Back to Basics

As many of us here I came from humble beginnings when it comes to boats. The first boat I ever ran on my own was a canoe when I was in the Boy Scouts. I knew then that my days on the bank would be numbered if I could get afloat. Small Jon's and a couple of canoes kept me afloat when I first got out on my own and thru the early years of my Marriage and started having kids. Just was never the money that I needed to get the one I wanted, and that always changes. Time went by and I finally took the plunge and moved up from there to what you see me in today. It's very comfortable but has it's limitations.That big a boat has disconnected me from the smaller lakes that surround me. I changed that last weekend. I bought a 15' Grumman canoe that's in great shape.
Today was the day to see if I was clean out of my mind or just a bit twisted. Had the canoe loaded last night and all ready to go so all I had to do was open the gate and drive. Got to the park at Monroe and it was after 6 and a no show by the guy with the key so I crossed to the other ramp and got busy. Worked out better due to the fact that the other park has a sandy area that's more friendly than concrete for moving into the water. I've done the big boat so much that I just think of it as part of the day. It seemed like I was in the water in seconds compared to The Other Woman. I can move it around fine alone and will be better when I get a dolly and trailer for it. Filled a cooler with water as a counterweight to keep the nose down and headed out. The sun hadn't even warmed the sky, truly 0dark30. Found a light close by and threw a jig at it and was rewarded with a 12 1/2 or 13" fish. First in the new boat!! WOOOHOOO!! Admired him and slid him back without a sound and 3 or 4 casts later got his cousin about the same size. Same deal, slid back. Having fished lights before I know the initial bite is always good but the activity spooks some of the others and that was true today. Somewhere about 4 or 5 they weren't much interested in what I was offering and I moved on. All this time the wind is nada to very light, couldn't ask for better. I moved around and found a few more, including a good copperhead 'gill and a warmouth that thought he was a Goliath grouper, all 6 inches worth. No gar or greenfish showed up today. About 10 the wind started to be an issue and this thing is truly like a leaf in a parking lot so I called it a day. Total catch was 11 and could have made dinner but not much more, but a great first trip. The first time in 15years that I have been in a canoe, and I call it a success. Those fish in the small lakes close by will be getting a visit soon. Thanks for visiting with me today and I hope you smiled reading this, I sure smiled a lot this morning........Skeet.

Heck yea! Come spring we gotta take us a float trip from the old Katies to Highbanks. Waters got to warm up before I get back in the yak. Cold water on yer arse aint fun.

Great command of expression and words - took me back to days when i wish at
times to return.
Thanks for the travel time Skeet - very very good. Really brought back memories.

Have a Gheenoe in upper part of garage on hoist - may, just may - Boy Yelim and
I had some really good times in it back a few years.

Great story. I spent my years growing up in Ormond where Sanchez canal and the basin were my home. Duck hunting on the point, then wading in the cold water throwing for trout were the norm. Had an 8 foot Jon boat with a 2.2 Evinrude that kept me in fish. Owned a 35' fly bridge as a charter captain for 17 years fishing offshore, traveling to the Bahamas for Marlin and Montauk for tuna.

Nothing is is more fun than catching fish in my kayak....I am with ya brother.

Good read Skeet. I been wanting a pond boat for over 3 years,maybe this is the year:fish

Hey bum...I sent that story to my editor and told him I wrote it.......Got a $100,000. royalty check............and it's going to publication....certain to be a best seller


Thanks,
micah:Rofl

Was that a royalty check or reality check?

Regardless, Thanks.

Careful what you do with the Pond Boat:
When i first got the Gheenoe - could load it on or off pickup, drag it around.
Than i started adding things - than it took small two wheel trailer to run it down
road - as years past - more things were added for comfort & more efficent usage
of space and equipment needed or wanted.
Now when i go somewhere with that Monster, it takes almost a derick to load
and unload, plus artic cat to drag it to water and from..............

Nice Skeet...that canoe will be real nice when the days get longer & you can do a quick drop after work for a few...

Harold, I know what you mean about overloading one. Battery and TM will be the extent other than needed things. SIL has some double ended kayak paddles and I'll try one of those soon. PVC dolly will help move it around and the Wife found me a trailer that I picked up last night for $50 so moving just got easier. I couldn't find a decent set of roof racks for that money. Everything for a reason, I think that I'm supposed to visit this idea for a while.

I grew up fishing a small jon boat with a little paddle .You set up front and skulled with one hand and held a long cane pole in the other. It was the original stealth approach.

A couple years ago I went fishing on an old river oxbow lake I had not fished in years. I went through the Cypress and Tupelo gum in my Big jon running the trolling motor and casting with cork and jig and just casting,bangin off the trees now and then .

I got back the boat ramp and an acquaintance I knew through work was getting ready to launch his little 12 jon. He asked how'd you do? I said only caught a few dinks and some bass.He said"you in a hurry to go home" and I said no not really. He said follow me back out.

Well,he skulled that little jon boat up in them trees and took a long flyrod and eased up under one them Tupelo trees and just held that jig real still. Well he commenced to load the boat. He told me the ice storms we had the previous year had snapped off a bunch of limbs from the gum trees and the crappie were in those limbs but you had to be real quiet and hold real still as the water was shallow and pretty clear.

I thought huh....that's the way I use to do it... I had just gotten to be such a run and gun fisherman lately I forgot to go back to my roots when the situation calls for it.

Excellant story Dog,

it is so true - so true

Those days we really didn't have a care in world, life was moving at a slower pace,
our monies were scare.

Today the Bass (Glitter) boat, Big O, multi big name outfits, that in a lot cases
owner is indebt beyond belief. The worldly pace has excellated beyond thought,
almost everything we do is on a "power mode" move.

You think back - if only we could return to those fun quiet times on the water,
stop the fast track. Remember the old 10 ft Sears Eljin alumn boat - made more
noise moving around in it - probably scared fish within 1/4 mi. Sculling paddle,
3 1/2 horse Sears Neptune - and away we went. Life jackets, safety equipment
took too much room. Thermos of kool aid - coffee, peanut butter & jelly sandwich
Worms that we had dug - and or mnnows that we scened out of creek.
Sometimes we caught bluegill - carp - suckers - mud fish (dog fish) cats -
bass and if you were in rivers in Northern Indiana -Illinois -Michigan - Walleye &
Northern Pike were the game.

Closest thing to today's world that i have found that will help a person get back to
relaxing, quiet thinking, ever so nice fishing time is NIGHT FISHING................

Get a friend and try - always fish min. of 2 at night...........IT IS A DIFFERENT WORLD AT NIGHT

It will take a body's mind off the everyday fast pace -hurry, hurry, rush etc.

Don't have to go completly back to
the old Coleman gas lanterns hanging over side of boat off steel posts bent to
fit oar locks,
Minnow tank over side in water to keep minows fresh
Two heavy anchors over what you might think is best place to find them at
night. After 2 hrs of nothing - than try moving around in the dark

Good the have that wonderful new invention - depth finder - sonar - down image -
side image .....
Gasoline 4 stoke Generator - 2 -3 overhead lights,
4 -6 lower electric water level lights - 12 -18 rods in water - than only the
sounds of night - generator to distrack your enjoyment.

Attachment 225849

You think back - if only we could return to those fun quiet times on the water,
stop the fast track

You can! Just slow down and relax. Thats what I did not like about fishing tournaments. Gave the feeling of I must catch fish, and fish in conditions I normally would not. Cant relax and enjoy the day. I know some enjoy it but I didn't. I enjoy trolling and catching a pile of fish, but times I need to single pole and enjoy the views of the river, or even go to the beach and relax while surf fishing. I spend to much time through the week in hurry mode at work to rush through a fishing trip. And sorry but that pic of your set up night fishing looks anything but peaceful. Looks like a Chinese fire drill. Coleman lanterns are a soothing sound compared to a generator and with all the 12volt under water lights and blacklights I would do without.And dragging a Gheenoe out loaded with a tourney set is a far cry from sculling a boat.

As a kid my older brothers and my Dad had a wooden run-a-bout 14' boat with a wooden deck you could stand on. For a few years my parents would vacation for a week at Howey Boat Basin on Little Lake Harris. My Dad, God rest his soul, would sit in the back of that heavy boat and scull me around the edge of the grass better than a electric trolling motor. Rarely fished himself cause he knew I didn't know how to do what he was doing. I remember once he was fishing with a spincast rig with one of those rubber red worms with two hooks and a spinner prerigged. He actually caught about a four pound Bass on that thing. But alas days gone by forever.

As I read the posts of everyone's memories and ideas of enjoyable times and times gone by I'm thinking that this is an unintended by-product of my post. I can think of nothing more enjoyable than to fish as some of you have described. I have done many things in my life for enjoyment, but I have always returned to fishing. The act itself as a one on one thing completely removes a person from everything around them. The silence and solitude when alone in a beautiful, quiet place is something that I am at a loss to explain to those who have never been to such a place. Words just don't get it across. As I drove over the highways over the past many years I had memories like these to keep me company, and the knowledge that another would await on the next trip whenever I got home. I'm glad that we all share these among each other, and thanks for sharing them with me.

Mike: I agree 100% with a lot of what your saying - and at times i wish i could come
down to that slow of a mode.
I grew up in Transportation Industry in fifties, First if was Teamsters Union you had
to be able to stand up to. As transportation evolved from Union controlled trucking to
the Non Union/owner-operator - My way of life also had change - went from a
management style work, at various levels -had 4 companies go bankrupt out from
under me. lost 3 times the monies that had been put into retirement funds.Thank God
Laws have since changed - no longer can a Carrier file bankrupty and steal all.
Started my own brokerage operation - made own sales calls, handled own cash
receiveable / payables, and every piece of work from small Mom/Pop factory to
Genl Mtrs/Ford & Chrysler, Johnson Controls & Exide Battery because my accounts.
Hired my own owner/operators - built it to 55 own truck operation - with 1150 trucks
under my contract - Lost 1 marriage, put 3 girls through college .
Learned how to live on ragged edge -every move -was 1,000 % instant decision..
Had to be made NOW, DECISIONS NOW, not 5 min from now. This was extremely
stressful, hence, since i retired - to you i am still running 500 mph, to me, i am almost stopped, and truthfully Mike, i hope to be able to come down much much more to you style, if not slower.

Referencing the Transportation business - the 50 yrs i was in it - probably should
have writtin couple books - Met some big names - good & bad - Lost some good
sizeable accounts worth millions - contracted some accounts just the opposite.

Thanks for allowing me to soap box guys....

One word! Valium:Rofl hell i get wore out and gasping for breath just readin some of these.:biggrin:Rofl:highfive

Since - the triple-bypass that i didn't know i needed until wanted doctor to operate on spine - but first had to have heart doctor and medical doctor clearance.
Yee -ha what a wild trip this has been past 6 months.
I am now taking these just to get out of bed and move: These are golden years
Namanda (memory pill) Gabapetin (3 time day pain in legs)
Plavix - (blood thinner) Metroprolol-tart (keeps heart beating in time)
Effexor-xr (Keeps my urge to pound crap out someone) Wife says suppose
defuse my short fuse
Last but not least - Hydrocodone - 325ml (replaced Valium) twice a day sometimes 3 as needed.
for Hip - Calf - ankle... What a druggy - could take on charging bull with no feeling.
PLus am on 2nd Pain Killing Shot in 45 days. Once they have been able to
isloate the correct nerve endings that are cauing me the unbeliebale pain in
leg-hip (butt to wife) - they are going to kill them with laser.
Have meeting 20th with Artery man - set surgery for installing artery by-passes
in leggs so as i may walk better - be less winded - tired etc.
Half these drugs - keep you a wake at night - wide eyed & have no idea what happened to bushy tail. Most will make you dizzy (more than used to be) Light headed (didn't know that - thought it was Corona) Memory problems ( now know
what name & address tag on shirt if for) Have found that if have tiny scratch
on body - bleed like stuck pig..(keep bandaids close at hand)
Cannot work boat with same confidence as 6 months ago, need a person on board
with me all times. (safety precaution - balance is somewhat problem )
Blurred vision - another side effects of one of those pills somewhere in there -
this is true - also you think you are going through a ladies menopause - hot sweats,
cold chills - in/out almost time .........night - day.

Becomming more of a motor mouth each day.......write - write & write - about what,
I don't know - who cares - who wants to listen - duh i don't know - let me get back
to you on that one

Harold, I gotta tell ya. Everyone says that I have a way with words but you smoked me on that one. Not laughing at you but with you. The only difference 'tween you and me is I haven't gotten there yet. I know my time is coming. That's why I do everything I can. As independent a person as I am when it comes time that I'm not able to do stuff I love any more I'll be insufferable and will be crying for the wife to put me out of my misery. I've been broken enough times that I know what you're going through and sympathize with you. You're way ahead of where I was as you can see the irony of things. God Bless You Sir, you have been through it.

Sometimes about all we can do is remember who is in charge
Job 12:
11Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food? 12Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days. 13“With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding. 14If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open. 15If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land. 16With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his. 17He leads counselors away stripped, and judges he makes fools. 18He looses the bonds of kings and binds a waistcloth on their hips. 19He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty. 20He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders. 21He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong. 22He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light. 23He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away. 24He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a pathless waste. 25They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.