HARVEST TIME!

Pumpkingill hybrid...and a biggun'!

Well, October is here! Traditionally, the next two months are the most productive for me and my gang during the whole year. Everything is biting, and usually the toughest job is to just figure out what species to key on. Bass, cats, crappies, big gills and many others put the feed bag on before winter. Here are a few of our latest catches...starting with bass...

Bro-in-law Paul with fine largemouth.

Decent one for me.

Another good, chubby bass!

My best bass in a while was this gorgeous 19 incher.

Nice bunch of fish...and I expect the bass action to get better as the water cools down. Of course, the channel cats had to crash the party...check 'em out...

Paul strikes again with a 6 1/2 pound cattie!

And again...

...and again! He got four from 6 to 8 pounds!

My buddy Ed shows off his personal best cat at almost 7 pounds.

And now, it's time to show some panfish action...bluegills, hybrids, red ears and pumpkinseeds. Most were caught on 1/64th and smaller hair jigs tipped with worms or mealworms. Action was almost as fast as it was during the spawn. Lookie...

Public water hybrid on a tipped shrimp jig.

Another nice hybrid...check out them pecs!

A couple red ears showed up...always fun!

Abby and Elena dig bluegill fishing just like Pappy!

Did a 75-fish day at another hot panfish lake. Worms rule.

Had a higher percentage of pure pumpkinseeds...one of the most beautiful sunfish!

Big pumpkinseed X bluegill hybrid over 9 inches.

Beauty that only God can create.

Lot's of beautiful fish and great times with friends and family. Blessed. If I were to never fish again, I would have to say that I certainly wasn't cheated or kept short of the many pleasures and joys that my fishing life, and my Lord, has given me.

All too often all I hear among people is how much they DON'T have or what they DIDN'T get out of life. Cheated...'not fair' they say. They lie to the government and lie to their employers and lie to the tax preparers. Essentially, they are liars, cheaters and thieves...plain and simple. Yet they have expensive clothes, high-dollar smart phones and drive around in expensive new vehicles. 'I can't make ends meet' they say. Yeah...I guess not.

Consider the wisdom of 2 Chronicles 7: 14 from the Holy Scriptures...

'if my people, who are called by my name,will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.'

Don't know about y'all, but that sounds like pretty good advice to me! If ever there was a time in our nations history where we desperately need to have our land 'healed'... then it is now!

Now is a great time to embrace faith, family and a little bit of fishing...