BEST BASS...SO FAR!

This is just going to be a quick post with some of our more impressive bass catches of 2014. We still have a couple months to go, and I managed a few lunkers last year in December. But for now, here are the best of 624 bass, a new personal single-season tally, from 2014...

March was a great month with Rat-L-Traps and Mepps spinners!

Plus-sized, pre-spawn gal hit the trap in 38 degree air temps.

Biggun three days after ice-out!

Ole SwoopTail has been caught 7 times in the last three years. Will she ever learn?

Judson's best fly rod bass, not quite 20 inches!

Piney Run Giant...24 incher took a trolled shiner intended for stripers!

Ralph with a fine Monocacy River smallie!

Another fine stream bass!

I seem to only fish for bass when the panfish bite slows down, but this year I just had more opportunities to catch quality fish. Here are a few more blessings...

Judson's smallie pushed 18 inches.

Linda's 19-incher on the Stank X Stix.

Billy Decoutea with a Shenango smallie on the Scrounger. 19 inch, pushin' four.

Luke with a lean 19-incher.

My best ever largemouth on 2 pound test...bobber and a worm, go figure!

Matt with a good un on a live bluegill.

Paul with a fine bass on a gill.

Chubbo...16.5 inches and 3 3/4 pounds.

A 20-incher, gaunt and thin, took a spinnerbait.

Late evening lunker on the Stix went 22 inches.

Yes, great times with great friends...and a lot of memories made. Blessings...God just pours them out on us, no matter whether we deserve them or not. I believe that the best fishing, and the best that God has to offer, is still ahead. His anger last only for a moment, but His grace and forgiveness is eternal...

THANK YOU, GOD, FOR BLESSING ME, SAVING ME AND PULLING ME OUT OF THE MIRRY PIT AND GIVING ME NEW LIFE IN JESUS CHRIST. THERE IS NO 'CATCH' ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH THAT CAN MATCH YOUR LOVE AND FORGIVENESS. MAY I NEVER, EVER FORGET WHAT YOU DID FOR ME ON THE CROSS. I LOVE YOU!

Even through the storms of life, He is a great and loving God!

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...

THE MAGIC HOUR

As the sun began to fall the big girls came out to play. 22-incher pushed six pounds.

There is much to be said about the final hour of the day, the 'magic' or 'golden' hour...the twilight zone. There are some writers who claim this is the very best time to catch the big one, the mystical time when creatures great and small are stirring. New sounds from different critters are now in the mix. Nocturnal things fly about in an effort to capture insects. Bats, snakes, bugs, and more, emerge and welcome the dawning of night.

Cubbyhole at the tree root was home for some hawgs.

Places that seem normal during the day take on a whole new light when the sun is calling it quits. Night sounds take over like the drumming of cicadas. Fish can get active, too.

Day time calmness.

But despite all the lore and mystery surrounding the magic hour, I have found that, on most occassions, fishing has not always been improved or any better than many daytime efforts. Yes, the hatches are coming off and the bullfrogs are groaning, but the fishing is only marginal, sometimes shutting down completely with the falling of the sun. Some species kick it up a notch...crappies, walleyes, catfish...perhaps stripers or hybrids in some waters. Bass, however, don't always come running to the dinner bell at last light. But once in a while, they do...

Nice, late evening bass took a stick worm.

My son Matt with a Twilight Zone bass on a surface frog.

As the sun drops, senses heighten.

All creatures great and small become vulnerable.

But there is a degree of excitement, even charm that comes with fishing at the Magic Hour. It's almost like every living thing is on edge, ready to bolt, even explode, at the chance for a meal or for very survival. Sounds in the distance seem louder and movement in the brush just a little scarier. With amplification of the senses, everything seems more intense. We try to become more aware of what our surroundings are, or could be.

Sundown bass gave me a scrap. Some of the blood is mine.

Stick worm pig...16.5 inches and almost 3.5 pounds. FATSO!

Big-headed bass was gaunt and light, despite pushing 22 inches.

Doesn't look like much, but in the shade of this tree...

What is astounding to me is the fact that a Great and Merciful God created and ordained all the sights and sounds of the Magic Hour according to His hand and great detail. He created the heavens and the earth and all that they contain. His hand painted every cloud, painted all the leaves and air-brushed every blending of the colors in the twilight zone. Those big bass are but mere gifts from a gracious God who loves all of us. I like the way Psalm 19 : 4-6 explains it...

'In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun,which is like a bridegroom coming from his pavilion.
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
It rises at one end of the heavens and makes it's circuit to the other.
Nothing is hidden from it's heat.'

Yes, the MAGIC HOUR, is always a gift from the Lord. Catching a fish is just a bonus.

THE UGLY TRUTH

WOUNDED WARRIOR...Matt's sensational cat shows scars from a prior battle.

It has been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If that is indeed the case, then whatever it is we are beholdin' might just be pretty ugly! Upon closer inspection, things, or fish, may not be as we envision.Take channel catfish, or instance...big, brawny, tough fighters and delicious on the table. In there own weird way, they can be beautiful. Popular in many areas of the country as both a food and sport fish. I love these critters! But many don't...they're ugly...got whiskers...feed on the bottom. Yet the same can be said for many of our politicians.

LIVER SACS...wrap 'em in cheese cloth & hook 'em up!

Lately, we've gotten into the catfish gig and have had fun with some quality fish. You land some and lose some. Cool thing about these fish is that a variety of household, store bought foods can put them on the bank, or in the boat. Simple chicken livers have been a perenial favorite as have been any kind of fresh cut oily fish. We like to wrap our chicken livers in a cheese cloth 'sac' and then run our hooks through the sac and toss 'em out with no weight. The liver stays on the hook, via the mesh of the cheese cloth, and the cats come runnin'.

Head-on shot of the channel catfish. Say...aaahhhh!

Nicer cats have a pretty big mouth, but we like bite-sized baits that they can easily get in their maw and retain a 2/0 or 4/0 circle hook. No weight, 20 pound braid with a 20 pound mono leader to the snelled hook. European bite alarms help, especially at night, as cats can pick a bait up and move around a lot.

TWILIGHT CATTIE...lean and mean at 28 inches.

Most folks think that cats are exclusively nocturnal, but we have done quite well with some mid-day efforts, too. Here are a couple mug shots from a recent catfish line up...

Nice 6.5 pounder hams it up for the camera.

We removed the hook from this 32 incher and let her swim.

Paul with a nice one from last summer.

Clean looking public water catfish.

Matt seems to have a knack for the big girls!

Yes...some think catfish are ugly, but the truth is...they are one of God's creatures and have their very own quality of beauty. Funny how that works, sometimes, where something that is ugly actually is beautiful and some things that appear to be beautiful are very much ugly. In the same way, sin is almost always at least visually appealing and comes across as 'beautiful'. The deceiver, whom we spoke of in the last blog, was the most beautiful of angels, but fell from heaven and continues to fool many who are not aware of the ugly truth.

Bite alarm tells us when to jump.

As sinful humans, we need an indicator of sorts, a guideline, that will show us the difference between true beauty and false beauty...the 'ugly truth'. The Holy Bible and the word of God is the standard by which we can discern what is, and isn't, beautiful. Truth is, many aspects of my life are very ugly...the jealousy, the lust, the self-centeredness...just to name a few. As a broken down, shell of a man who is completely powerless at times, I find the honest, gut-wrenching testimony of the apostle Paul to be comforting...

'What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!'   Romans 7: 24-25

Yes, it is comforting to know that all my dirt, all my ugliness, will be as far as the east is from the west and my crimson stains will be washed white as snow. Yes, I am ugly, but I have been made whole and beautiful by a loving Savior named Jesus Christ.  That, my friend, is the beautiful truth!

Even the storm clouds can be beautiful!