The neighbors are out picking through the grass by the front porch again. I use to see them in Panasoffkee; they would flip cow patties in the air trying to get to the goodies inside. Yummy, but Sandhill Cranes are beautiful none the less.

I went wacky style because I could:t pick anything up on the other methods tonight. The bass in my lake seem to really like the Slurpie in bluegill color.

While you do get a lot of smaller fish this way, 7 in all, I do use this to target big fish that are slow to bite as well. 

This Warmouth perch is just greedy, and only a few centimeters longer than the stick bait. Lily started out the evening with me, but then left fishing for a crafting date with Miss Brenda. It is wonderful to have good neighbors; she is truly a blessing. 

Nice tree ladies, but if only you would put your crafting powers to a higher call, that:s right, lure making. I think they:d be great, and I could do all their field testing.

Wacky rigs do take the big ones and sometimes they are more than just a follow up. Ah, I can proudly hold my thumb up again, nice and shredded. 

I still don:t get how you guys manage the selfie thing. So, one in the hall with a little help. 

They seem to fight a whole lot harder with the cooler water temperatures. This one pulled drag and took me into the pads on 8 pound test, but I got him. Great way to end the day after work, and it is hard to watch tv knowing that there:s fish out there that I haven:t caught... yet.

It use to be mostly weeds in here, but the cold has killed back that and a lot of the algae as well. You can see little baby bass in these pictures.

There was a teary eyed girl at the base of an oak tree, for many hours today. I think Pickles fell asleep somewhere in the tree, but eventually he came down right as we were about to leave. It was getting cold and he went straight for Lily:s pocket. 

I did Black Friday once with Meegan, and a lady yelled at us for cutting in line. No, I said I am already done shopping so I am trying to get to the check out. When she pointed out to me that the check out line wrapped all the way around the store, we looked at each other, laid the stuff down and went home. Id rather go fishing, and the only thing that could have made it more cliché is if I would have been fishing for Black Crappie.

My fishing hole had been transformed into a winter wonder land. Very surreal, catching bass to the sound of sleigh bells ringing. 

I threw a Slurpie which took 2 bass for me tonight and I missed another on it. My brother gave me a bag of these, in bluegill, but I have not been able to find them on the internet in this color. This was my wacky rig worm tonight, and I also took one more fish on a Bitter:s magic wand, but it was destroyed in the process so I Texas rigged a KVD Ocho, and that took two more fish for me, including my biggest catch. 

This whole Black Friday business has me puzzled. The news showed people camped outside stores on Wednesday afternoon for Black Friday deals that would start on Thursday afternoon. Thursday was suppose to be Thanksgiving  day, but it was apparently absorbed into consumer day, and yea, oh well. 

It was a terribly difficult week at work, but a couple of fishing rods and a few hours by the water goes a long way to clearing the mind of its rubbish. A couple tried to help me with a photo. 

A hotel in the background. I spend very little time at this end of the lake, but I could see them smashing shad. I broke off on snags 3 times with my drop shot so I left it for a wacky rig.

A Blue Heron was using the lights to fish as well, but he his so skittish about being approached. Everything is fine till I stop moving and make eye contact. He is very shy.

The wacky rig wash:t weedless. It was basically an Owner Mosquito tied with a polymer knot and then sunk in the middle, balanced portion of the Slurpie.

Some chubby little bass in there tonight. The Ocho was Texas rigged on a 4/0 hook with a small bullet weight on top. 

I:ll try a few selfies, and its still not an easy thing with a fish.

There is nothing in the world that invokes the memories of childhood for me like flowing water. Whether the creeks and rivers of the Florida woods, the tidal flow of the inter coastal, or  the mountain streams of Appalachia, the current always flows strong in my veins. I have been trying to convince my wife of a trip to Little Econ, and over the summer I made an attempt with the kids, but there was so much heavy rain at the time that the river was swollen and the surrounding area was flooded. It is a place that I prefer light tackle, spinners, small poppers or a fly, but the water was so high and the current so strong, that my Rooster tails just danced along the surface. So fast forward to yesterday and much lower water levels, it's raining but the river is approachable. The rain is not so cold as to be uncomfortable, and not so heavy that it floods the banks, but strong enough to clean the air and rest a tired mind. 

The water is a beautiful red in here and some of my most productive lures have been Rooster tails, Mepps and Panther Martins. It is dark and cloudy though today, and there is no light for the blade on my spinners to reflect, but I still managed a very beautiful Red Belly. I do well in here with white, red and white, and the hammered blade type of spinners. It is a good place for a drop shot but no matter what you use, you will invariably brake off at some point. The bottom is littered with fallen trees, but that is also where you find the bass. There were leopard frogs around so I decided to put away my drop shot and cast the only small Hula Popper I brought. As I brought it back through a section of slow water and over some logs, it got hammered. It has been a while since I fished back here and I forgot how much harder the river bass fight. I thought I hooked a bow fin as he pulled me down and hung me in the branches. So I slid down the bank and tried to work the snag free, but what's this, he is still on my line. It is a 3 prong hook and a prong was lodged in the wood and another in the hard part of his lip. I managed to straighten out the prong and land the bass, which considering my current luck with closing the deal, I felt quite accomplished. Maybe I have broken the cycle of missed sets and lost fish. 

There are several ways to approach the Little Econ area, and whether you want to fish or are just out for a hike, there are different entry points that would accommodate both, but I can't imagine being by water and not fishing. Yesterday we parked at the kayak entry off of 419 and Willingham Road, and we were able to get the last to spots. It is a very small parking area, so it is always good to have a plan B. There is a bridge on Snow Hill Road that offers good access to the trails along the bank, and is also a good place to launch your canoe or kayak. 

I have also taken pickerel, American Shad, bluegill, crappie, catfish, bowfin and gar in these waters. There is also a lot of wildlife to be seen, like the deer that came charging down the hill about 30 feet in front of me. A beautiful place to visit, and its really not far from the city.

You can see holes in the hill on the opposite bank. The water was higher than that earlier in the year. Often these cavities are the work of Plecostomus, and I have seen them burrow from one pond to an adjoining farm pond, causing the land bring to collapse. 

Some of the trees were very heavy with air plants.

Red bellies are very beautiful and also make a great shore lunch. My brother caught some larger ones on a small crank.

A nice chunk here and his fighting prowess would shame the bass in my lake. I took this largemouth on a Hula popper and look at the gorgeous color on this fish. 

It's just that one little thing, and not enough to save money or time
A small bit of fabric on the front of my shirt, sewn on with a wee bit of twine
Please don't buy the one's without pockets, those are only good under shirts
A real top should have at least one pouch, but a second really wouldn't hurt
Because one day he won't want to rest here and the wild will call unrelenting
But for now my boy's quite content here in this little space that he's renting
He won't always look for a home here, for he must return to the wild
With tears in the eyes of his rescuers, like a mother losing a child
Someday he may not remember, this place on the front of my flannel
I've seen it all happen before, just as quickly as turning the channel
On the hand he once fed from so gently, he may some day bite down with force
And though I won't like it, you nut, I will still love you of course
As I walk into work I see  men in their T's and all of these dresses on girls
But without any pockets, I wonder, where do they keep their squirrels

Calvin "Cheese Grits" Yerke

One of the best fisherman I know, and also my little brother, Peter "Catfish" Yerke. This is at Uptown and the bass were really quiet but we coaxed a couple out on drop shots, and then Pete shined a flash light in the water to see the size of the shad. After that he tied on a crank bait and took this guy. 

The next day my wife was tired of all the catch and release bass, so I chummed up some bull heads, and spent the rest of my evening skinning cats. The easiest way is to to take a hammer and a large nail, and pin the catfish to a tree, but I wasn't sure how that would go over at a condominium. I couldn't find my catfish pliers so I ended up using Lily's Leatherman, which worked quite well. 

So Lily made a pot of cheese grits and we fried some catfish and homemade onion rings.

Pickles is doing well, but hasn't sought his independence as quickly as I would have thought. 

It may be the difference between a Fall and Spring baby, but he is still quite cuddly and likes to take naps under my shirt. He also ruff houses with my wife, and it looks more like someone playing with a cat or a dog. When the world gets too scary for him he retreats to his panic room, which is just a bird house in a cardboard box.

I tried some photos on a Macros setting I found on the camera, to see if it would bring out his pelt, and yes I called it a pelt. Very nice coloration on his fur.

He is much like the children, the pecans, apples, and mango slices are quickly consumed, while the broccoli, and squash go untouched. 

Inside his little man cave are some pine needles to give it that rustic feel. He is spending more time on the porch, but freaked out over another squirrel that came to visit. It was some time before came out of hiding.

Another turtle in the dying slop, and a bit of cooler weather. I went to Turkey Lake with Rich Nuzzi and Wes Neal, and even though it was on a cold front, the bass were still biting in the first part of the morning. 

A very nice park, but my slump continues. Out of 4 strikes, I was not able to close the deal on one them. I even had a bass go all Matrix on my toad, coming clear out of the water, engulfing the Zoom and heading for the pads. I set and it felt good, but moments later I pulled the toad from his mouth. Ah, I guess it is one of the things that keeps me coming back to this sport. You can never have it all figured out, and I have changed hook styles 3 times lately, but it hasn't seemed to help. Rich and Wes did well with there game plans and were able to boat a total of 7 fish on both top water and Texas rigged worms. 

I'll be back to Turkey Lake though, it is an incredibly nice fishery, but I hate to end the week empty handed so I stepped out on Destiny for a few casts last night.

I first tried to reconcile with the toad, but missed two bass on it. So I switched up to an Ocho and slowly worked it Texas rigged, from the weed line back. I caught two bass, nothing of legend, but it feels good to get them all the way in, and I won't stop tossing a frog, but  I probably go to slower model for a while. Top water is addictive.

I stepped out for a minute to try my Zoom Brush Hog. Finally, I found the color I wanted at Bass Pro, and it was a little late in the morning for this lake, but I really wanted to throw it a few times. There is a bit of cold front and fairly strong winds with blue bird skies, and the lakes looks devoid of action. I don't even see the bait fish schools, but I walked on this turtle that was feeding in an area of dying vegetation. The mats have really shrunk, and so I threw for some pads. On my second cast there was that telling thump that led to another and then a set. Not a big one, but not bad for not expecting anything. 

I love the Brush hogs and I never limit myself to fishing them one way. They are rather versatile and sometimes I Texas rig with a weight like today, because of the wind. On other days I will fish it weedless but with no weight. Sometimes I peg a weight, or sometimes I want it to follow the weight. If the bass are really slow and just mouthing it then I will pull off the appendages. That's the only real draw back with these though, and that is that the wings do not have a very good line to do so, but I make it work, or if I have a wacky rig ready I will toss that in instead. Sometimes the appendages are more than a bass wants to deal with at that time, but will readily slurp down one with the wings removed. It's like walking the dog in some lakes during certain times of the year; they just don't care for it, and you find something more streamlined and straight forward, with little side to side action and they slam it. 

The Anhinga was out sunning himself on the dock, but I was on the bright side of this photo. I did a little better with the Heron when I moved to the other bank.

Pickles is doing well, and becoming quite skittish about movement. He is a much better climber and Lily has made a dirt box for him, where he practices burying  acorns. The squirrel is a natural at it, but as proud as the girls are of him, they are upset that he is becoming timid. I told them this is as needs be, for what squirrel ever lived very long by not retreating to the trees. They do not make good pets for the most part, though I am sure there is the exception. My Aunt Dora had two rescues, a female that was very sweet and died of old age, and a male who was crazy and lived out his days in a cage. The female had the run of the porch and the wash room, and she never bit a soul, but I don't think that will be the case with Pickles. Their fist squirrel rescue, Silly, bit me really good, so I don't recommend going about and picking up wild animals, but my wife has the kind of heart to help them out.