Old Lake, Ennis

I have wonderful parents!  They taught my brother and I that we could do and be whatever and whoever we wanted with this caveat--enjoy "whatever" it is we are doing and do "whatever" to the best of our abilities and with pride.  My brother and I took them at their word, literally.

"Some boys are really dumb!"  The last time I said that, I had just heard the "let's be friends" talk from a boy I really, really liked when I was in high school.  We both played sports, excelling well.  Unfortunately, I could shoot free throws better than he could, and while we never competed against one another, his friends razzed him about it.  Now, he could dunk a basketball, which at 4' 10" the only thing I was dunking was a donut, but it didn't matter; he dumped me.

Today, I went to Ennis to fish Old Lake to try to continue to add to my species list for the Bret's TX Fishes contest, and to celebrate Mom's 72nd birthday enjoying a really beautiful day.  I brought my waders and float tube.  A guy was out fishing in his paddle boat, and four others were fishing from two mini Bass Boats.  One guy from one of the Bass Boats just chortled loudly at me.  His buddy asked me if I thought I was going to catch fish.  I shouldn't be surprised at their stupidity, because this happens a lot when I fish by myself.

There is a little island that typically is productive.  Once I put in, I headed toward the island, but the paddle boat guy, and one of the Bass Boats decided I could only fish the west end.  So I looked at my surroundings, applied what I knew about fish, and kicked far, far away from the very dumb boys.  One of the Bass Boat group left, but he returned a couple of hours later with a different buddy.  The guy kept saying, "Just give me my worm; that's all I need to catch bass is my worm."  They did pay attention to where I had been, because as I was getting out, they headed to where I fished.  I watched them for awhile, and they did catch one Largemouth Bass.  As for me, I don't know silly boys, can this girl catch fish?

The day's totals--caught seven, netted five, all on a fly rod!

Easter Egg Hunt

Easter Egg hunt at Old City Lake, Kiwanis Park, Ennis

Being Easter, Cody and I decided we would go on an egg hunt this afternoon at the Kiwanis Park in Ennis.  The park has a nice playground, wide-open spaces, a good area for families to gather, and oh, a lake, Old City Lake, to be specific.  The wind blew and gave no respite, so the small rods again stayed in their cases, and the 4# and 5# saw action. Equipped with our flies, fly rods, and I in my float tube, we searched for spawning beds.   The Mama Bass's spawning beds and eggs draw large schools of carnivores who just lurk and hover hoping to eat her eggs.  When we fish, since lurkers harangue the female Bass to hysteria, we ignore her and try not to catch the bass on their beds.  Wanting to give the Bass parents some reprieve from the pesky predators, we cast near their egg-laden beds and were rewarded nicely for a couple hours of fishing.  Cody cast a CodyBugger and caught six, huge Bluegills and Green Sunfish. I also tied on a CodyBugger pattern, until some fish hammered it hard and ripped the lips and palmered grizzly hackle from the fly; I wish I had landed that one!  Then, I tied on a Crayfish (tied for Belize, last year) and caught a Redear Sunfish, Bluegill, and a male Laregmouth Bass.   Measured by our catches, we enjoyed a successful egg hunt and a happy Easter!