Hurricane Frank blew in at 12:15 on Thursday, so I took off and we fished Friday and Saturday.  He flew
home Sunday.  Hurricane Ivan was supposed to spoil all hope of fishing, but after a bit of rain on Thursday
it bid us adieu and left for East Tennessee.  As strange as it may seem, both Frank and I are on the wagon for
different reasons, mostly medical.  But hey!  Sober ain't so bad once you stop hanging out with the drunks!

Bill Hostettler loaned us his boat and, since I had a 1 7/8"  ball and needed a 2" one, his truck as well.  What a prince!	Here we are on Percy Priest on Friday.  Cloudy, but  no rain and not enough wind to spoil things.  Fishing was  fun, but catching was sparse.
I caught this little fellow and took his photo since we  weren't likely to catch many more, it seemed.  Sure  enough, we didn't.	It's late and the sun is low and so is our energy.
A beautiful sunset marked the end of a lucky day.  Not much in the way of fish, but a great day on the lake that we had expected to be stormy and maybe impossible.	Here we are Saturday up a beautiful creek at  Center Hill.  Despite an interstate crawl (we circled  back and went a back way) we were fishing by 1pm.
We figured we'd better take a photo of this one.  As  it turned out it was almost the only trophy we got.	We left the lake early so we could return Bill's truck  and boat and be able to spend some deck time with Mom.

I spent Saturday doing all the backed up chores so I could go fishing on Sunday.  Sunday, just as I was
leaving home it started to rain.  I ended up helping Sherry with the Sunnymead house.  Oh well.  Good
deeds are fun too.  I guess.

We went to Savannah to visit Travis and James.  Travis had a birthday on the 6th and she was off Saturday
through Monday, so we had time to do various things.  Hurricane Charley threatened storm and rain, but
it all held off until we left on Tuesday morning.  Then we drove back in big time rain.  Trip down to Savannah
through Atlanta took 8 hours.  Trip back home through Asheville and Knoxville took 10.

Here's the house that Travis and James bought.  When we got there James was waiting outside to show us where to park.  He  had with him a cold 12 pack of Bud Light. Little did he know  that I was on the wagon!	We walked all over the place.  Me, especially.  I'd get up  early and do my morning stroll.  There was so much to  see that the first day I hardly shot a photo!
A cloudy and windy day at the beach on Tybee Island.  Hurricane Ivan was supposed to deluge us with rain.  A  little, but it stayed mostly dry until the last day of the trip.	We took a drive through the Savannah nature preserve  which is actually just across the border in South Carolina. Here's a pretty miniature flower Travis found.
We also found giant grasshoppers at the preserve.	Ol' Albert the alligator lurked just across the road from  where a family of Mexicans was fishing.  Kids playing  around.  Mr. gator was hopeful.  We saw one of the men  catch a 5' gator and bring him to the surface before the line  broke.  I was so interested I forgot to get a photo.
Here is the happy nature study group.	I went back the next day to try the fishing.  Saw  this interesting sign on the way.
Caught this large catfish.  One broke my 10# line  and my jig.  Could have been a gator or ????	Got home finally and the string beans (left) needed  picking.   The butterbeans (right) still aren't ready.
You can see that some of the butterbeans have small  beans inside, but some are still almost empty.  I'll wait.	This little string bean got stuck between two  poles.  Poor little bean.  I rescued it and ate it!

Garden: Took off early Friday and worked on a new trap made from the rabbit cage and screen from the old
trap.  This one ought to be proof against break out (the old one got a big hole torn in it by a possum), and the
screen protects the bait from reaching paws from the outside.  I also planted six rows of spinach, so maybe
we'll have some good stuff in October before the frost.  The string beans are still coming in and there are a
lot of butter beans, but none seem to be fattened up yet.  The big tomatoes are almost gone, but the cherry
tomatoes are still trucking.  The plum tomatoes are a big waste of effort--still none that have really ripened.
Plenty of bell peppers still to pick and the okra produce 4-8 daily.  Good old garden.  Those string beans fresh
off the vine are de-vine!

Saturday. Decided to explore Dale Hollow.  Put in the river at the campground near the dam.  Dead calm
water and very little trout activity.  Caught one.  Looked over the put ins on the lake near the dam, but realized
that they would be crammed with pleasure boaters on labor day.  A good place to avoid.  Fished a while below
the dam at Center Hill on the way back.  No fish.

Sunday.  Went back to Center Hill below the dam.  Caught only bream.  Caught 10 or 12 bream near the
log where the crappie gather.  Fun, especially on the fly rod, but not much to brag about.  Actually, I caught
several kinds of panfish.  We call them all "bream."  I call these little guys "yellow bellys."  Here's a photo of
one little guy.  I caught a really big one about the size of a saucer, but forgot to take his photo.  They were
all fun to catch since they turn sideways and really feel like something big on the fly rod, but I was hoping
for something in the walleye or trout line and was denied.  All told, a pretty dismal fishing weekend.

 

August 21--22

Saturday.  Rained hard last night.  Decided to explore mouth of Caney Fork.  Found put in on the Cumberland
near Carthage. Mouth of Caney Fork not far upstream.  Three or four boats on the Caney, all fishing for rock fish.
 

River was wide here near the mouth and I hoped to find  shallow water with rapids up ahead.  No such luck.  I was  afraid I'd run out of gas if I want too far.  Ran upstream  for 45 minutes and then gave up and started back, fishing as I went.

The cliffs seemed to be the best bet for fish down here in the deep part of the river.  I fished where the cliffs were steep and the bank was rocky.  No  luck.  Lots of pretty scenery but no fish.

Garden.  Gave up and got home early.  Picked a big mess of string beans and planted two rows of "Bright Lights" Swiss chard and one of mesclum mixed greens.  Plan to plant spinach tomorrow and that will be the last of it for
this year.  Except for the garlic which won't get planted until late October or November.
 
 

Saturday. Decided to try the mouth of Creek C where it hits the lake.  Took the inflatable canoe.  Fished
a little on the way to the creek, but it was shallow and somewhat colored, so I paddled on down and fished first
a side that I thought was a branch of the creek.  Current was flowing toward me when I started and half way down
to what I discovered was the end (it was a wet weather branch) the current reversed and began to flow back to the
lake.  I expect this was the rise and fall of the lake since I was quite near the dam.  Caught several young bass and
little bream.  Fun but nothing big.  Went around the other side and tied on to a really nice bass, 3 or 4 lbs, but it
jumped at the last and threw the lure (gold broken back rapala again).  Fished on up the creek and it was very nice.  Deep holes and shallow runs.  Worth doing again.  I want to get up as far as I can with the boat next time and then
fish on upstream wading.  Have to trust to luck that no one steals the boat.
 
 

This is the left branch of the creek, but only at high water. It peters out around the curve to the left.  I caught all the fish along the left bank in the shadows.	These little guys are really aggressive.  The one on top hit a popping bug and the other hit the rapala.  Such ambition!
This little guy is a war mouth.  They are very aggressive and hit like a bass but get tired quickly.  Fun, but not much good to eat.  They seldom get much bigger than 6 inches.	Up in the creek itself I found a possum grape vine and took a photo but they weren't ripe yet, so I didn't try the taste.  No good until after the first  frost is what Daddy told me long ago.

Sunday.  Fished under the dam at Center Hill and caught 3 small walleye.  Nothing legal (over 15").  Decided to try the lake and
put in at Hurricane Dock.  Too many big boats and jet skis out on the lake.  No place for my little 12 foot jon boat.  Fished back
up in the cove and had no luck on the broken back rapala so I put on a silver diving rapala and on the third cast hooked onto
something very big.  I was glad I had switched to 6# line.  This fish pulled the boat for 10 minutes and I had to let him because
I could not make him come up.  I knew it wasn't a bass--no jumping or fast runs--just hard digging for the bottom.  I finally got
it up to the surface and it was a large channel catfish.  They will often hit a lure, unlike most other catfish.  Fished a bit longer and
then quit so I'd get home in time to do the chores.
 

This channel catfish hit my silver diving rapala.  Took forever to wear him down.  Very strong.  I was going to bring him home to eat, but we have fish in the freezer, so he got to go home.

Garden. Decided to cut the vines between the string beans and the butter beans since the string beans were covering the butter beans
and taking over.  Picked a nice mess of string beans.  Saw a few butter beans, but not enough to pick yet.  Picked the last big bunch
of tomatoes.  We have dried a batch of the cherry tomatoes and plums.  The plums never have gotten sweet, but the work ok as
dried, since that concentrates the sweetness.  Also bought 8# of Roma tomatoes and dried them.  Unbelievable how little the look
when you dry them.  Couldn't find any seeds of spinach or mesclum greens at the co-op so I'll look elsewhere.  May be too late
to plant the lettuce now, but I'll try if I can get the seed.
 

The string beans on the left were covering up the  butter beans, so I cut the vines in the middle.  I hope this helps the little butter beans.	Not that I have anything against string beans.  I picked this nice mess Saturday after I got back. Had a few okra ready too.  We get 4-5 okra every day or so.
The bell pepper are at the peak now.  I picked some Sunday for stuffed peppers...uummm, good, but Sherry had to rush off for a poker game with the girls, so that will have to wait until tomorrow.	Don't they look yummy?
Here are some of the young butter beans. Not many yet and not filled out, but it  shouldn't be long.  Can't wait.	The little sweet 100's cherry tomatoes just keep on keeping on.  Wish I'd planted more.
Last to come through, but worth waiting for is the ichiban eggplant.  Note how small the plant is and how the leaves are ragged.  This happens every year. But soon it will start picking up and the leaves will come back and we'll have eggplants until the frost.	Such a large pod for such a small plant.  The okra is still pretty short but the pods are coming in regularly.
The curled leaves don't hurt the taste of the basil. I keep pinching off the blooms and it seems to make the plant put out more leaves.	The beets are slow.  We've had one batch, but most of the rest are  small.  Maybe cooler weather will help,  but the waning sunlight will probably be a negative.
Last, but way not least, here are Mom's flowers near the street.  Very pretty and doing well.	This bed near the house is even prettier.  Mom works her little self into exhaustion on these and they are very much worth it.  Almost worth the space I give up from my veggies.  Almost.

s.

Friday and Saturday.  We left Nashville early and went to visit Rod and Wendy in their cabin near Altamont.  Very
enjoyable time with sumptuous eating, drinking, hiking and blueberry picking.  The blueberries were picked at one of Rod's
Mennonite friends farm.  It was pick your own at $5 per gallon.  We quit after a half gallon, but it is a lot of berries, so
we won't go hungry for a while.  Our freezer is full of stuff right now, so we won't be shoving blueberries in on top.
Garden.  We are now getting the first of the pole beans (blue lake stringless).  They are so good they make you want
to cry.  We have had two batches as I write this (August 10), so I really need to put some garden photos up next week.
The butter beans are coming on, but none big enough to pick yet.  Next year I need to plant the beans along the back of
the garden in one long row so they'll get more sun and I won't have to climb through the little tunnels they have left between the rows which I planted too close.  Always trying to get more in less space.  It's a challenge.  What if I had more space?  I'd probably plant so much it would all go to weeds and nothing would be any good.  Maybe someday
we will find out.  Finally, I'm planning on putting in some fall lettuce, chard, parsley, spinach, etc.  I think it's early enough.  We'll see if we have enough sun to make it work.

The house that many hands built.  Rod, Wendy, Guinn, Betty, and Leighton built it.  Very well designed and comfortable.  The many feeders make it a favorite with the birds...and squirrels and raccoons.  At 2000 feet elevation the area is decidedly cooler than Nashville at 800 something.  Plus, last weekend was a  record cool one.  Global weather change?  You betcha!  But only for democrats.  Republicans will never know the diff.

Rod was a good sport about getting up at dawn and taking me on a guided tour of the place.  Here he is atop a giant rock slab on the edge of the 1000 foot drop to the valley.

Sunday.  We got back Saturday afternoon and caught up with the chores.  Sunday I got a late start, so tried Creek P.  It was a
fine cool day and though I caught few I did see four deer crossing the creek ahead of me and got one decent photo.  On the way
back upstream I saw a turkey fly across the creek.  While I fumbled for the camera about 10 crossed in ones and twos.  My
photo was a little late, so you'll have to take my word for it.  All in all a great day to finish a long and enjoyable weekend.

Three young deer crossed ahead of me and they were in no hurry, so I shot several photos.  This one was ok, but I really needed a better zoom.  Maybe I'll get one next.  The light colored areas on the water are patches of floating moss.	Pretty nice large mouth, one of three I caught.  Had a huge one charge my lure down near the end of the stream, but something must have looked "fishy," so he knocked it up in the air and I got nothing but a memory.  Broken back gold rapala #7.
Here's where the turkeys flew across.  If I had been faster on the draw you might actually see one in the frame.  You can see the moss along the edges here too as well as the dried moss on the rocks.	We had a huge rain Tuesday night, over 4 inches, so I thought the creek might have been flushed of moss.  Here you can see that it is still pretty thick.  After a while the fall rains will flush it out, but then it will be leaves that clog your line and lure on almost every cast.

Saturday.  Woke up early to the sound of thunder.  Rained pretty hard so creek fishing was out.  I
got out the 12' jon boat and headed for Center Hill dam.  Weather was cloudy and pretty cool, so not a
problem with heat. Got a little tan anyhow, so that was good.  Struck out at the waterfall and the water
spouts from the north wing wall.  So I gave that up and tried the end of the south wing wall just to the side
of the generator outlet.  Caught either a river herring or a drum on almost every cast. I was using little cleos
and letting it drop to the bottom and then lifting it and reeling so it jumped and fluttered back down.  I was
after a small mouth like the big one I caught last spring.  Later on I caught a few smallish trout down stream
in the slack water behind the first island, but that was it for the day.

Sunday. I tried again.  Got there about an hour before they began to generate at noon.  No drums, a few
river herring and no trout.  I did catch two sauger and a walleye.  All below 15" long, the legal limit.  As it
happened I had renewed my boat license that morning at a bait shop on Stewart's Ferry Pike.  Lucky I did.  The
Game and Fish checked that and gave me grief about not having my life jacket on.  Seems you only have to have
it in the boat if you are downstream in the river, but in the pool below the dam it has to be on.  Same guys who
gave me the $140 ticket last year for not having one in my rubber kayak.  This time I got a warning ticket. It was
clear and blazing hot and the sauger and walleyes stopped biting when the water started to rise, so I so I quit early
and went home to cut the grass and weed the garden and take Sherry to see "Spiderman."

Garden.  We are finally getting some little pole beans and there are blossoms on the lima beans.  I picked the
last of the bush roma beans and pulled up the plants.  Tomatoes are at the height and we also have okra and
bell peppers.  The okra is only knee high, I planted late, but we are getting 5 or 6 a day.  All the tomatoes are
fine except the grape tomatoes.  They are all red, but still tough and not good at all.  Maybe they don't like
my soil.  Well, la de dah.  We just won't invite them to join us next year!

Water spouts from the north wing wall at no generation.  A good place to fish for crappie in the cold weather.	During generation the water rises to cover the  spouts. In these photos you are looking east, toward  the dam and upstream re the river and the boat launch.  I caught the sauger and walleye in the deep water along  the face of the dam (straight ahead).
From the same spot where I shot the photos above, but  this is looking south, down stream and away from the  dam and toward the boat launch.  Note the height of  the falls.  Good fishing for trout  in the fast water below  the falls at times, mainly in the cold months.  Crappie are  never caught below the dam in hotweather, but concentrate  here when it gets cold.	See the change in the height of the falls when generation  is in progress.  The boat launch it directly ahead in the  gap between the clifts and the island (on the left).
This is a walleye, note the huge eyes (they stay in deep  water during the day and only come in shallow when it  begins to get dark) and the sharp little canine teeth.  Don't  make the mistake of trying to hold one by the lip.  You  won't like it.	This is the a pretty good walleye, almost legal at 15" but  not quite.  Sauger are identical except for the color, which  is a brown and cream mottled pattern.  I caught my three  on a gold little cleo fished in a jerk up and flutter down  pattern.  They always hit it when it is fluttering down.

 

Best weekend of fishing ever!  Went to Creek P Saturday and Creek C Sunday.  Didn't see a soul all day
Sunday.  For that matter the only human I saw on Creek P Saturday was a guy on a jet ski who came up the creek
to where the water got shallow and turned around and left.  I caught large mouth on Creek P and small mouth on Creek C.  The bass were off the beds and hungry and up in the creeks.  They were hitting my broken back rapala like a punching bag.

Creek P runs into a lake, so after a while it  becomes the lake and is too deep to wade.  It is wide and open without much gravel or mud.  It has a flat rock bottom and gets mossy in the slow stretches this time of year.  The bass love to hide under the flat rocks and in  the holes back up under the roots along the banks.	Where it is narrow it runs fast and the colors and the sound are very nice.  It feels good on your legs on a hot July day.  The minnows like the fast sections and hide in the weeds when the bass come out and cruise.
Downstream near where the lake begins is one of the springs that keep the temperature cool and the current moving.  Below it is a big wide hole with overhanging trees and steep banks.  The prime spot on the creek.	This hefty largemouth broke James' rod, but I got him in anyhow.  Note the cracks in the rock line and the shadows under the rocks.  Prime bass country.  This is a 14" large mouth who didn't want to be caught and almost got away.
Here's another hefty large mouth.  I caught him on what was left of James' travel rod I had borrowed to take to Nova Scotia.  I owe James one.   Creek P is good small mouth territory--I catch them in the deeper part in the winter, but now it's a little too warm and bright for them in this section of the stream.  I  suspect they are way upstream where the water is faster and the trees meet overhead making it darker and cooler.	This was the best fish of the day--16".  All caught  on a #7 rapala broken back.  Caught 7 or 8 and had  one strike that almost scared my shorts off.  Sounded like a hand grenade exploding up under tree branches right against the bank.  Maybe next trip.

Creek runs into the Cumberland River, Where I fish Creek C is far upstream.  In fact, just upstream of this point there is a mile or more of shallow cascades, one after the other, but no holes where I've ever found fish.	Before it gets too deep down toward the lake or too shallow up stream, there are long flat rock bottomed shady sections where the small mouth cruise or hide under rocks or tree roots.  Picture a cast to the middle of the tree shadow.  Then picture a sudden v-line toward the lure and an explosion as a hungry small mouth smashes the lure.  Set the hook just right and you have a fish on.  Too soon and you jerk it out of his mouth.  Too late and he spits out and you'll probably not fool him again that day.
This little guy is a creek chub.  They can get up to a foot long, but are mostly only 6" or so.  Sometimes they get aggressive and hit a lure.  The rapala this one hit was about half his own length.	This is a Red Eye--so called for obvious reasons.  They will hit lures like a small mouth, but don't have the  power and tire quickly.  The get up to a foot or so long and are good eating.  But I don't keep fish anymore, so this little guy got to go home and tell his wild story.
This colorful longear sunfish really got hooked and it took a while to get him loose.  Hardly as long as the lure, the largest ones seldom get above 6".  They seemed to be on the beds and were aggressively chasing the lure when it was being reeled back in.  Not many managed to get their mouths around the hooks, which was good.  The small mouth were not on beds, so I guess they were just hungry after going without much to eat while where were guarding their nests.	This small mouth was 17" and probably weighed  2 1/2  to 3 lbs.  It wasn't deep like a female, but long  and tough.  It was a great fight.  Of the two  creeks I  can't say which I enjoyed more. Maybe the small  mouth give the edge to Creek C over Creek P.  Just  because they are so strong and handsome.  Where  will I go next week?  I'm thinking.

Garden.  Saturday morning I really cleaned up the garden, including all the hard weeding.  Things are coming
along with only a few problems.

The roma bush beans were just coming in when we left on June 22.  I picked a small batch today, but there won't be many more. That's cilantro in the foreground.	The pole beans (blue lake string and florida limas) are all over the lattice.  No sign of blooms yet, but we are waiting hopefully.
The tomatoes are doing fine.  We are eating the Bradleys and patios.  The big boys and  celebritys are coming on strong.	As usual the cherry tomatoes (sweet 100s) were first to arrive and continue to ripen every day.  Many don't make it to the kitchen.
This is the first year for these grape tomatoes. So far they are getting red, but are still hard. Haven't had a ripe one yet, but they should come on soon.  Hope so.	The peppers are doing well.  Just four plants and one looks as if it has some sort of leaf wilt problem, but we will have plenty.
Look hard and you'll see a little okra pod in the center.  I planted the okra late and it is only knee high on the tallest plants.  It may be late but will probably do fine.  We'll see.	We have one little egg plant fruit on our four iciban plants.  They are still small, but egg plants always come on slow and don't  hit their stride until late.
We have two basil plants and have been enjoying it on tomato/bacon open face sandwiches.  Note the curled leaves.  It may be a disease or strain from lack of water.	This is Amaranth.  I planted two short rows where the garlic was.  Only one is any size, so I think it was planted too late.  It is supposed to taste like spinach.

 
 

Worked on the yard and garden, but didn't get to go fishing.  Tried to go to Percy Priest, but rain
started just as I got there.  Helped Sherry with her rental house instead.  Worked on the rock retainer
wall.  Picked up some more rocks for her at Percy Priest.  I also harvested the garlic, which should
have been done before we left, I guess.  Many of the stalks were rotten and the heads fell apart
when I dug them up.  Still, I think we have plenty to do us until next year.

Got home from our trip in the afternoon and about 5pm a storm came up and the lights went
out.  Didn't get much done but unpacking and when they came back on it was too late to work in
the garden.  So Wednesday I took the morning off and worked on the garden.  Pulled up or turned
under all the lettuce and Swiss chard.  Weeded and cleaned up generally.  The day we left I picked
the first of the roma bush beans and gave them to Ken Wooden, who kindly drove us to the airport.
While we were gone Mabel Clodfelter picked a sack of them and left them in the refrigerator.  She had
all she needed at home.  The tomatoes were beginning to get ripe and we had some beets that were ready
to eat.  I had worried about leaving the garden at that stage, but everything worked out all right.
 
 

Trip to Nova Scotia.  As far as the sight seeing part went, the trip was a big success.  But Frank and I planned
to fish and we worked hard at it.  In Baddeck, our first chance to fish, we had a canoe all to ourselves courtesy
of the owner of the house we all rented.  But we had little luck.  We were on Bras d'Or Lake (arms of gold),
which is supposed to be the largest saltwater lake in the world, or something.  Anyhow, we caught two small trout,
one each, and an assortment of little strange fish.   When we moved to the B & B on the Margaree River, the
owner swore there were large trout (average 3 lbs.) and huge Atlantic Salmon there.  We fished hard for two
mornings and two afternoons, but despite letting ourselves be frozen for our sport we got nothing.  We did catch
some small brook trout in another river, but we had only an hour to fish and then had to leave.  All in all, pretty
bad.  On the 29th Wiley and Betty flew home from Halifax and Frank and Mary Lee dropped Sherry and me off
in Bangor, Maine, where we got a rental car and they drove the van on to Boston to get their plane home.

Maine. This was a new trip with just Sherry and me.  We spent the night in a pleasant motel outside Bangor
and then took our time driving  up Highway 6 to Calais where my sister Ann lives.  Ann had arranged for a
canoe for us to use, so we spent the next day getting it and I drove around and checked out the various local
lakes.  One that was very pretty was Grand Lake, which is famous for small mouth bass and land locked
salmon.  I fished that by myself one morning and with Ann and Sherry providing paddle power that afternoon.
I caught a lot of nice fish on a lure I found--a frog colored tiny torpedo.  It makes a lot of noise, but evidently the
bass liked the sound.  However, I did not catch any really large fish.  That came the final day of our visit.

I caught two really nice small mouth in Boyden Stream which drains Lake Boyden about 15 miles SE of
Calais.  I fished all day and caught only those two bass.  They were both over 20" long and must have weighed
4 pounds or better.  The strange thing is that I caught no small bass.  Usually, you catch 20 small fish for every
large one.  It may be that the pickerel in the stream eat the smaller bass and force them to stay in the lake until
they are bigger.  I caught 4 or 5 large pickerel.  They have a mouth like an alligator and are shaped
like one too, long and round.    Below are all the photos that deal with fishing.  Maybe I'll put the others up
sometime, but not now.  So here is the best I can do.  This stuff takes a lot of time and effort.  Whew!

Here's the Nova Scotia gang at our little vacation house on Bras d'Or Lake.  Frank, Mary Lee, Wiley, Betty, Sherry, and Richard.	Here's the view of the lake from our little dock.  It's big and wide.  We saw a bald eagle in the top of a pine the first morning Frank and I went fishing.  At daybreak it was misty and cold.
I have no clue what kind of fish this is.  Like a needle with a huge mouth. Notice that Frank was sitting rather high in the canoe.  Every time he leaned a little off center I said my prayers.  The thought of an early morning dunking in that freezing water was not appealing.	Frank caught this 12" trout and that was it for anything of any size.  I caught its brother the next day and that was the story of our fishing at Bras d'Or.
This is a view south from where I was standing in the Margaree River, famous for Atlantic Salmon.  We tried hard but ended up with frozen feet and other body parts for our effort.	I got this nice shot of Frank just as the sun came up. Notice the large rocks in the foreground.  They made walking slow and treacherous.
I was sitting on a rock waiting for my ankles to thaw out when I took this.  I intended to buy waders when I got there, since mine are too bulky to pack.  But never got around to it.  Frank had some, but split the bottom out, so he got wet too.  Ha!	I caught this little brook trout in the Baddeck river on our last day in Cape Breton.  Did I mention that Baddeck is on Cape Breton, the northeastern most part of NS? Well, it is, and that's where most of our trip took place. We saw a lot and did a lot that isn't in this report, since this is only about the fish.  Maybe I'll get around to the other stuff later.
Ok, this part is in Maine.  That's Sherry, my sister Ann, and me in the rental canoe on Grand Lake. I got there early and fished until noon when the girls showed up and took over the paddling chore.  They let me sit in the middle and fish.	I caught a lot of these young small mouth, but none were very large.  We all enjoyed the beauty of the lake and the fish were fun after the bad luck in Nova Scotia.
As I said, Grand Lake is really beautiful.	We visited a nature preserve and bird sanctuary near Calais, where Ann lives.  A friend had told her that one of the streams there had pickerel.  Naturally I tried it and, although he got tangled in a bush,  managed to land a nice one.
This is the first of the large bass I caught in Boyden stream.  She hit the tiny torpedo on top water and gave me a near heart attack.  I was lucky to land her on 4 lb. test line.  I had bought some 6 lb. test and forgot to put it on.  During the fight with this one I promised God I'd do it right after if he'd let me land  her.  He did.  Then I discovered I'd left the 6 lb. in the car--several miles away.	God was being good to me despite myself.   He let  me catch another one just as big.  This time on the  brown rooster tail in the photo.  Even though I fished six hours for two fish it was worth it.  I'm a lucky  guy and I hope you get to fish in Boyden stream one  day when they are biting all day long.  Just be sure  to use 6 lb. line, or better.