice that one of our local sheriff's had come in from deep water to inspect a couple of kayakers. There had been 3 "boating accidents" yesterday, and I think the police were in a state of higher alert today. Anyways, and much to my disappointment, he pulled out his little ticket book and began to take dictation from the kayakers to fill in the "form"... because neither vessel had a PFD on board. The air was still enough for their voices to carry my way and I heard the ensuing conversation as I paddled by. In my heart, I felt empathy for the couple, and had hoped they would just get a stiff warning. It was a good reminder that PDF's, whether "law" or not, are always a "must have" item whenever you are on the water...regardless of what type of craft you are in. Sometimes learning a lesson the hard way ends up sinking in deeper, and perhaps it will save their lives one of these days. I hope they did not leave too embittered, because nobody likes getting a ticket!

Best regards everybody, and I hope that you truly enjoyed the past weekend having spent it with friends and family...the things that matter most!

As today was July 4th, I could not help resisting the urge to do something sort of patriotic when fishing today. The idea would be to strictly use lures that were in a USA color theme. I chose an L & S Mirrolure and a Beno...both jointed and red and white in color. I've done well on these over the years for smallies and LM bass so in the water they went...one at a time of course!

My wife wanted to join me for the "paddle"...without fishing...so we did that for a few hours until it got hard to be stable in all of the caddywampus waves that were being thrown from jet skis and pleasure boaters. After constantly bobbing around in just about every direction at the drop of a hat she looked over at me and said..."i've had enough, let's go back to the truck." She was not angry...just not having fun. She is a fast paddler, and enjoys the water when things are much calmer! We headed back to our launch site where she curled up on the beach under some shade and sent me back out on the prowl.

Caught a single fish on both lures, just casting in shallow water with a clean beach sand bottom, devoid of any cover or structure. That was really all I was after....just proof of purpose for my own curiosity. The proximity of heavy boating traffic nearby did not help matters in terms of a "quiet time" on the water, but I certainly appreciate that everybody likes to be on the water doing whatever they enjoy...especially on a well deserved Holiday. I took no pictures of today's fish, so the one posted below is a surrogate from a previous outing using the same L & S Mirro-Lure.

After an hour of steady fishing I was reeling in to call it a day, only to notice that one of our local sheriff's had come in from deep water to inspect a couple of kayakers. There had been 3 "boating accidents" yesterday, and I think the police were in a state of higher alert today. Anyways, and much to my disappointment, he pulled out his little ticket book and began to take dictation from the kayakers to fill in the "form"... because neither vessel had a PFD on board. The air was still enough for their voices to carry my way and I heard the ensuing conversation as I paddled by. In my heart, I felt empathy for the couple, and had hoped they would just get a stiff warning. It was a good reminder that PDF's, whether "law" or not, are always a "must have" item whenever you are on the water...regardless of what type of craft you are in. Sometimes learning a lesson the hard way ends up sinking in deeper, and perhaps it will save their lives one of these days. I hope they did not leave too embittered, because nobody likes getting a ticket!

Best regards everybody, and I hope that you truly enjoyed the past weekend having spent it with friends and family...the things that matter most!

That is a very good question! After I passed them I did not have a very good view and was headed in the opposite direction. Out of duty, I would imagine that he told them to return to their launch site. I did find it interesting that initially, he summoned the wife to the boat first and had the guy stay well away. My guess is that neither one had any ID on board, so he was asking questions to obtain information and wanted to glean it independently from each person to make sure the names and address made sense without being told any falsehoods.

I agree with you on that front papa jack...when you know that the boat traffic is going to be heavy...why go out if you don't have to! We retired about 4 years ago, so we do have some latitude about planning but sometimes it's also fun just to head out and join in the festivities of it all.

I had a little "fun" this morning in the garage while my wife was sipping on her morning coffee...

If you look closely at the foredeck hatch on my wife's kayak pictured above you'll notice the absence of a compass. When she bought that kayak, her first words to me were..."Now I want it to stay "stock"...no accessories please...I know that your first plans will be to tweak it all out like your's...so you have an alternate to go fishing in". Of course this was somewhat in jest...but with a grain of seriousness too. It's been five years and thus far I had honored her request...

Well, what's a retired guy to do after breakfast on a gloomy day...perhaps install that spare compass you've had on hand from the supply box?! Yep...I'm taking a chance but we'll see how "step one" of adding some accessories goes once she notices! She is like a lady version of Sherlock Holmes...nothing get's by her... so by days end I'll probably be apologizing and taking her out for a nice dinner! Unfortunately there will be 4 small holes in the fiberglass hatch cover so I plan to leave it intact and take the flak!

Have a great week ahead!