Glad you had a good visit with your mom Bro. Saw and that you made her day and she made your's. I miss my mother and dad so much, but I know I will one day.

I camped on Toledo bend reservoir that borders East Texas and Louisiana. my older brother and I took our younger brother Kerry with us, who was 9 years old with at the time. We were fishing and catching some nice size bluegill and crappie were biting real good, cleaned them and bag them to cook with our breakfast the next morning. so we pitched our tent and stayed there a couple of nights. I told my brother there could be a few alligators here as a precautionary measure for him not to be trying to wade out in murky water. Everything fish that rolled flopped and jumped in the water, Kerry would yell, alligator!!! 🤣 I told him probably not it was most likely it catfish grabbing something off the top of water the sunning in his belly. The one thing we did have to look out for was black bear, we had everything put up in a solid metal Coleman ice chest like it was paper. 🐻

I know without a doubt our climate is warming up here in NC.as I remember being in Texas, we might not top out in the 105-110° temperature as Texas Oklahoma other Southern states do but we absolutely had no winter and we already have alligators 100 miles from the beaches of North Carolina. Don't want to say the python and other invasive fish like the snakehead will eventually find its way into watersheds and reservoirs.

When we first bought lake house in North Texas one of the first things I did was build a nice big Pier with a large fishing deck, in a cove there was an absolutely perfect habitat for attracting fish and feeding fish that was Chased Chad and spawning fish utilizing the thick cattails and potatoes vines to do their business. Lake Arrowhead, where I lived and fished for 25 years. Wichita falls is about as Northern and you can get other than Amarillo that extends about 400 MI north of us. but I remember in the 70s a guy running a trotline over at Shoshone Park which is the river that connected Lake Kickapoo and Lake Arrowhead together for the city of Wichita falls watershed. This man running trotline across that River caught a 3-ft long alligator 🐊 but he killed and collected it, called the game warden and it made the newspaper. While living on the lake I spent a lot of time on my fishing dock catching crappie and catfish and striped bass. One morning about noon I was fishing with minnows when about a foot and a half long alligator I initially thought was a gar, then I seen the head and realize it was about a foot and a half long alligator it had a hold of my hook but when it saw me it spit the hook and got away. People say these invasive fish and alligator can't survive in climate outside of their normal element is not true, for an alligator that was caught in the 1970s to reach 3 ft long and 100 lb and the one I almost caught is proof these creatures can adapt in the southern states with temperatures that are warm. Now you hear everyday they're finding new invasive species are a threat to our native species because they eat our native species roe and young hatchlings and smaller species of fish.

Good Morning it's 61° reaching 80° with a chance for thunderstorms this evening

Praying for your mom Saw and you too Brother!

I think a lot of these stories are moonshine related, just a snort two or three and a Whopper of a fishing story is made 🤣

I send my prayers plumb bob to you and your brother's family and that God will give them comfort in their time of loss.

Just by reading scriptures old and new testaments even though they rejected Christ and nailed him on the cross for our sins and Israel God has brought great kingdoms to ruin to free Israel from s***ery, won battles they didn't have to fight, just believe God would do it. But I think the United States and our allies choose rightly the stand with Israel because if we did not God will remove his hand on us or any country that would attack to destroy God's chosen people. No one can predict Christ return but the Antichrist will appear first to try to deceive God's very elect who believe upon God's only begotten son Jesus Christ and whom he crucified the sanctify us for our sins. But I believe without a doubt Israel is the trigger, Israel will be gullible and many people will be fooled by the Antichrist and follow him straight into hell. And I believe many weak-minded or misdirected religious people will follow this false Christ, that will bring home the Christian being removed, and the real Christ will defend Israel won't need any help from nobody. I believe the second coming is closer than any of us know.

I have lived and fished in three states known for huge Flathead and Blue catfish Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina but have fished in Louisiana Arkansas, Tennessee. I have no doubt out in the ocean there are species of fish that are capable of killing and eating a grown man, but one story I've heard over and over again, some dive team went down inspecting a reservoir dam, hurried back to the surface saying, there's catfish biggest Volkswagen and he's not going back scared to death. I've seen some of the record flatheads and blue catfish on Lake Texoma and I believe the largest one I seen was a 130 lb blue cat. I myself have caught 100 lb Flathead here in North Carolina though she was as strong as a bull and would be capable of pulling you out of a boat if you're not set up and experienced catching them. they're real strong, but they're not going to eat you whole. I've seen them attack and eat ducks snatching them off of water but not a grown adult man. Now I know there's Wells catfish and other species that have a reputation and huge sturgeon that might do the job, but not these fresh water giant stories of being as big as a Volkswagen beetle not in these freshwaters.

Story 2. This story is about a man supposedly being checked by a game warden for fishing license and asked has he caught anything? No, but a little boy fishing up the next cove on the river said that his worms were biting him and then the game warden rushes to his car and runs up to check on a little boy and find him dead. he was supposedly fishing with a bucket of baby poisonous snakes. I've heard this story and every area that I have fished in. I myself was digging for fishing worms on a piece of property I owned in Texas I hadn't developed anything on it yet. But my family and a friend cloud and made us a large garden on the property and there was some good spots that I found a lot of earthworms that I in my brother will go dig, as I was coming through the worms I dug up some baby snakes but I recognized it cover them up and left them alone. I think these stories are just what they sound like stories, even when I was a young boy capable of going fishing on my own, I knew the difference between digging up earthworms fishing and snakes filling my bucket with them to use his fishing bait.

One Gunsmoke Long Branch poker game one guy reached out to lay down a card and there's a blooper of a Timex watch on his wrist barely noticeable but Timex watches didn't exist in the 1800's yet 🤣

I always like black Stetson hats myself, I didn't consider myself a bad guy unless you call murdering fish for supper a bad guy

I watch a lot of television Western shows like gunsmoke and others. it always makes me laugh when Matt Dillon or another gets shot during a shootout to hear one of them say, it ain't no big deal it went clean through like it didn't hurt a bit. Heck it only left a 3-in hole in his leg and took out half his bicep 🤣

Sounds like a tasty plan!

It just got a little shady here in NC more like to a passing cloud