2012
Winter- Summer

January 1 - August 31

Well, even though I'm not taking as many photos as I used to, it's pretty clear from the ones I have that Summer is the time to fish.

This is a young green heron, one of three I saw in a cedar tree overhanging the water.  They could not yet fly, but were big enough to climb through the tangled limbs and hide.  Which they did.  But I got this one pretty fair photo.

This osprey was active all day.  He's just going back to work after a break on a nice comfortable perch.

That's Jimmy Cliff and his pal in the yellow Ghenoe and Harry in his Jackson Cuda.  We were floating from Happy Hollow all the way down to Gordonsville take out.  Long trip and a long day.  Lucky we had Jimmy's 10hp.  Harry and I hung on the the sides and bummed a ride through the long still pools.

We saw this house way up on the bluff above the Caney Fork.  No take outs anywhere near.  What a hideaway...

At the meeting of the Caney Fork and Smith Fork Creek there is a big hole.  Harry caught this nice rockfish and had another one on that pulled him all over before breaking off.  

Nice large mough on the old lucky 13 chugger.

And, even better, a really nice small mouth..

I think this is a spider lily.  Sherry knows, but I forget.  Anyhow...

it's a really lovely sight as you paddle along the bluff.

Here we are at July 23 and things are moving right along.

I salvaged lots of odd 2xs and plywood pieces which have come in handy since we got moved in.

Caught this nice small mouth at Fall Creek on a white sluggo...

The water was up at Percy Priest and left this colorful caterpillar without much room or food.

That's a fishy looking spot.  And that's where this....

...nice large mouth was lurking.  He fell for the old purple worm.

Bluffs along the Caney Fork.

Best small mouth of the year out of Yellow Creek.

I guess I need Sherry to help identify these.

They add a lot to the trip if you just look around now and then.

A memorable trip to Creek J.  A Summer storm caught me too far to paddle back to the truck over open water--too much lightning. I hunkered down under an overhanging sycamore for over an hour. It was not much fun, but I survived.   

Here's John on my 16' bass boat.  We fooled around on the Stones River and the Cumberland while he and Sylvia were visiting.  Saw a lot of the Cumberland new to me.

One of the strangest sights was this house on the bluff with part of an airplane on the roof.  Go figure.

Around June 17 I was putting my bass boat into Stones River and saw this plover nesting on the gravel parking area.  Someone had put big rocks around the nest so she wouldn't get run over.

Here's the eggs .  I wonder if she got the chicks hatched?

I guess I'll never know.  I do know that she didn't sit on them because it was hot out there already.  She shaded them with her body.  Never though of it, but it makes sense.

Spring

Such a pretty gathering of greenish butterflies.  This is on ...

...Fall creek and it's been really dry so the creek is way low.  This part is ordinarily deep enough to run a big boat through.

But what I found out was that the bass were on the beds in that shallow water and if you could get close enough without spooking them you could have a good day.

Even good days have their clouds.  The bass to the left decided to jerk and struggle just as I was getting the hook out of it's mouth.  So I got it in my thumb past the barb.  Hard to operate with only my left hand.  Skin is really tough in case you didn't know it.  Had to push it through, bend down the barb and then back it out.  Ouch.

Nature is pretty hard on tadpoles in a drying up puddle.  These were all doomed.  It didn't rain for another week.

Nice crop of pink something or other growing from the cracks in the flat rocks at the creek bank.

Some fish just have big ideas.  This bass and sunfish both tried for the brass ring and got a hook instead.

Another nice large mouth on the broken back rapala.

I couldn't count all the vultures in this big sycamore along Caney Fork, but I'd guess there were 50 or more.

I tried catfishing down on the stones, but they kept getting my bait.  Finally switched to shrimp and did a little better.  But I decided I'd rather not clean them so they got to try again another day.

Winter

It's January in Ft. Myers and I used one of Frank's canoes to fish near his house on the Caloosahatchie.  Not easy with one person because of the wind, but I managed.

Here's ol' Squeaky on Okeechobee.  He and I and Frank and Danny went down and fished a day and a half.  We slept at the Cockroach Motel, but cheap! and convenient.  We caught a few but nothing to write much more about.  

Frank finally tries the $1 buzz bait and brings home the goods.

Worked for me too...

Fishing one of the meanders near Frank's place we were lucky enough to see a manatee.  That's it's wake.  It wouldn't pose for a better shot.

After I caught so many bass on it Frank tried it on salt water.  The minute it hit the water this 22" red fish smacked it.  Probably the first one ever caught on a buzz bait.

Caught this saucer size blue gill in that buzz bait which has a really big hook.  How he got it into his mouth is a mystery.

This beautiful hawk was hopping on the bank of Frank's pond.  He kept lunging and attacking something in the grass.  We never did find out what.

Went up to Ed's farm with my camera to hunt turkeys.  Found this flock of Toms on a pile of straw and compost.

Later on I saw this flock out in the field.  There were probably 50 or 60.  Note the snow.

This is early January and a red screech owl is using our nest box.

But in mid February this brown one moved in.  They like to sleep in the doorway whenever they can.