What a busy morning for my wife and me. I had a hard time getting myself out of bed this morning. The skies were overcast and there was a threat of rain in the air. I've been fighting a terrible cold and cough for the past few days and I think it simply whipped my butt last night... I was sweating all night long. I thought that maybe I had a fever, but my temperature this morning only read 97.7 degrees which tends to be the norm for me... Oh, well.
I noticed that when I got up and started moving, my sinuses weren't as congested and I wasn't coughing as much. Maybe I'm beginning to lick this thing!
Julie told me that she had a few errands for us to run this morning. So, I grabbed a quick banana and headed out the door.
We stopped at the local corner store for a morning newspaper and a soft drink. Then we headed down the street to the Willow Street post office to drop off a letter with a money order in it. Since Julie has been off work, we've had to pay our credit union with a money order since it doesn't come out of her weekly work checks right now. Just one more thing to remember while she's recovering from her wrist surgery.
Julie mentioned to me before we left the house that it was time to change the air filter in the furnace. So, one of our morning errands was to go to our plumbing and heating specialist to pick up two new replacement filters... $80.00
The next run we made was the AAA. Our membership expired way back in September. So, it paid us to just start a new membership for a year's time... Three of us cost... $125. We may "up it" to the "Plus" program later, but for now, we stayed at the normal membership. I definitely could use that 100 mile towing program when I'm out with my boat and fishing upriver.
After lunch, we stopped at Lowe's and purchased a small refrigerator for my middle son's bedroom. He still lives with us and buys his own food and drinks. The refrigerator can help him keep his food nearby without using up much of our refrigerator space.
Now, I'm finally home and ready to write up my first of 2012 fishing trip blog entry. Jeff had texted me on Tuesday evening asking what I was doing on Wednesday. I wrote back... "Nothing. What's up?" and he immediately called me... "Want to get out tomorrow?" Let me think about this for a second... "Yepper!" :)
We made plans to meet at the boat launch around 10:30 am. Jeff said the weatherman was calling for good weather between two frnts... Hmmmmm.
We met at the ramp at our appointed time and the wind was, of course, blowing a good 15 mph and the skies were overcast. There was a few showers the night before and north of us, but there was no rain in the forecast... But we were wondering "Where was this good weather!"
We hit the water... reading at Harrisburg, Pa. gauge said 4.5'... and headed south to our first fishing hole. Air temperature was 33 degrees and rose to 40 by the end of the trip. Jeff was all decked out in his new "Save Phace" face protector... I was looking around for Nicolas Cage in "Ghost Rider"... Cool Beans! I nicknamed his face protector... "Hell2O" ;)
It took less than 15 minutes before I hooked up with a nice 15.5" smallie on a Bill Dance Fat Free Shad... Tennessee Shad. This lure is quite old and has been a very successful crankbait for me for both largemouth and smallmouth bass.
Jeff took this video while I was "attempting" to free the treble hooks (surgery) from my initial catch... I am so sore (leg and back) and loaded down with warm layered gear that my statement said it all... "I'm so limited..." LOL!
We tossed crankbaits, jerkbaits, Winco CW Delight, grubs, tubes, and LIVE MINNOWS!
That's right... "The Queen Of The Susquehanna River" (Penny) taught Jeff a severe lesson when she whipped his butt last week while using the minnies... Jeff is a quick learner (... and so am I) and he brought a few dozen along to "play" with.
Jeff's first live minnow fish was a great 19" smallie... "Nice catch, Jeff!"
We played around with the different lures throughout our fishing trip, but the live minnows, by far, were the best of the best...
Jeff even caught a toothy critter... Nice walleye... caught and released!
Guess who gave us a call while on the water... Al Winco! I hadn't spoken to Al in several weeks and I have a firm belief that he could sense that we were out on the water and was checking up on us... "Hello, Can You Hear Me Now!?" LOL!
Can you hear that the wind howling on the river while listening to these videos!?
The next picture I entitled "Winter Resuscitation"! This was our live minnie bucket with portable aerator. It is the lifeline to winter fishing. :)
The river temperature was influenced by Brunner's Island. We had a reading of 42.5+ degrees on the console depth finder. The river temperature was around 38 degrees... It's amazing what that 4+ degrees difference will make in the dead of winter.
A big thanks to my fishing buddy, Jeff, for lugging this poor soul around in his boat all day long. We had such a great time and once again solved numerous world, national, and local problems. We attacked the U.S. Penal System, the Pa. Budget, and many, many more issues.
I did learn four major lessons yesterday from Jeff. He had a passed plumber friend who taught him these necessary life lessons a few years back...
1. Shit flows downhill, 2. Pay is always on Friday, 3. The boss is a jerk, and 4. Don't chew your finger nails.
Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad
