This whole idea almost went to crap on day one. I bought a computer a while back and
thankfully bought a warranty. About two
months ago, the computer quit charging and I had to take it in for repair. They gave me a loaner as part of the
warranty. Flashing back to last week,
they called on Thursday to say it was ready to pick up. Crap.
I executed a command decision, and 86’d the exchange. They can wait, the “Acid Pond” called to me
like that nasty looking Chinese place you know you’re going to get food
poisoning from someday, but still eat at.
It isn’t the most glorious place; in fact, “downright hideous”
is more apropos. Fishing it is mostly
like riding a moped, all fun and games until someone sees you doing it. There is no room for pride here, this is
guerilla fishing. I am playing to win, it
is very close to work, and I knew
fishing there wouldn’t kick this whole shindig off with a skunk. I get out there and it was dead for two solid
hours. I started sweating the failure, feeling like I
had just asked a pregnant chick when she was due, only to find out she wasn’t
expecting. No fish at all on my first
day out? I was going to lose all my
stream-cred! It was a panic attack until
1600hrs on the nose, and then I hooked up four times in a row. Thank freakin' geebus. Day one total? Two eight inch bass, two little sunnies (One
bluegill, one tiny redear) and three tree limbs. Somewhat begrudgingly, I resigned to the fact
that the tree limbs don’t count, despite the masterfully executed hook-set into
each one of them.
The next day, shaped up to be worse than the first, the
procrastination caught up to me with one (kind of snotty) phone call about my
computer. It seemed a night fish was
inevitable, and I was not looking
forward to two hours of, “one more cast, and I’m going home.” The next day was Saturday, I wanted rest
before. Luck prevailed, leaving me with
seventy-five minutes to fish and a pond on my way back. This particular pond claimed my F2; kick-starting
the head-spinning and wallet-slaughtering, ‘Summer of Broken Rods’. Yet, here I was again, on the other end of
summer… With another glass rod. Fishing it was an exercise in patience, but
the catching was decent, adding a fourth species to the list (Green Sunfish). Even though I avoided the night fish, I face-planted
into a lack of sleep, finally passing out late enough that MTV was actually playing
music videos.
Sparing the mundane details; I woke up way late, had a gar decimate
a carp fly, and brought a fifth species (Guadalupe Bass) to hand. I also hooked four carp and a poison-ivy rash
seemed inevitable (it wasn’t). The night
came and a new stumbling block was installed.
A special thanks here to Matt and Owl, for unleashing ‘Stumbleupon’. Bad news, very bad news. Its hilarity is two-dimensional crack, an infinite
time-suck, and has become the “Public Enemy #1” to this whole operation. Moving on…
Texas’ longest and shortest seasons are locked in mortal combat at
present, so even leaving at noon it was warm enough yet to wet wade, and there
was plenty of fishing light left. I
bribed the Ex with the promise of free food, (and Cabela’s) and we were on the
water soon after. The result for the day
included my personal best Cypress “Trout”, and species numero seis:
smallmouth, two of them to be exact. The
Ex sight cast to a 20”+ rainbow with a personal creation, and nailed it. Good for her, I was proud. (Plus I caught more, so I won that internal
contest.)
Monday wasn’t a skunk, but I didn’t add anything new. Tuesday however, I drove up to Brushy Creek
and pulled in a seventh (and most surprising) species. With the cooler temps poking around like a
nosey neighbor, I had assumed all the Rio Grande Cichlids had holed up for the
winter, as they usually are the first to do so.
Imagine my excitement when I nailed one on a Moorish’s Small Fry (also
rare, in my experience)! Yesterday was
amazing, after watching live video-feed of a dam removal in Washington State; I
almost missed my window, leaving me only the “Acid Pond” to fish. It turned out to be the highest number day so
far, with me losing count at around 15 small bass to hand.
That’s a week of fishing, in a slightly hurried nutshell. Initially, I thought the fishing might wear
me down. Instead I am afraid it is going
to be time management that will do me in, if anything. I have to be careful with that. Stumbleupon is lurking in the shadows, ready
to snare me every time I crack the laptop, but I know it’s there, and knowledge
is half the battle, right? Speaking in
terms of non-fishing factors, I really
wasn’t prepared for the added stress of blogging about the thirty days
either... It isn’t easy when it takes you seven days or more to write about one
trip, to suddenly write about seven trips in one week. If Vegas is keeping odds, I have another
variable added recently, there might be a trip to Tulsa in the mix this coming
week, although I’m fairly certain I can cram the required hours in. All in all I feel good, yet reserved. Seven days is a start, but I have done that
without noticing before. I shouldn’t
start chest-thumping quite yet.
Don’t forget to vote, FR has streamlined the procedure so
there is no excuse! I’ll be back in a
week, until then… See you downstream!
catch of the week |
Editor's note: Don't forget to enter the OBIF 30 Days of Fishing contest. At stake are an OBIF T-shirt and a Morrell fly box. You can read the revised contest rules in the next post down, or just freakin' enter already- the entry form is there at the top right sidebar if you missed it. ~JT/FR
Original Post: One Bug is Fake- 30 Days of Fishing
And make sure you check out Brandon's site to read other great posts, relive Twitter history, and browse the OBIF swag.
http://onebugisfake.com/
Original Post: One Bug is Fake- 30 Days of Fishing
And make sure you check out Brandon's site to read other great posts, relive Twitter history, and browse the OBIF swag.
http://onebugisfake.com/
So many great lines here. Awesome, Brandon...awesome. I was chuckling the whole way through, and I am not in a chuckly mood. Not at all. Well done. :)
ReplyDelete"Acid Pond” called to me like that nasty looking Chinese place you know you’re going to get food poisoning from someday, but still eat at." (SO true, and makes me feel like I'm back in San Francisco again....somehow I never got food poisoning there...an act of God)
"Fishing it is mostly like riding a moped, all fun and games until someone sees you doing it." Yes! I have fished these places before! hehe.
And watch out. Amanda is going to regularly out-fish you...really soon. ;)
You totally smashed this one Brandon - in a good way. I was laughing the whole time. I'm with Erin - great lines! "Acid-Pond, Moped"
ReplyDelete" I started sweating the failure, feeling like I had just asked a pregnant chick when she was due, only to find out she wasn’t expecting."
Hahahaa!! Good stuff. I'm rooting for you!
You got me with the pregnant chick line. I relate.
ReplyDeleteWow, thanks guys!
ReplyDeletevery nice. good work so far. That being said, I know it seems like fun now, but you may want to take a break form this whole 30 day thing. I mean, wouldn't it be nice to just have one day off? just one? Say, on the 7th? :) Just kidding, you can do it. Even though I voted that you wouldn't, I know you can and hope you will make the 30 days. Thanks for a great recap!
ReplyDeleteSo Brandon, just curious, when ARE you due? Oh...wait.
ReplyDeleteNice job, I would have laughed on any other day. Keep up the persistence and stubborn attitude. And hey, "Tight lines!" ha