Fishing Update for 2013

Spring Crappie
We have ended our trips to Douglas Lake for crappie fishing for this spring. Here’s a summary for the ten (10) trips we made down to Swann’s Marina.

Number of Fishing Trips	10
Total Number of Crappie Caught	1215
Total Number of “Throw Backs”	913
Total Number of Keepers	302
Percent Keepers	25%

Our last trip to Douglas was on June 20 where we caught 17 “keepers”, and had 34 “throw backs”. A “Keeper” is a crappie 10” or longer. The “Throw Backs” were returned to the lake to grow larger. Overall a good and enjoyable year for us. But it’s not over…

Lake Trout
When the water get hot on Douglas and the fish are hard to catch, we change lakes and our target fish. We can usually find fish in the deep waters of South Holston and Watauga Lakes. Just to make sure we had not lost our “touch” we made a trip to South Holston last Tuesday to try for the Lake Trout. Doug and I had our limit by 1:00 PM. We lost several big fish earlier but finally recovered the knack for catching these big fish.

Here’s a picture of our 4 keepers. The limit is only 2 per person per day and there is no size limit. The weights of the fish were 6 lb 3 oz, 5 lb 3 oz, 4 lb 7 oz and 2 lb 14 oz. That was a heavy stringer topping out at close to 19 pounds for 4 fish. Needless to say we were happy and smiling. Those are fun to catch. (You know, catching is  a little more fun that just fishing.)

NEWS FLASH
Just tonight, Kara and her partner, another Kara, won their tennis doubles championship match to win the girls double tournament at the Bristol Tennis and Racket Club. Here’s a picture of the victors who won in convincing fashion, 6-2, and 6-1.

 

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Tennessee Granddaddy Says:
It pays to keep busy.
Set goals.
Make a little progress each day.
Don’t let others discourage you.
Keep on, Keeping on.

~~~

Quote of the Day

A child can ask questions that a wise man cannot answer
~Author Unknown

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Joke of the Day

Every time the man next door headed toward Robinson's house, Robinson knew he was coming to borrow something. "He won't get away with it this time," muttered Robinson to his wife. "Watch this."

"Er, I wonder if you'd be using your power-saw this morning," the neighbor began.

"Gee, I'm awfully sorry," said Robinson with a smug look, "but the fact of the matter is, I'll be using it all day."

"In that case," said the neighbor, "You won't be using your golf clubs. Mind if I borrow them?"

(Sounds a little bit like Herb and Dagwood in the comics)

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Eagles, Proverbs and Fishing

What I Saw Was Amazing!
We were fishing this past Tuesday on Douglas Lake. It was about 3:30 pm and the lake was quiet. We were trolling at about 1 MPH. It was a beautiful day. We had just caught another fish but it was not a crappie. Instead we had just caught a freshwater drum that we call a trash fish. After getting it unhooked we threw it back into the lake. I was in rear of the boat checking some fishing rods and I saw that old drum float by in the rippling wake of our boat. Then the most amazing thing happened when the fish was about 10-15 yards from the boat. I saw something in the sky. A big bird? At first I could not identify it, but as it got closer I could see it was an American Bald Eagle. The majestic bird circled and them swooped to the water and picked up that fish that we had just returned to the water. I was awed as I watched the bird circle over the lake and then fly toward the shoreline with his catch. I sure it was used to feed some eaglets in the nest.

I turned to Doug and Ralph who also witnessed this event, and told them that if we had not caught a fish all day what we had just seen was worth the trip. I’m so thankful for what I saw and for the American Eagle.

Chinese Proverb and the Washington Way
Original Chinese Proverb:
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.
2012 White House Revision:
Give a man a welfare check, a free cell phone with unlimited free minutes, cash for his clunker, food
stamps, section 8 housing, free contraceptives,
Medicaid, ninety-nine weeks of unemployment, free
medicine, and he will vote for Democrats the rest of
his life; even after he's deceased.

The Crappie Fishing Summary for 2013
This has been an unbelievable year for our crappie fishing on Douglas Lake. We’ve had a full 2 months of good fishing. We’ve made 9 trips to the lake and not had a bad day of fishing.

Date	Keepers	Throw-backs	Total
4/9	19	23	42
4/16	45	206	251
4/18	30	156	186
4/23	45	117	162
5/10	33	110	143
5/13	30	73	103
5/21	34	100	134
5/28	26	62	88
6/11	23	31	54
Total	285	878	1,163

I’m not sure if we will go to Douglas again until this fall. My gut tells me it is time to put up the crappie rods and get ready to go to South Holston Lake and fish for the Lake Trout. We catch them very deep (40-70 feet) so the hot weather does not impact this type of fishing.

 

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Tennessee Granddaddy Says:
I have some advice for you today. It came from my own Dad. He told me once that if I ever thought I was indispensible to get a “glass of water”. Then put my finger down into the glass. Then he said pull out my finger and look at the glass. If it leaves a hole, then you truly are indispensible. I’ll never forget that important message.

He also used the “glass of water” to teach me another lesson. When teaching me to drive, he told me to pretend there was a glass of water mounted on the dashboard. He said not drive so you will not spill a drop of the water.

~~~

Quote of the Day

Earth and sky, woods and fields,
lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea,
are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.
~John Lubbock

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Joke of the Day

A six-year-old goes to the hospital with her mother to visit her Grandpa.

When they get to the hospital, she runs ahead of her mother and bursts into her Grandpa's room.

"Grandpa, Grandpa," she says excitedly, "as soon as my mother comes into the room, make a noise like a frog!"

"What?" said her Grandpa.

"Make a noise like a frog because my mom said that as soon as you croak, we're all going to Disney World!”

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