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FLT Flash Fishing Report!

Not your Daddy's fishing report...

E-mail James

September 14, 2026: Last Friday, when writing about 911, I somehow omitted thanks to all the first responders, not only on that day, but every day across the USA. This place wouldn't run without you..

Thank you for your service and please forgive my brain fart.. Old age sucks.

Last weekend there was a little tournament held on Falcon, it being of course the group from Laredo that fishes five or six events each summer. And fewer than average showed up for the tourney, with only fifteen teams competing.

There were ten limits brought to the scales, the largest being 16.68 pounds. 15.63 was second, and third place came in with fifteen pounds on the nose..

That may not sound to impressive, especially by Falcon standards, but it does show that fish are starting to bite a little.

I'm telling you that a month ago fishing was harder than San Antonio water. IYKYK.

The condition of the fish is very impressive as well. They are fat as butterballs and are eating like pigs. The baby tilapia in the two to three inch size is astounding.. Last week at the ramp at the state park they were turning the water brown. Looked like a shadow on the water they were so thick.

One of my friends that fished the tourney said his livewell had a bunch of small tilapia in it at weigh in time..

Should it be legal to stuff them back down their throats? They had em in their gullet when they were caught..

Should that be a polygraph question these days?

"Did you stuff anything down the throats of your fish?" With all the cheating going on around the country that might be a valid question..

Same question Mr. Johnson asked me when I brought his daughter home from the prom..

I said "No Sir" and burnt rubber.. I wasn't letting him hook me up to no wires..

In any case, that's about as much action on the lake as we have had since the last time they were here.. Fish are being caught. Not a lot of grandes.. But action.. Here's a couple of pics of recent catches just to show you what the fish look like..

Future Rosies..

This fall should be a lot of fun. I'm just wondering when fall is going to get here.. We're still scheduled to be over a hundred all week. Maybe 99 on Thursday with a chance of rain..

The water is still dropping an inch a day, and when they will back off I have no idea. You would think they would give the public some info on short term plans.. But evidently they guard that info like Fort Knox.

Think there is actually any gold in Fort Knox? If the government can cover up evidence of Alien life and spacecraft they could surely keep that under wraps..

I see all these commercials on TV telling me that I should buy gold. To protect myself..

Where are they getting all this gold? Is this the lost gold from 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre?'

Or do they have a cousin that is a janitor at Fort Knox and is sneaking it out in his lunchbox.

Ok so I buy gold, and they are going to hold on to it for me for safekeeping.. So now they have my money, and my gold..

Scenario: Things turn to shit.. World in turmoil.. My money is worthless.. The system breaks down..

What would be the mechanism that gets my physical gold to me?

Do you think them fuckers, with the world in turmoil, be sending a Brinks truck to my house? I don't think so Tim..

And WTF if they did? You gonna trade a Krugerand for a chicken?

I'm thinking 22 shells are a better investment.. And BTW.. There is a shortage of 22 ammo right now, and I hear it will continue thru the end of the year. A heads up from one of the country's biggest ammo distributors..

Since the country parted ways with the Gold Standard, this is nothing but a shell game anyway.. We see some numbers on a piece of paper or a computer screen with a decimal and maybe a few commas, and we think we have money or wealth..

It's a house of cards.. Lets hope they used some glue on at least the bottom ones..

And let's settle this AI shit once and for all.. There is no AI race.. A race has a finish line..

This is purely and simply the evolution of technology just like going from sail to steam. And there is no end in sight..

We started the "Space Race" seventy or so years ago.. Looks like that motherfucker is going stronger than ever..

And all these Data Centers.. Do you think the are building them for the good of mankind? Do you think that these super computer menageries are running around the clock trying to cure cancer? Maybe finding a way to achieve fission and cure the worlds energy woes?

No doubt there are some advancements being made that will help mankind.

But ultimately the data centers, which are nothing more than server farms, and have been around for decades, are about one thing..

MONEY.. Not gold.. No not even that paper trash in your pocket.. But that digital gold held in them servers..

That's where the real money is.

The three main goals of data Centers are these..

Primarily tracking.. Yes tracking the bad guys and Flock cameras and security and the like..

But tracking you.. Tracking your phone, computer, TV, Alexa, your automobile, and every other connected device you own to see what you look at, and where you go, both physically and virtually, on line, 24/7.

Every click you make.. Every breath you take.. They'll be watching you..

'Why would they want to track little ol me' you may say.. Because they want to know what you might want to buy, whatever problem you are having, what you like to eat, and on and on and on and they want to put every possible product in front of your face and make it easy for you to spend your money..

Number two is Hacking. You can bet the US government has the best and brightest and is paying them a zillion dollars to keep an eye on our adversaries. And protecting our assets from their best hackers..

The old cyber war is really ramping up..

Thirdly. Control. Absolute control.

If all the information in the world is one place, and those on top, who control the dissemination of that info and who it can be seen by...

Well that person will rule the world.

Let's hope it is a benevolent mainframe that runs it all.

In the end it may all come down to some patriots with a pair of dykes..

And I'm not talking about the ones with purple hair..

September 11, 2026: So where were you.. Twenty five years ago on this day.. If you were old enough to be aware I bet you know exactly where you were and what you were doing..

The day the world stood still..

Here we are, twenty five years later, and I can still recall the hate and disdain I had that day, and can still taste as I type.

And it disgusts me every time I see one of these motherfuckers on TV, ideological radical muslims with hate in their heart for all things America, but living within our shores and under our protections..

How fucking stupid are we? Believe me, my fire of hate burns white hot..

And if that's hate speech, so be it..

I wasn't around when the Japs bombed Pearl Harbor, but I still carry a lot of resentment for those motherfuckers as well..

And I know a lot of you red blooded Americans carry the same grudges as I.

Don't be dissuaded.. Don't let your guard down.

And always keep the faith.

I hope it doesn't happen, but it may come to pass that all of us, regardless of age, will need to take up the fight to defend OUR America.

And I ain't talking about with a keyboard..

How is it that the people of New York could elect a Muslim Communist as their mayor. I have never had a lot of love for Yankees, but even I didn't think they were this stupid..

Not only have you let the enemy's general into your camp, you set him on the throne..

Because he told you he was going to give you a lot of free shit..

In the immortal words of Forest Gump's Mama, "Stupid is as stupid does.."

I'm almost seventy one years old.. And it feels good. Knowing that I did things to help build this country, and always stood up for it. I did not serve in the military.. Mostly due to timing I guess..

But I hold all veterans, living and dead, and those actively serving, in the highest regard.

We can never repay you for your service, or your sacrifice.

But know that you have the eternal thanks of a grateful nation. Thank you for providing me with a way of life that billions on this planet will never know.

And God forbid, if the time ever comes, when we do have to take up arms in defense of our homeland, know that me, and millions like me, even with our limited capabilities, will be right there beside you, fighting the good fight to the best of our abilities.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

NEVER FORGET!

September 7, 2026: I was all pumped up to come on here this morning and write a fishing report, because the fish have come out of the brush and out of their funk. And folks have been whackin the shit out of them the last few days.

Fish are from the bank to about twelve feet deep and eating a bit of everything I hear.

More on that later.

It is with heavy heart that I tell you of the passing of Henry "Ted" Wayland. He has been a long time friend, neighbor, advocate, and confidant. And on top of that he was just a good son of a bitch..

Generous to a fault.

I am sure a lot of you saw him here in the store on weekends, as he split his time here and at his home in Plesanton.

We fished many a day together, here, in Mexico, and he also got me to Brazil where we whacked the Peacocks for a week.

His physical ability was lessening the last couple of years and we did crossword puzzles more than we fished.

He caught his last fish June 1st, 2025.

I am glad I was there..

Ted was a twenty year plus Air Force man, who flew 134 missions in the Vietnam war, mostly in B-52's and a dozen or two in surveillance planes. He was an electronics warfare man, or an EW.

He also flew out of Berkstrom Air Base in Austin in operation Chrome Dome, during the Bay of Pigs, when nuclear armed B-52's flew in a constant circle above the Arctic Circle as a deterrent to Russian attacks while we dealt with the threat in Cuba. The missions were 24 or more hours long, and he told me that the world never knew how close we were to nuclear war.

After he retired he got his private pilots license, and bought an insurance agency in Plesanton. He ran it for many years before selling it to his employees, who are still running it today.

He loved to fly and owned three different planes. He loved to hunt quail and had a doberman that was the best fetcher you ever seen.. According to him.. We argued over that on occasion..

But during that period he traveled to many a lake and made seventeen trips to Brazil, in search of the giant Peacock Bass. And he found them too..

He and I partnered up on at least three trips to El Salto, Pichachos, and Commedero. And of course the one time to Brazil. And Falcon aplenty.

And we were on several other trips together when we were not partnered up. Till Happy Hour anyway..

We shared many an evening together over a few Johnnie Blacks and watched Air Disasters

He was enamored with air flight and airplanes.. If it was military, he knew what it was and when they made it and if it was a piece of shit or not.. He had an opinion or two. I am really gonna miss him..

I am sure this morning he took his last flight in his beloved BUFF..

More on the fishing soon.. Get your ass down here..

August 31, 2026: Two thirds of the year has come and gone, and before we know it the holidays will be upon us once again. Time to put that turkey on an all corn and grasshopper diet..

Of course at midnight tonight your fishing and hunting license will expire, if you haven't purchased one for the new license year already. Best pick one up before you go hunting tomorrow.. We already pay the state enough.

And as tomorrow is a state holiday, I will not be in the store. I'll be back Wednesday afternoon by two o'clock. I have not been out of Zapata in six weeks and I am going up to the ranch to shoot at a few doves. One of my favorite things to do..

I hear the state of Texas has a million more doves this year than last, and last year was a very good year.. And the numbers at our place look better than we have seen in a while..

I think PAW should give hunters one day a year to kill all the doves they can. And let the hunter pick the day. Sign in to the app by six am on their site the day of and go to blasting.. That would be cool because there are many days you don't kill shit.. That's hunting.. But if you knew there were a lot of birds around it would be a fun time..

Bass fishing on Falcon showed a marked improvement this week, with numbers for a lot of folks doubling or tripling from their previous trips. Maybe this falling water is starting to pull the fish out of the flooded jungle that we still have a lot of.

I talked to some guys that fished on Saturday, and they had a dozen fish and one whopper that broke off after jumping a few times. They were fishing shallow and several of the fish came on chatterbaits. Also squarebills they said.

Some other buddies caught them pretty good yesterday, with a nine and a six reportedly. And some friends of theirs did pretty good as well.

Matt Reed and his clients had decent results on Saturday and Sunday, boating about twenty fish a day. No monsters and he said the best of the two days were a few around five pounds. Shakey heads and a C-rig were best for them, and they fished out off the bank both days.

Think ledges and long points..

I was talking with Ram Reyes last week and he was talking about catching a bunch of perch out of some brush piles while fishing for crappie. And another friend told me they caught a dozen or more a couple of weeks ago.

So yesterday we we headed out with light tackle and a can of worms. Cause Jimmy likes to eat fried perch.

And we started in the Tigers on some brush piles, and while Ram was dropping an earthworm on em I was using a crappie jig. Just in case some crappie were interested..

But they were not.

Those brushpiles are loaded with fish.. Loaded.. And as it turns out most of them are tilapia. And we caught a shit load of them on worms. And a few perch.. And we hopped around and had about ten eater sized perch in the live well. But we were getting bit more by tilapia and small catfish than the perch..

We headed to a brushpile in State park cove and we caught more of the same.

So if you think all them fish are crappie in the brush.. I don't think so Tim..

So we decided to fish on top of some deeper rockpiles, nearer the dam at the mouth of Government cove.

And shazam! We landed on a pile of hungry perch, and in the mix were a bunch of Rio Grande's.. Speckled with a big forehead.. Good to know their numbers appear to be in good shape.

But some of them are shaped differently today.

I like scaling them, cutting their heads off, and frying them whole.. And that's what we did..

I fried up about eighteen of them for supper.. A little work to eat em, but oh so sweet..

You know what the old timers say.. The closer the bone, the sweeter the meat.. I made myself stop at ten..

Yesterday took me back to years gone by, as I had not pursued any perch in at least ten years. But I promise it is not going to be that long before I try it again..

The lake is still dropping about an inch a day. Don't know when they'll back off the releases..

But I think it is good for the fishing. I probably won't fish till next weekend, and it looks like a cast and blast day next Sunday.. Two of my most favoritest things!

Fall is in the air.. Only a hundred as I write..

See you when we do!

August 26, 2026: I am not sure how many days in a row we have been over 100°, but it is pretty impressive, even for south Texas.. I know we are not near a record but it has been a hot son-of-a-gun.

We have been over 105° for the last week or more, and more is in the forecast. And with that being said, it is as slow around here as I have ever seen it. No one wants to do anything.. I should have took the week off..

The only talk around here is about dove season opening next week. Which I too am looking forward to..

Lots of birds around here, and some places are really loaded.

I am headed to the ranch next Tuesday, so you won't find me around here. But I'll be back Wednesday afternoon.. And news from the home front says we have a good number of birds at our place. Looking forward to thinning them out a bit.

There are very few fishermen on the lake around these parts, and until it cools off I don't expect anything to change.

Reports from over the weekend were about status quo.. Slow..

Yesterday, things down at the state park got a bit interesting I hear. Seems that a gas line ruptured near the entrance to the park, at the first gas well pad you can see to the left on the way in.

And the story goes that it blew rocks and debris all the way to the park office. That's a long way..

Needless to say the park has been closed since, but from what I hear this morning, they have the line repaired and are doing pressure tests on it today, and the park should reopen this afternoon or tomorrow.

I'd call ahead if you are planning on going there today or tomorrow.

The lake is still dropping an inch a day, and at this point we have given back the near three feet of water we caught last month. The bridge rails on the Veleno bridge are back out of the water by near a foot.

There is still water under the 83 bridge here in town, I'm guessing about two feet.. We'll see where this all leads.

But right now we are still up almost seven feet from were we were in January of this year.

Hurricane season this year appears to be another bust, at least for south Texas water production. I know we are in the heart of the season but so far things have been pretty boring.

Nothing has approached the mainland and other than one squall in the gulf a few weeks ago it has been a very quiet year.

There have been a shitload of storms out in the Pacific, and every one has turned west, away from Mexico. As we speak there are five areas of interest in the Pacific.. None headed our way it appears.

Hopefully a benevolent low will come ashore in the gulf before it is over and bring us some rain.

The super El Nino is supposed to kick up this fall and bring Armageddon to America..

Well that's what the news says. Sensationalism is the trademark of all news organizations these days, and the meteorological predictive services have certainly not missed the bandwagon.. Evidently there is just no money in news if it ain't doom and gloom..

We'll see what the fall brings, but it just don't rain here in the winter..

We really don't have fall here.. Just a change in wind direction. I hate cold but I am tired of bitching about the heat..

Anyway, that is about all that is going on around here.. Nothing.. And I am bored to tears..

I will advise on anything exciting and new.. Just not sure when that will be..

August 20, 2026: Well if Sonny wasn't such a shitty skier, I'd have him and Cher do a remake of 'The Beat Goes On', and substitute 'heat' for beat..

It's been hottern' a bitch wolf suckin nine larapin pups on the Chihuahuan desert.. But it is August after all..

And we are in the Chihuahuan desert..

The lake is still dropping about an inch a day, and we are down 1.81 feet from the high a few weeks ago. Amistad is holding steady, and not sharing any of the nine plus feet they caught.. But they are still woefully low as well. But the lake still looks good with a lot of flooded cover..

This year might be a good one for the duck hunters as well.. We'll see what we still have in the water come colder times..

I told you that Jay and I were planning a trip over to Sugar lake for yesterday. And by golly the wind forecast held up and we got there a bit after sunup..

There was just a proper SE breeze blowing and it was about the best conditions one could ask for.

Our first stop was on a ledge on the south end of the lake, one we had fished many times before. And I remember fishing it back in 2008 0r 2009 the first time. And it is by no means a secret spot, but it almost always produces a few fish.

We had made about six or eight casts to it, and it is by no means a small piece of structure. Well my cork went under and I set the hook and knew it was a decent fish. Jay was looking the other way when she jumped, and I said you might want to get the net. I told him she was at least seven or eight pounds, but she gained a few pounds when we got her into the net.

One of those typical broad shouldered Sugar fish. She weighed 10.49, and with that she broke my fourteen year drought of no DD's. I've had a few on.. But they had different ideas about getting in the boat.

First bite of the day..

We hop scotched around a bit and caught a few smaller fish and a four or so. And one of my favorite (and Jay's) ledges produced nothing.

We proceeded a bit farther south to another similar ledge with a bunch of chunk rock on it And I think we both broke off a couple of times.. But shortly after getting there, Jay laid into one that started taking some line. She never jumped as I recall but we netted her and looked at each other thinking man that could be nother DD. But alas she only went 9.73, but a very near miss.

We're starting to think a forty pound bag was in play..

We hopped around for a bit and hit a couple of brushpiles that Jay had put in a while back. And he was being the guide type and let me cast first, and I somehow could not get myself to to set the hook as a fish swam about ten feet with my bait..

Note to self: Just because a fish has your worm in his mouth, and is changing counties, you still need to set the hook.

Anyway, I repaired my bait and chunked back in there and I'll be damned if another one didn't inhale it in the middle of the tree.

I got her out of there and when we got her in the boat she weighed 8.04.

We caught several other chunks, but I think our best five went about thirty five or six pounds.

And certainly the best day for me in quite some time.

It is hard for me to imagine looking back, but there was a four year period when I caught a DD at least once or twice a month. Not always.. But a lot of the time.. Say 2007 thru 2011..

And until yesterday I had not caught a DD since 2012, right after I had bought a new boat. Long dry spell..

I think to myself all the time that I should have fished more back then.. But three or four days a week was all I could get away with.

Anyway the rods were on the deck at 12:05 and we put it on the trailer. Back at the shop by 2:00..

Somebody has to run this place..

You might want to talk to Jay about a trip..

Will report as things warrant..

This is the first time I have done any bragging in a few years.. Sorry.. (not) :-)

See you on the water!

August 18, 2026: It's hottern' a desert dwellin lizards dick around here. And just about as sandy..

No rain for a good spell and none in sight. And average temps in the PM are hovering in the 104° range.

It's fuckin awesome.. I hate cold.. And it'll be here soon enough.

You do realize, that it is mid August, and that in thirty days we are going to have to deal with strong north winds roaring across the plains, don't you? And a front will probably blow in about the first of September, scattering the doves to who all know where..

But I am itching to kill some.. And on that note, being dove season starts on a Tuesday, I will not be here in the afternoon on the first if you are looking for me. I'll be back sometime early afternoon on the second.

I plan on getting in a evening and a morning hunt at the ranch.. And this year we actually have a bit of water in the pond and a few birds in the area. And I hope to reduce that number by a few..

Here at home, as stated above, it is hot and dry and has been windy.. But yesterday was a nice day with prefect wind and a joyous day to be on the water..

So Jay Grieshaw and I made a deal. I took him on Falcon yesterday, and he is taking me to Sugar tomorrow. And I better catch a bigger fish than the one he caught yesterday. Last time he and I went out, he caught a seven-six I think.. Yesterday he caught an eight-seven.. I pushed him overboard..

We did not catch too many others, and the bite was slow. We were off the water by eleven due to above mentioned weather conditions.

The water level continues to drop, and we have lost over a foot from the high we experienced two and a half weeks ago. But there is till a ton of flooded brush in the water out to at least six feet. BTW.. That big fish came out of a twenty foot deep brushpile..

We got a few bites on some rock piles near marker two in shallow water, you know the spot.. Near the cisterns up on the bank. We did not go north of there..

Looking at FFS, there is a ton of fish on those rocks.. Getting them to bite is another thing. There is so much bait in the lake that it boggles the mind. Standing at the boat ramp, and looking at shores edge, it is lined with thousands of baitfish. Shad and baby tilapia by the thousands..

I have no idea why a bass would bite an artificial bait.. And a lot of em ain't..

Speaking of launching, down at the state park conditions are about perfect right now.. Considering we are not on concrete.

Park employees have moved those two portable roll-out ramps to the end of the "the ditch" with the dock in-between and the slope is about as close to ideal as you could ask for. Two wheel drive is gravy..

Here in Zapata we are on the big ramp and it is good five wide..

Water clarity on the south end of the lake is as good as I have seen it in years. Lots of cover and grass in the water has certainly filtered the H2O, and visibility is about two feet if you have a bright bait tied on. Maybe a bit more.

Catfish and gar fishing is still pretty damn good, with good reports from most fishermen. Bank fishing at night here in the Veleno has produced some really nice catches, with thirty pound blue cats very common.

Gar have been good on rod and reel in the river near Zapata.

Don't know where the white bass are..

Sunday morning I was running around town, and went down to the county ramp to check things out. And a guy I know from the store was throwing a cast net for bait on the ramp and then off the dock.

Two tosses off the floating dock rendered more shad than he thought he could use.. At least thirty in each retrieve, with sizes ranging from two inches to four. Some big ones in the mix.

This lake is just plain loaded with bait from top to bottom..

There is very little traffic on the lake currently, although the weekends get a bit busier. We did not see another bass boat on the water yesterday.

I am certainly curious as to what cooler water will bring. Hopefully it will bring you down here..

I'll let you know what's happening!

August 10, 2026: We're well into the second week of August, and it's summer in these parts. But it is a long way from being hotter than what we usually have. I ain't saying we can't or won't go on one of them hunnert and ten streaks, but I don't think so.. It's summer.. It's hot.. But in thirty days we will be having a cool front every ten days and our highs will top out in the nineties..

So far this summer I'm only giving it a three out of five jalapeno score..

Dare I say that fishing is getting a bit better around here.. It still ain't a quit your job and get down here type of thing. And it ain't been that way since Whoopi could paint her own toe nails.

But it is getting better. And that is not unusual when the water is dropping, and it certainly is that.. We have lost almost a foot of water from our recent high. It was nice while we had it but we still have a lot of water in the lake.. Certainly compared to what we had back in January. We are still almost nine feet higher than we were at the start of the year..

And as you can imagine there is a shit ton of flooded vegetation for the fishies to hide in.. But as is the norm, when the water does drop, it pulls the fish out to the edges. I ain't saying by any means that we are there yet.

But I hope the fish did a lot of fornicating during this higher water event. And we all know that when we catch water in the summer these bass get hornier than a three peckered billy goat. And I would certainly assume that this year is no different than years past.

The Laredo tournament group held their monthly contest on Saturday, and I hear there were over twenty teams in the fray.

And whilst they broke no records this time around, at least the first three places had a five fish limit. Top three weights were sixteen, fourteen, and thirteen pounds respectively.

Last month no one brought five fish to the scales.

Big fish Saturday was a six something I hear tell.

Where are all the big fish? Hell if I know. Are they still out there? I don't know that either..

I hear of an occasional big fish or two, but numbers of giants are down from two years ago when we were catching six to ten pounders off the rip rap every day. This last spring I was really expecting to see some elevens and twelve's being caught on a regular basis.

But when the water started to rise, the big fish bite evaporated.

I am in quite a quandary about it.. Right up to the point of being flummoxed..

Water temps are still middle to high eighties. Normally these fish love the warm water.. We'll see if they get a little more active after we drop a few degrees.

Launching is still not a problem. Here in Z-town, the big concrete ramp can accommodate four or five boats at a time, depending on who is backing the trailer. So no problems..

Down at the state park we are launching in the ditch where the ditch meets the bay.. And I hear that the temp ramps and the dock have been moved there as well. No no real worries.

The slope is ideal, but the bank does get wet and muddy at the waters edge. You know the drill..

The catfish are still very friendly, as are the gar on rod and reel.

Crappie are spottier than a German Shorthair.. They have been inconsistent as hell.. And I hear the afternoon bite is much better than the AM adventure.. But it is too damn hot for me to be out there at three o'clock.

I'm gonna get out one day this week, but ain't sure which one yet.

I've got an idea for a new video podcast, and I think maybe I might be on to something. Here's the theory.

I am going to do a split screen, where one half would be looking at the TV, and the other camera would be pointed at me.

And I would kinda be like a color commentator, reacting to what is said on the commercials.

I think that it would be best if I was about three drinks in, before I hit the record button.

How bout when the commercial voice over says , "Do not take (Fill in the drug name) if you are allergic to it.."

Well no shit motherfucker.. But how in the hell am I supposed to know if I am allergic if I have never taken it before..

And what in the fuck is up with all these medications that warn that taking this drug may cause inflammation between the anus and genitals?

Why is this a recurring theme.. What the hell is in these drugs that cause a "Taintfection?"

And they warn not to put Gold Bond on it as it will cause a "pizza crust" to form on your nether region..

What happened to the good ol days when the only major side effect of a drug, was that it might cause a penis to grow out of your forehead.

Think of the possibilities..

And what's with all these commercials that have beautiful girls in their twenties and thirties with their tits hanging out trying to sell you a boner pill..

Girl if you got those assets and you can't get him going then you ain't doing something right.. Just give up and go make him a sandwich..

Now of course these days we do have a bunch of bob knob wearin' soy boys that are so low low T that the idea of penetration is repulsive..

"Uuuu.. It's just too messy.."

I am not worried that global warming, or sea rise, or the Chineese, or the Russians will kill us..

I think it is more likely that the human race will die out because the youngsters are too lazy to fuck..

Until they figure how to do it over the phone I think we are gonna have problems..

And I bet that you don't have to look too far to see some of the "men" that I am talking about..

Odds are that you know a few..

How about all these GLP-1 commercials.. You don't have to diet or exercise to loose weight.. Just take a shot or a pill..

I'm glad that Rosie didn't have this shit twenty years ago. Where would I have gotten fifteen years of material?

And there is no action without a reaction.. These GLP-1's have spawned a whole new industry.

Seen the Sono Bello commercials? With these gals and guys with enough extra skin to make footballs for the next three seasons?

They can fix it all in one visit.. Or so the commercial says.. Wonder what that costs?

There is a whole lot more but you'll have to wait till the book comes out..

Well I just took a Blue Chew so I don't pee on my shoes..

See you at the drug store..

August 3, 2026: Bow wow wow.. The dog days have set in in south Texas. And we have been exceeding the 100° mark every day for the last.. Shit if I know but it has been a while.. And it looks like every day this week we'll keep the streak alive..

Yesterday evening we had a cold front blow in.. I might be a little liberal with the use of the word cold.. But the wind did shift to the north about four O'Clock.

And some nice rains fell above and below us, and a portion of the town got a shower. But not at my house in Four Seasons. Here at the shop I am going to call it five hundreth's of an inch.

But we did get down to 75 this morning for the low temp.. And it has been a while since we got below eighty..

You did notice that I said a cold front.. Well it's August third motherfuckers, and in thirty days we will be getting fronts on a regular basis. Usually the first one hits on September first, and there's water in every cow track.

That is old Dove Hunters Lore that I learned from my Daddy. And it is accurate a lot of the time..

We're in the prime of hurricane season, but it has been less than impressive so far. There have been several storms in the Pacific, but they all want to meander out west. We need a giant to go up the middle of the Sea of Cortez and wash all the trash out of Mazatlan into the bay.. And continue across the Sierra Madre mountains and head for Big Bend.. Or El Paso that would be fine.. We need a flood on the desert..

We have the fish scattered all over God's creation out there anyway, so I say bring it on..

The water has dropped about six inches from our high of last week. I guess they're watering something down south.

Amistad did increase releases back to about what it was before the rain event of two weeks ago. So maybe that will mitigate losses if they keep it up..

Fishing is starting to show some signs of life. Some buddies of mine from Laredo caught seven fish yesterday, and that is the best I have heard of in a few weeks. Some other folks also caught a few, but I still don't have a lot of reports.

The Laredo boys will have their monthly tourney this weekend, so I will hear a lot more I am sure..

One of our local guides caught twenty five crappie on Saturday, and that is promising as well.. Cause them fuckers have been tight lipped as well..

So maybe things are starting to look up. It's about time..

Catfishing has been good by all reports, and the gar are still enjoying the flooded monte as well.. I guess they like the easy pickens cause there are so many tilapia up there..

Bow fishermen are having a ball shooting all kinds of fish.. Lots of action I hear..

The kids are back to indoctrination camp in a couple of weeks.. It sure would be nice if they taught them some history and some civics classes..

What kids don't know about this country is appalling.. And yeah you can point the finger at some teachers.. But they're not the ones setting the parameters, or what some might call the agenda for what is taught..

Whatever they're doing, it's not working very good.. And we all know for a fact the administration is all about getting them graduated.. Whether they have the basic skills to go out into the world or not.

That's broadly spoken of course.. I know a lot of administrators have the best of intentions.. And many times the school system gets no help from the parents. They either don't give a fuck, or they think little Johnnie is the perfect child..

You try and discipline a child, and you're dealing with hostile parents that are as bad as the child.

And the circle continues..

And me as a lowly sales clerk sees it all.. I see the best of parenting here in the store.. And the worst..

And sometimes you just gotta shake your head..

But overall the kids here in Zapata are polite and respectful.. Guess that is probably true about most all small town kids..

But some of the shit I see on TV makes me think, just put em in jail now, and save a lot of misery for the rest of us..

Parenting is a tough job.. And I wasn't the best at it.. But I taught my kids the difference between right and wrong..

And with that knowledge, whatever decisions they made and make are on them, not me..

And I think that is about the best thing a parent can do these days..

I would hate to think I had to start over in today's world.. Don't think I would make it.. Or they wouldn't..

Well I gotta get back to work.. If you call it that.

Come and see some water.. And maybe even catch a fish or two!

July 27, 2026: Not a lot has changed in the last week.. The water level has remained about that.. Level.. And I don't foresee any real changes in the near future. But it is likely we will loose water before we gain any..

Amistad is up about seven feet, and who knows what they will do with it.. But I reckon it will get here sooner or later.. But probably not a lot of it at any one time..

We're sitting at about 265.15 and slowly dropping, but so far it is miniscule. As the river has played out and Amistad has not gone back to their "pre flood" releases.. Just letting out a trickle.

Fishing for scaled species down here remains pretty tough.. Or worse.. A few people have caught a few fish. And when I say few, I mean a few. And we have very few people down here fishing.

I went out yesterday for about four hours, and I will have to agree with most people who have fished lately. The fish are just not biting..

I had not been out in a while, and I will have to say that the approximately three new feet of water made the lake look totally different again. And on the south end of the lake it just looks huge.. I guess I am just having trouble recalling what it looked like at pool. There is a lot of water out there and it is a jungle on the banks.. Everywhere..

Oh there are still a few rocky banks you can get a bait to.. Not that it made any difference yesterday. But there are not a lot of them. Looks like the Amazon, with trees and bushes in the water everywhere..

And if you had never been here before you'd think the lake was over pool..

The water on the top of the lake is still pretty dirty. It gets better as you go south. Still a little funky at marker eight, but noticeably greener as you get to marker seven. The water in Pierces looks very nice.. But evidently the fish still don't like it. There is a ton of bait and tilapia in there.. But I never saw what was an obvious swirl on a baitfish in an hour in there..

I fished a few rock piles on the main lake near Bob's Knob, but did not get a bite there either.

I ran to the Tigers and fished a lot of the community islands and humps. And there are a lot more humps that are no longer islands in there. And the tops of them are covered with re-growth.

A man would think a spinnerbait across the top of them would turn up a fish or two.. Not for me.. I ran back into the Tigers and into the mouth of Little Tiger. There is a shit ton of water back there.. And a shit ton of bait..

But biting fish were non existent.

Where the fuck they are and what the fuck they're doing I do not know.. And lately not allot of other folks know either.

I talked to some folks that launched down at the state park, and they said they put in in the ditch where we were launching a few years ago. I imagine you can still launch at the Butterfly, but it is a jungle down there.. Not sure about the point where the dock and temp ramps are. Most of that has to be under water.

And I did not hear of anyone launching on the main concrete ramp as of yet.. We are very close..

Other than that there is not much to talk about.. How bout the weather? We can talk about that..

It is a hot motherfucker.. We are supposed to be in the 105° range all week.. But so is half of Oklahoma, east Texas and half the midwest. It's the typical Summertime Texas High pressure as I like to call it.. I think David Bowie wrote a song about it..

And till it moves it's gonna cook us like the ovens at Ruth Chris's..

I got seven tons running right now.. Might have to start a go fund me for my electric bill this month..

Starting on the fifteenth of next month, you get the privilege of buying your new fishing tax stamp..

How is it that the government took over the planet, and now they are charging us to live on it..

Did the Indians at Plymouth Rock make the folks from the Mayflower buy a fucking hunting license before they killed them turkeys? I don't think so Tim..

Did the Algonquians have to give the chief some beads before they could walk out in Chesapeake bay and stab a fish with a pointy stick? Fuck no..

Why is it that I have to pay a tax to kill deer and doves on my own land? The state ain't doing a fucking thing to improve the hunting on my land. We feed and water em year around..

I'd bet good money that if the seasons and limits were removed from deer and dove hunting, the difference in the numbers of deer and dove killed would would be miniscule.

It's all about control.. Oh and money of course.. In the name of protecting the resource..

Governments rule of thumb is that if people like it, use it, need it, or just want it, put a tax on it..

It never ends.. It's the proverbial self licking lollypop..

All you hear in the news today is about Data Centers.. Server farms.. They been building them for years.. And years..

They call it a race.. A race to what? A race to track every move every human makes.. A race to track every item you looked at on line.. A race to get every dollar out of your pocket they can.

If you think that data centers are being built to help mankind, you are sadly mistaken.

Who is building them? Google? Microsoft? Meta? Multi zillion dollar investors..

What's the most important product they sell?

Information.. Your information..

If you think you're life is going to get better because of data centers.. Then you are not doing any critical thinking..

I guess you could invest in the company's that are building them, and hence gain some good returns in the stock market.. But it is a risk..

Are you OK with whoever wants all your personal information, and can afford to buy it, knowing every detail of your life?

I think that idea sucks.. But one might say, "I have nothing to hide.." And maybe you don't..

But one day you might.. There might be some things you don't want read in the tabloids..

I live in Zapata of course, and we are kinda on an island down here.. Forty miles to a Wal Mart either direction. And occasionally I order something on line because I am not in a rush for it and I ain't planning on being near a big retail store any time soon, and I can't get it in Zapata.

And of course I use my credit card for the purchase. And being I have used my credit card in person at several locations, I was amused that when signing on to the Wal Mart site, it showed all my previous purchases that I had made in person.

All due of course, to the use of the same credit card.. I think they got my scent..

So it shows me pictures of the mayo, pork steaks, and the twelve pack of Miller Lite I bought last time I was in Devine..

Would you like to write a review on the products you purchased?

Yeah.. "Tastes Great.. Less Filling.."

There's your data centers at work.. Gotta store every scrap of information on someone as boring and mundane as me..

How bout flock cameras.. They're everywhere.. And all over Zapata county.. The feds gave us a grant to purchase and install them.. And the County of Zapata has never turned down grant money for anything.

So it is pretty cool that we pay for a surveillance system to let people spy on us, and study our travel habits.. But 90% of the US population has their location turned on on their cell phones, so someone with some skills can track every movement you have made for the last who knows how long.

Maybe the flock cameras are for those of us who do not willingly turn on location services on our phones.. Can't leave any bases uncovered..

But someone with skills can turn on your phone location, microphone, and camera if they want to..

A lot of people have Alexa or the sort in their homes.. A computer listening to every detail of your personal life..

Ring doorbells and interior cameras.. All linked to the Internet of course..

If it is linked to the internet, it can be hacked..

So someone with skills can tell if your ol lady is noisy during sex, and if she likes it doggie style or female superior..

No information is safe or confidential in today's world.. If the right people are looking for it..

But you say James, "You're a fine upstanding citizen, what are you so paranoid about?"

I guess I could ask the same question to those motherfuckers who are so intent on tracking me..

Do I need someone tracking my CVS purchases.. Knowing if I am buying Trojans in regular or XL? Hell no..

And if you don't know what is written on the very base of a Trojan, then you are not rolling it out as far as me..

It is truly a surveillance society we are living in. George Orwell took a stab at it but he really did not get to the heart of what today's surveillance society is all about.

In '1984' he looked at only the political and social control factors of the surveillance society.

Control information, control the world.

But greed was not as apparent in the forties, some eighty five years ago..

No don't get me wrong, I am a capitalist in very sense of the word. But some methodology in use today is not very palatable to me..

So you can lump me in with all the old men in the back yard yelling at clouds.. After I just finished putting a 'keep off my lawn' sign in the front yard..

I am a territorial motherfucker.. And what I got I earned.. And I don't want to give it up involuntarily..

And I feel the same about my personal information..

I haven't even touched on Fauchi's dairy.. Weasely little SOB..

The communists running for office..

The war on the ragheads..

So many topics.. So little time..

But we got time.. Nobody's fishing.. So I guess we'll talk politics and society..What the fuck else we gonna do?

July 22, 2026: How highs the water Mama? Said it's 2.88 feet higher.. And not rising..

We are sitting at 265.21, and if the current release rates stay the same, we will probably start dropping, if we are not already. Amistad has shut the spigot off almost completely for the last couple of days, and I can see that, as there was plenty of water in the river to supply municipalities, but I would think that "normal" releases would resume soon.. But it is the IBWC so who the fuck knows..

Speaking of Amistad, it has come up a beautiful seven feet, and should catch a bit more as there is just a bit of water in the river above. That should at least keep us with drinking water thru the summer..

And like I said, they are just letting out enough water to keep the mud dobbers busy between Del Rio and here..

At this level, we should be able to gently launch a boat on the main concrete ramp at the state park. But barely.. Probably won't last long..

I hear the temp ramps are very flat and I have to think that whole area where we have been putting in for the last year or more is mostly under water..

Some guys I know launched there Monday and reported that.. Still working.. But pretty flat and you have to back out there a ways. I called the state park yesterday and asked if anyone had launched on the concrete, and they told me no boats came into the park.. That was at about three..

No boats.. And that's how many I saw here at the store.. I shoulda went fishing..

So basically I have no reports on the fishing to pass on.. Other than that the catfish are biting very well..

Is there a spinner bait bite shallow? Can you go flip some newly flooded willows and whack em?

We did a few months ago when we got the last rise.. We'll see..

The high water rescue teams have left town.. There were still a few around yesterday evening, but I did not see them this morning.. If only FEMA and the state would have called me I could have saved them millions of dollars.. But I reckon the local motels and restaurants and gas stations enjoyed their stay.

I know they wanted to be prepared.. In case.. And I appreciate that.

But it was like pouring a gallon of DDT on a single cockroach.

I guess the government don't study history either.. How many high water rescues were executed in Zapata in 2010 when we got some nine feet over pool? And by no stretch of the imagination did anyone predict that we would anywhere near that. Some folks said we would get to 50%, and I had to scoff at that.. We are somewhere around 28% of capacity.

But that is according to the government so that could be taken with a grain of salt..

I am really not sure what they were expecting.. And I certainly hold no fault with the first responders that were sent here.

We have no water front homes to speak of.. A few parks and a very few private homes got some water in them at nine feet over pool..

So with a bit of coordination with local officials, a lot of this could have been averted..

The people of Zapata are very attentive to river and lake levels. People who own land on the lake have owned it forever, and they have seen this shit before.. As have the people in town.

And all the land owners are buffered by the 307 line, and the 314 line to some extent.. (Pool is at 301.20) No permanent structures below 307..

Record high was reached on July 17th, 2010, at 309.31. And water did get into several homes built at about 307. But not a lot, and no running water in those locations..

So on we go, waiting on the next event to bring us some water.

We are still watching lakes Choke Canyon, and Corpus Christi to see if they will catch any significant water.. It takes forever for the water to get there.. This morning saw the first increase in water level at Choke.. Maybe an inch.. We'll see.. Water not near Mathis yet on the Nueces.. We'll see there as well.

Medina caught about twenty five feet.. Canyon full, as are the hill country lakes to include lake Travis.

There is a bit of a storm in the gulf, and it is headed west, which is kinda unusual.. It may implode or it may regenerate is the two theories I hear. We'll see in a day or two..

I know a lot of the state is wet, but here in Zapata, we need a good rain.. Or any rain.. We were getting used to it this spring..

Here at the store we have had less than nine inches so far this year.. Yes, wetter patches around us here and there.. But you have to be under the right cloud..

Well all this hullabaloo is about over, and I'll get back to motherfucking politicians and idiots next go round..

I'd rather talk about water.. Come on Bertha..

And I ain't talking about one of the Butt sisters.. IYKYK..

See you in the spinnerbait aisle!

July 20, 2026: Well I been waiting around to give a water report, but there ain't been much to report on till today..

Since yesterday morning, we have come up fourteen inches here in the Veleno. Yesterday AM I installed a water stick in the Veleno near the boat dock. And I checked it about an hour ago, (9:00) and ran into a heard of folks that were here to cope with the disaster..

I think they mobilized half of FEMA, half the National Guard, and the entire water rescue squad from Missouri to help recover all the flood victims here in Zapata..

Well I could have saved them a couple of million dollars if they'd of just asked.. I am serious, I do not know how many vehicles and men they have in town.

Looking at the river I think we might get another foot or two, three at the absolute most..

Here's the current situation at the county ramp.

I know you can't mobilize folks in the blink of an eye.. And they were being proactive..

I didn't think the Feds knew we were here.. At least not since the Coast Guard came here and fucked things up back in 2010..

What I do think is that depending on AI and the new water prediction service that NOAA is using, needs some tweaking.. But I am sure that AI will train itself in the coming years, and it will be able to accurately predict hurricanes six months out..

Till then you will be just as accurate if you just ask Jimmie Bendele..

Where was this modeling system back in 2008? If I'd a known they were going to let all the water out I could have sold this place to somebody when things were still good..

Just think about how much money you could make if you could predict the weather in advance.. About a day and a half is all I trust em with, and usually they cain't predict yesterday.

Ok so I been in the showroom (I use the term liberally) for the last hour, and In that time I have seen at least twenty five vehicles with equipment and rubber rafts and wrapped pallets of who knows what head down to the boat ramp..

Holy shit I am going to set up a brisket taco stand down there..

On my way home I will head back down there and take some more pictures..

Just had a boat stop in and they caught zero fish this morning.. Saying that should be good for business.. But facts are facts.. These fish hate rising water and that's what we got..

But I'll trade a spell of sucky fishing for water any day..

I'll keep you posted and will report back soon!

July 14, 2026: It's windy and warm in Zapata, and while rain is the topic across central and west Texas, down here it is unlikely that we get much in the way of precipitation.

But it is likely that we will get some decent rain in the watershed.

As I type this, Del Rio is getting hammered with a big thunderstorm, and predictions are that there is more to come.. And true, I am a pessimistic fellow when it comes to long range forecasts, but currently I am a bit more optimistic, at least for the short term.

San Antonio and the Hill Country have been getting some good rains, and sometimes more than they wanted in a short spell.. But it has been a long time since the Edwards aquifer was near what one might call full, so we might as well fill er up while this wet spell sits in..

Medina lake is going to catch a bit of water, probably a few feet with what has already fallen, and we'll see what happens the next couple of days. But it has not bullseyed the town of Medina as of yet, which is what is needed to really put some water in the lake..

From San Antonio to Del Rio seems to be the most active area right now, which is good for Falcon and Choke Canyon. But it will take an inordinate amount of rain to make a big difference in either..

Will this be the event? An event that is extremely rare?

To early to tell... But I'm watching like Whoopi looking at a chocolate cake..

Falcon has lost about eight inches of water in the last two weeks, and a lot of the time when the water is falling, the fish seem to get a little more active in the biting category.. Unfortunately I cannot report a big increase in the catch rates.

The Laredo boys had their tournament last weekend, and a lot of the field did not weigh in a fish. I think fourteen pounds won it with four fish. Second was twelve something. Third was two fish with a nine pounder in the mix..

So it has been about as hit or miss as it gets.. And with that there are just very few fishermen on the lake.

With one exception.. The catfish are doing very well..

Launching is still no problem on either end of the lake. The bridge in the Veleno is back to about a foot out of the water.. Markers have been put on both ends and in the middle.. There are three seta of markers..

DO NOT drive between the markers if the lake comes up.. Come and go on the west side of the westernmost markers..

I'll be watching the river.. And will report with my WAG of what is going to happen..

Bring It!

July 7, 2026: Here we are on seven, seven, officially over half way through the year. Time is flying by and back to school commercials are already on TV. We're over thirty days into hurricane season and not a sniff of a storm in the gulf or off the Mexican coast.

When in the hell is this super El Nino gonna get the party started? You don't think that the weather people like to stir up a little doom and gloom, do you?

I know it is early in the cycle and I am sure there will be a storm or two that will make their nipples hard.. But there doesn't seem to be anything on the radar as of yet.. Neither literally or figuratively..

It is the time of year when we here in Zapata get those pop-up thunderstorms that come out of nowhere. And we had one yesterday evening. I had over an inch in thirty minutes at about seven O'clock. I would call it a torrential cloudburst. It was raining so hard that a fish could have swam up to about ten thousand feet. It poured..

It don't rain here a lot.. But I have seen it rain here as hard as anywhere I have ever been. And this time of year you really gotta pay attention when on the lake in the afternoons.. These things can come outta nowhere's..

About fifteen years ago I was fishing south of the Tigers on one beautiful afternoon.. And I was whacking them..

I was fishing facing the east and not really paying attention to anything but the fish. And I had heard a rumble behind me but ignored it as some rumble from machinery or something.. Big mistake..

About ten minutes I heard what I knew was thunder.. I turned around and looked to the west and this giant mushroom Hiroshima lookin' cloud was bearing down on the lake headed east.

Well shit.. I had launched in Z-town, so I decided I could get past the storm to the north if I hauled ass..

The lake was near full, and I was about at no-name creek south. I strapped my shit down and stood on it.. Like a mile south of Tigers the storm exploded and the next thing I knew I was in the middle of lightning storm and it was raining so hard I could not read the graph/GPS and the waves were who the fuck knows how high.. And truthfully I was getting a little panicky..

I was certainly not on plane and I was just trying to not spear a wave. (Another one) And I had no idea where I was.

I remember thinking to myself this is how dumb asses die out on lakes.. After a bit of probably driving in circles I saw some tall greenery about fifty yards in front of me. And I headed for it and drove into the trees about twenty miles per hour.

So I hunkered down and took my ass beating.. I thought about getting my rain gear on but I was already wetter than you could get in the shower. The water in the bottom of the boat was between my ankles and calves.. And the bilge had been running for ten minutes..

After about another fifteen minutes the rain let up and finally quit. I let the bilge run till the water was off the floor deck, and backed out of the trees.

Turns out I was aground at what is actually the Island on the South mouth of the Tigers. (Currently and for a long time recently a long peninsula.)

And it was like someone had oiled the waters and it was flat as a table top.. I thought about going back to fishing but decided I'd go home and put on some dry chonies.. There might have more in them than water..

So I learned my lesson about thunderstorms years ago. And these days I'll err on the side of safety..

Fishing around here is still pretty tough I hear, but I am thinking that since the lake is no longer rising, and actually dropping, it might help the catchability a bit.

I should have fished today, as it is now 1:26 and I have not seen a soul. And the wind has been very livable all day.. My bad..

Over the weekend it was busy around here and all of Zapata was out and about enjoying the holiday and keeping me occupied.

But I only talked to two fellows that fished and I heard no bragging from them later in the day..

So I am going to assume it was still slow.. There are just hardly no bass fishermen in town.

I have not heard a peep about the gar tourney that was planned for Saturday. Will report when I do..

The only thing I have heard reports on is catfish, and they are biting very good. Lots of fish in the Veleno and on the main lake. Some bank fishermen have caught limits. Shrimp is good..

Well what we as a country have been waiting for, for a quarter of a millennia has finally happened.

A footballer and a tall skinny hooterless chick who can't sing, have finally gotten married..

Now get that shit off my TV and every other electronic device on earth.. Who gives a fuck..

The American football team lost last night.. But it is soccer.. So who gives a fuck..

Now what did happen over the weekend, was that the US of A turned a quarter of a millennia old. That is something to celebrate and be proud of..

Well unless you are a defeatist looser democrat.. And there certainly seems to be plenty of butt hurt assholes of that description running around.. Badmouthing everything America, and complaining about what a travesty the celebrations were..

What the fuck is wrong with these people.. I bet that if President Trump developed a shot, that you could give to democrats, and every time they farted a hundred dollar bill would shoot out their ass, half of them would go on a hunger strike, and the other half would bitch that the hunnert dollar bill was not as soft as Charmin..

Short of him committing suicide there in not one thing he could do to make them happy..

He can't please them.

And I certainly do not want him to appease them.

Like the Kenyan hero of the left said, "Elections have consequences.."

So stick that in your pipe and smoke it, motherfuckers..

I also heard Slick Willie shoot his mouth off over the weekend.. What a hypocrite..

Your turn is over.. So you and the Kenyan need to go enjoy your millions and shut the fuck up.. Yall fucked up enough stuff when your regimes were in power..

And I am so enjoying seeing the pendulum swing back towards common sense, and watching the democrats heads explode, while many in the party are eating each other..

If the president had any help from the leadership in the republican party we could actually get some good things done.. Like passing the SAFE act..

83% motherfuckers.. 83%!!!!!

It's preposterous..

Well I was going to talk about politics as there are some issues that need to be addressed.. But I'll save it for next time..

Happy Birthday America!

Keep the faith patriots.. Don't give in to the dark side..

See you on the water!

June 29, 2026: AKA T-Minus 5 days till America's 250th Birthday.

March winds. Ever heard of em? Come in like a lion and go out like a lamb. Yeah I don't think so Skippy..

Cause somebody let the lion back out of his cage.. And he has been roaring around here the last ten days.

Though the fishing has been pretty tough, I have been itching to get out there and look at some spots that have a whole lot more water on them than the last time I was out.

And I don't really have a good report to pass along because the fleet has pretty much been grounded for the last seven days. The few spotty reports I have heard still say that fishing is pretty sorry.

I'd like to get out there and prove or disprove it myself, but in my elderly state, I ain't going out there and taking an ass whoopin by Mother Nature.. She'll get over her hissy fit before too long.. Maybe it is menopause or something..

Did you ever wonder where the term menopause came from? Me neither.. But I got a guess..

I learned in English 101 that you gotta break down sentences and words to find their root meaning.. You know like how when Kamalla gets down to the root cause of a certain effect.. And I have heard that she has gotten down on some roots.. Man I just thought of a really good analogy but I am going to skip it to keep my PG rating intact..

Let's dissect the word and break it down to its three syllables..

First syllable: Men.. Well I think we all got that one figured out.. Unless you're a Supreme Court justice that don't have the wherewithal to know the difference between a man and a woman.

And on the long shot that she reads this, I'll break it down for her.. Chicks don't have dicks.. Pretty simple..

Second syllable, O: Now this could be extrapolated into several connotations, but in this case it is relevant to consider the pre and post syllables that accompany it. So looking at "Men" and "Pause" it is s simple derision that in this case the O stands for "On."

And the third syllable, "Pause," well that's a no brainer.. To stop, usually momentarily or for a short period..

So when you combine the three syllables of this word, it is an easy hypothesis to reach that a woman in menopause has "Put men on pause.."

Can I get an Amen??

Now I ain't pickin on you few ladies that read this... Whatever this is.. I know the deal is real.

But being a lexicographer and biologically curious I have come up with this conclusion.. And I believe it to be accurate.

Hoping to get my paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine soon..

Where were we.. Oh yeah.. The fishing sucks.. Well for bass anyway.. I hate to say it but I promised to tell you the truth a long time ago, and I ain't gonna start lying now.. The fish are as scattered as lace panties after a kegger at a frat house..

Now if you want to catch catfish, your ship has come in. Numbers have been very good with some big fish caught as well. And if you come today you better bring a ship..

The gar have been very active with the warm water, and rod and reel fishermen are doing pretty good, but the bowfishing guys have been having very good luck.. Especially at night. I hear the backs of any creeks from Tigers south is good, and there is a lot of clearer water down south as we previously discussed.

Have at em.. We are over run with those fuckers..

White bass have been schooling some.. Look at points with a lot of bait on them and look for birds.. If you get a day with light winds..

There are a lot of the locals that have been fishing in the Veleno here in town.. And of course there are a lot of them throwing a cast net for fresh bait. And to a man I hear that there are a shit ton on four inch bass here in the Veleno.

And I don't know if these are some of the 60,000 we released in there, or if there are some from a natural spawn. But some of both I would presume. Well they got plenty of shit too hide in I can tell you that.. Hopefully we will have a good survival rate and we can get some bass fishing action back up here on this end of the lake.

Crappie have been fair to good.. But it is damn hard to sit on a brushpile with a thirty MPH wind storm blowing up your ass.. So not a lot of folks have been pursuing them either.

Overall it is slow times in Zapata with very little traffic on the lake.

Well the Senate has still not passed the SAVE act.. What a bunch of limp dicks.. The single most important bill to brought to the table in my lifetime and an 83% fan favorite and they won't get it done.. Pathetic motherfuckers..

And I thought the cast of The View had the franchise for stupid.. I wonder if they sprinkle a sack of range cubes on the desk during commercial breaks to keep them from bawling.. I bet if you panned out you could see some working pens in the background..

But I digress..

And all I keep hearing is that we need to keep building data centers so we can win the AI race..

Well answer me this: What and where is the finish line of this AI race?

Races have a beginning and an end.. Well unless you're talking about Bush W. vs Gore..

So what is the end goal of AI? Someone tell me that..

I am sure that some think it is to be able to develop attack and defense systems to help us defeat our enemies in some future war..

But you and I both know that data centers and AI are about two things.. Surveiling everything you do and knowing everywhere you go.

The surveiling everything you do and say is allegedly about protecting the country from the inside.

The everywhere you go, either physically or virtually, is about another..

Money.. Money.. Money..

We live in a world where every purchase you make tells someone what your habits and preferences are..

Buy a vibrator online.. Expect to start seeing ads for butt plugs and Ben-Wah balls in your feed..

Buy some golf balls and Nike and Ping ads will mysteriously show up all over your facebook page..

What a coincidence.. You get the picture.

They're tracking you like Ol Blue on a gutshot doe..

So next time you go to Google you might want to reconsider before you click on the search icon or hit enter..

You're not the only one who wants to know the answer to your question..

Oh BTW.. Click on the link below to order our newest and improved model, Tin Foil Hat II.

A few days from now we will be celebrating our country's 250th birthday. At least any real American will be..

Stick your chest out.. Be proud.. We may be one of the youngest countries on the planet, but we got it a lot more right than any other.. And let's keep it that way..

Keep your eyes open in a big crowd.. There are a lot of idiots out there that might not think the same way we do..

Happy Birthday America! Here's to 250 more!

June 22, 2026: Lake levels have continued their ascent around here, and since we last spoke we have come up over two feet.

This morning we are sitting at 263.22, or 37.98 feet low. We're up about five feet in the last forty days.. Pretty nifty..

And while that is still a long way from full, it looks freakin awesome..

I put in at the Veleno main ramp yesterday, and I believe you can launch five wide right now.. Out of habit I always launch on the east side, but it is not necessary.. Even the Veleno is starting to look big..

Water color in the Veleno itself does not look too bad, and I would rate it as fishable.. Although there are very few bass on the upper end of the lake. And I'm not sure where they are on the south end either.. More on that in a bit..

But on your way out of the Veleno there is a hazard about to be.. Iffen you don't know where it is, anyway. The old bridge is just about a foot out of the water, and it is possible that it may re submerge if we keep rising.. I know we are going to come up a little more, but how much more I do not know..

Here's what it looked like yesterday..

I need to get a marker on it pretty quick..

And while I was thinking that I decided to call the Game Warden and we are working on a plan to get it marked. Then we have to get the word out to non-locals what the markers mean..

Passing on the west end is still best but it can be done on either side.. Stay about ten feet off the ends as there are rockpiles and rubble at either end of the bridge about thirty feet from said ends of bridge.. But if we catch a bit more water it will become a moot point as the rocks will be too deep to hit..

Once out on the main river channel, the water color looks like shit.. Well.. Maybe a little greener.. But as you get to about 8.5 or what would be the mouth of Blanco, it starts to look a lot better. And by the time you get to marker seven, or Pierce's, it looks really good..

And the water in the Tigers looks exquisite.. I don't think I have seen it this pretty in a few years. You can see a chartreuse and white spinner bait two feet deep in some places.. All the greenery has really filtered out the water and for Falcon standards it is pretty clear..

Speaking of a spinnerbait I actually caught a nice fish on one yesterday. It had been a while.. But I ain't been fishing in a while.

But my objective yesterday was to catch supper and I found a brushpile full of fish and caught nine nice crappie out of it.. And was back at the shop by noon..

I spent very little time bass fishing but did cast at some likely looking locations.

Some shorelines remind me of some hill country lakes.. It just looks awesome..

There were not a lot of fishermen on the water yesterday. As a matter of fact I did not see one other bass boat between the Tigers and the county boat ramp yesterday. And I left the Tigers at eleven. I'm sure there were some other boats out there..

The folks I have spoken to report poor to fair numbers, but nobody is going out there and catching thirty fish. Few have caught fifteen and a lot have caught less than five.

Scattered.. Keep chunking and you'll run into a few here or there..

The gar are everywhere, and a lot of folks have been chasing them. They are lousy..

I was running abut fifty going into the Tigers yesterday, and one big Mo-Fo rolled right in front of my trolling motor.. I was waiting for the thunk, but it did not happen.. But I guarantee you that he knew I was there.. I am surprised we don't hit more of them..

The crappie have been decent, but they can be particular as hell.. I dropped my usual suspects on them yesterday, and they would look at it or nip it but not eat it.. Until I put a bright Chartruse bait on there and things got a lot better..

The white bass have been roaming around in schools, and every now and then you will land on one.. And you can catch em every cast.. Some of them are really nice sized ones as well.. Kids cain't have more fun..

And of course with the running water the whisker fish have been pretty good as well..

All in all, things are looking good around here.. We got grass up to our ass, everything is blooming again, my sinuses are totally fucked up, and I guarantee you that some bass are spawning as we speak..

Happens most every year..

Are you watching the football tournament? Me neither..

But I have seen a lot of stuff posted on line about how a lot of the Euros have come to find that the US of A ain't as fucked up and violent as the media in their respective countries tell them it is..

Evidently CNN is the news provider of choice in Euro land, and one of the few American news networks that are put our for general consumption. Of course those motherfuckers pretty much align with the liberal whackos in charge over there, so I guess it is all by design.

I have seen a few videos done by folks eating real Texas Bar B Que, going to Wal Mart, Costco, and Buc-ees.. And they freak out.

This is the USA baby.. We got no time for small thoughts when it comes to separating you from your money..

This ain't about providing something that you desire.. Well not initially anyway.. Capitalism is about providing a product, and making it something that is indispensable to most.. And desired by all..

And when you hit that perfect (fill in the blank) people will beat a path to your door..

And we don't fuck around when it comes to big.. Dammit if you want big you get big..

You want a plate full of ribs? Bang! here's more fuckin ribs than you can eat in two sittings.. You want a big truck? How bout some 35" Gumbo Mudders to go with it..

Holy Shit! a 44 ounce Big Gulp are you buggering with me? Big Red? Why the fuck don't we have this in the UK?

Free refills at a restaurant? All you can eat at Golden Coral? ALL you can fuckin eat?? Six pancakes on a stack? You said this is Maple Syrup? From a fuckin tree?? Now I know you are fuckin with me..

This shit is awesome..

How bout a petrol station that has a hundred pumps? And inside the store there is more food and merch than on the entire islands of the UK..

Euros in a Wal-Mart or Costco or Sams.. They cannot believe that there is this much merch available.. Twenty four seven.. At thousands of locations across the country..

No sir here in the USA we think big, we eat big, we drive big and we work big..

We do drink a lot as well but them Brit's and Irish can hold their own when it comes to downing a few pints..

And surprise, the Americans we have encountered while we are here on football holiday are all nice people!!

All the media at home said Americans are fat, mean, rude assholes, and all packing firearms..

You know what. Maybe it took thousands of foreign visitors from across the globe to come here, and experience what America is all about, and share it with the world, to make us open our own eyes, and see what we have.. And most often take for granted..

Sure, nobody gave it to us.. We built from the blood soaked ground up. And to this day America still stands as the shining beacon on the hill.. An example of what can be..

An maybe this will inspire a few folks that visited to return home and "think big."

As we approach our two hundred and fiftieth birthday as a nation, it is truly time to take a step back and proudly look at where we came from, what we found here, what we built here, and visualize the possibilities that lay before us..

There is no limit to what Americans can do.. What people working together can do.

Sure there are things that we need to work on.. But right at this time and date it is time to show your American pride.. Don't be bashful.. You are living in the freest country on the face of the earth! Enjoy.. Be thankful!

And don't be a dick!

See you on the lake.. Or at the fireworks show, whatever comes first.

God Bless the USA!

Juneteenth Minus Four: Well here we are rolling along into summer and it is already the ides of June. Before you know it the Summer Solstice will be here, and the days will start getting shorter.. And that's only six days away..

Sad to think that in just a few months we'll be wearing snow boots and parkas again.. I hate winter.. Maybe I listened to The Beach Boys 'Endless Summer' album too much when I was a kid..

And I'd sure rather wax my surfboard than shovel snow..

Don't laugh.. I have actually surfed Waikiki..

We have a bit of a different weather happening going on around here this morning.. And I have gotten calls, e-mails and texts about what the river is going to do.. And while we have not gotten squat here this morning a/o 10:00, the water shed above is getting pummeled from Eagle Pass to Laredo.

A buddy just texted and said he had four inches in Laredo. Eagle Pass has had more than that in some areas.. And the outlook for more rain is good..

This is not the kind of event that fills the lake, but we will get some water.. Too early to tell but if it quits right now we should catch a foot easily..

We have a shit load of flooded brush in the lake, and I mean a shit load.. And fishing has been tough for the most part. I do not know if all the fish are back in the flooded regrowth, or if they are out just feasting off the giant bait balls that are as big as a thunderstorm roaming around out there.

Our forage population is off the hook.. And maybe it is keeping a lot of fish off our hooks..

On Saturday there was a One Big Fish tournament held out of the state park. I talked about it ten days or so ago..

Thirty five teams showed up to participate, and the results were as follows..

1st 8.38 Paid $5000

2nd 7.50 Paid $3000

3rd 7.21 Paid $1000

And the lightest legal fish was a 1.19.. Good for a thousand bucks..

This was the first tourney with any real payout in quite some time. Good to see and thanks to the folks that put it on.

Otherwise things have been pretty quiet around here.. School is out and the locals are enjoying the lake and keeping me busy to some degree.

But as far as folks from out of town it has been pretty slow. Uvalde Bass Club was also here last weekend, but I have as yet to get any reports on their outing.

The lake is up to right at forty feet low.. Up to forty feet low.. That sounds kinda whacky..

An oxymoron similar to jumbo shrimp. Or a critical thinking democrat.. Well there is Fetterman..

The retards on the left got their panties in a wad over the weekend, as the White House hosted some events that gave rednecks a hard on, and made liberals shit in their pants.

Although it was perfectly ok with the left to have a bunch of queers and trannies flopping their man made tits in the face of the cameras when the last administration was in power.. WTF...

I did not watch any of it, as I am not into combat of this type, but if it pissed the left off I am all for it..

They should do it about once a month..

The Spurs lost to the Knickerbockers on Saturday, and if they can clear all the burnt cars and busses off the streets of New York by Thursday, I hear they are going to have a parade..

Why do you always see the same crowd of ignorant motherfuckers holding "celebrations" of this type after a sporting event? I think I know the answer.. But I'll be glad to listen to yours if you send me an e-mail..

Of course the Hockey on Grass organization is holding their kids game championship in North America about now.. Twenty dollar beers and fifteen dollar hot dogs so you can watch a fantastic battle come to a 1-1 tie..

Don't have to worry about missing anything if you go to take a piss during the game..

How can a sport have a game that ends in a tie.. That is not a sport.. Games are won or lost.. Not left tied..

That's just plain stupid.. If they are tied at the end of the game, turn the clock off and play till someone scores..

If they end in a tie, then both teams should record a loss..

Same for the NFL.. Ties suck..

At least MLB plays till till there is a winner..

Even junior high girls play badminton till there is a winner..

We'll see if any riots break out before, during, or after any of these thrilling matches.. I wonder if the Euros are going to bring their piss filled baggies to the states so we can get a real picture of the game, "Euro Style."

"It's the Passion!!"

Hopefully we can get this over with without getting anyone killed..

Well I am going back to weather watching and will report on any unexpected events.. Looks like a four day rainy period.. We'll see

And we'll see you on the water..

June 2, 2026: It's the second of June and hurricane season is officially afoot. And I love to hear all the long range prognosticators warning us of impending disaster.. Or not.. How do these people get jobs anyway..

I can do that job.. Average the number of storms over the last twenty years, and BOOM!

There you have it.. And of course on the end you throw in the obligatory disclaimer about past performance not being indicative of future results.. Last year they warned of doom and gloom and not a single storm hit the continent.. Well not our part of it anyway..

So here's a better and more accurate (or just as accurate) prediction of what is going to happen this summer.

There are going to be storms.. Likely some in the Atlantic, some in the gulf, and some in the Pacific.

Some of these may or may not hit some of The Fifty.

And while those climatologists wear out a keyboard telling us this and that, there predictive skills are no better than mine..

Only thing is mine comes with 100% accuracy guarantee..

I'd love to see some real water in the river, and we may and we may not.. Lord knows that the western edge of the state needs a refill.. Bit we'll just have to wait and see..

Speaking of water, we did catch a bit last week. And we are still on the teeniest of rises, but it looks to me that we are about topped out for the time being. We do have rain predicted on Thursday and Friday, and while it doesn't look like lake filling rain, we do have wet soil in the water shed and it does not take a lot to get the creeks running.

And at this point we'll take it any way we can get it..

We are at 260.69, just a tad under forty feet low. And higher than we have been in a couple of years. There is actually water under the Hwy 83 bridge here in Zapata.

Last week when the water was running in the creek, the gar went crazy wanting to spawn in the current.. And the locals also went crazy in their pursuit.

All the stores in town sold out of bows and arrows, pitchforks, javelins, machetes, and any other sort of medieval devices that would kill a gar..

The smell of hot grease was in the air over the weekend..

Bass fishing is still so-so, and the best bite appears to still be in the shallows, flipping the miles of heavy cover that has been inundated.

I am not hearing many reports of offshore catches. Most everyone I have talked to says that the best results are still shallow. Heavy gear is a must in the thick stuff.. Your favorite creature bait will work, but bites can be pretty spread out. Fish slowly..

Next week on the 23rd, there is going to be a One Big Fish tournament held down at the state park. Info is out there on the web on Facebook.. I do not participate in that debauchery, but those of you who do should easily be able to find info on it..

I think the entry fee is $250 and top spot payout is $5000.00.

They are also going to pay a grand to the smallest fourteen inch fish..

Biggest purse at Falcon in a long time..

So if you ain't doing nothing...

It has been a slow week around here.. So quiet you could hear a mouse piss on cotton..

So I think I'm going to go take a nap..

See you when we do..

Memorial Day

What does that mean? Memorial Day.. A day when we shut down most everything in the country.. When lots of stuff in the country is not getting done..

A day when most Americans just look at the holiday as a day off, without much reflection into why we are cooking hotdogs and burgers, and probably swilling a few cold beers..

This day is certainly to celebrate, and hold in our thoughts and prayers, all those who have given their lives so we can live in relative peace here in our homeland.

Those guys, and gals, certainly never took the day off when needed.. And I personally believe that they would want us to take a day, to celebrate what they have accomplished.

Because what the fighting men and women of this country have done, and provided for us, is the best and biggest union and a joining of the peoples that has ever occurred on the face of the planet.

From the Founding Fathers, to the latest casualties in the Middle East, we owe each and every one of them our most sincere gratitude. A sacrifice that most of us will never know..

But hopefully one we can appreciate. I personally stand in awe of what has been accomplished on my behalf.

Thank you..

Here is a piece written by Charles M. Province.

A veteran and multi talented guy, who probably pieced together the best tribute and most accurate portrayal of the American Soldier. It goes as such:

"It is the Soldier, not the minister

Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter

Who has given us freedom of the press..

It is the Soldier, not the poet

Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer

Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer

Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician

Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,

Who serves beneath the flag,

And whose coffin is draped by the flag,

Who allows the protester to burn the flag."

That is as good a summation as any I have ever read.

And you know who is not taking a day off today?

Thanks to all who are keeping us safe and providing us with extraordinary opportunity every day.

God Bless the fallen, and all those serving now.

And God Bless America!

May 20, 2026: Last I wrote I was saying that it is kinda slow around here.. Well the wind reared its ugly head and said, "You ain't seen nothin yet.."

My cat was giving birth out on the back porch and I think she had the same kitten three times..

And with all the crazy winds we have had, damn few folks are putting a boat on the water. Including me..

The few folks I did talk to about fishing, said that it was tough, and the wind surely makes it difficult to anything but throw a moving bait. A few fish were caught flipping cover behind a bit of protection, but there ain't a lot.. And a lot of what is protected requires driving over a lot of water that ain't.

It's the kind of waves that tend to put foam in your Big Red..

Last weekend was breezy, but fishable if you really wanted to.. I did not. One of my buddies had his grandkids down and they caught a bunch of catfish on jugs and rod and reel.. Between the Veleno and School Bus..

But honestly it has been a tough week to fish. We had a big front go thru last night, and it rained above and below us. Some places got hammered.. They say we have good chances again the next couple of days.. Hopefully it will make the wind abate a bit for this weekend..

I am sure you have seen the "dice" or "hairball" baits that have become so popular as of late. And the market is becoming more saturated with new manufacturers getting in on the action all the time.

This week I got in some Hags Prickly Pear in the 19 mm size and I am going to flip some hardwoods with em and see what happens.. I'll see how they hang up, or not.. And I also want to try em on some rock houses.. Something tells me I better take several..

What size is 19mm anyway.. I hate the metric system. If the fuckers are made in America, they should use SAE measurements. The metric system is also an invader that will not assimilate..

Speaking of invaders, soon we will have a shitload of third world fuckers coming to America to play and watch "football.." Oh boy..

I wonder how many of these folks will somehow miss their return raft or innertube and stay here in the US.

In those third world countries, soccer is the third largest cause of death, right behind Ebola and World War II. Or World War Eleven, as that third world POS congresswoman from a third world piece of shit country called it.

You know.. The same one that said about 9-11, that "Some people did some things.."

Why we permit, and even invite these anti-American motherfuckers into our country I cannot fathom.

It's like taking a little nip of arsenic every day.. Might take a while to kill ya, but it is inevitable..

And maybe this evil woman is a modern day Lucrezia Borgia..

Thank you Obamma for bringing these fine upstanding Somalians to our country..

There were a bunch of primary elections across the country yesterday, and it appears that the Trump backed candidates did pretty well, and even ousted some long term RHINO'S as well.

I don't agree with the Prez on everything, but I do on most. And I am not crazy about the way he says things a lot of the time.. But damn some of it is funny..

And if you are going to throw a punch at him, you better keep both hands up.. Cause there is going to be a salvo coming back.

You know.. Being I am so tactful, maybe I should volunteer to help The Don.. You know.. Coach him on being a little less direct.. Try and get him to be more thoughtful of other peoples views..

Maybe I'll open a Kindness Learing Center..

I still say that the SAVE act is the most important bit of legislation to come down the pike in years.. And if you can't vote to pass that bill then fuck you.. Get out and I hope you get voted out..

And if you can't get behind the idea of putting America first then you have no business in congress..

Or being in the United States for that matter..

Go move to the country that you think is more important or better.. Just get the fuck out..

And I'm gonna do the same..

See you on the water.. If the wind ever quits blowing!

May 15, 2026: It's been a fairly quiet and slow week around here, and basically that is what summer is in Zapata, at least when it comes to the fishing aspect. I fished Tuesday and Wednesday mornings and while the bass treated me a little bit unkind, another species kept me entertained.

I was moving between spots on the trolling motor and stumbled upon a previously unknown brush pile that looked to be loaded with fish. So I pulled out a crappie pole and went to whacking em.. I caught about twenty in less than an hour, and kept fifteen, which is as many as I care to clean at a time. And the timing was good as I had no fish in the freezer.

I think they are certainly the best tasting fish swimming in Texas water.

It appears that the bass fishing is about as hot and cold as the two handles on the kitchen sink faucet. Inconsistent is a good way to describe it. Or maybe it is a timing thing.. Or maybe it is a rising water thing.. Or maybe it is a depth thing.. Or a bait selection thing.. Or let's face facts.. I'm a shitty fisherman.. With bursts of lucky brilliance..

Fuck if I know, but one day I whack em and the next trip out trying to repeat the pattern it all goes to hell.

There were a few folks fishing early in the week, and fifteen fish seemed to be a common number of bass caught if you put in a day of it.

But there does not appear to be a dominant pattern where you can do the same thing every where you go and catch fish. I guess you just need to land on them. And when you do you can catch some good numbers in a short time. Or not..

There are some fish in brushpiles, and some fish on hardwoods. My luck lately with getting a big fish in the boat has been poor. Cause if I hook a fish and there is a tree within range of the amount of string I have on my reel, that bastard will find it. Or so it seems. Well at least I have had contact with a few big fish lately, and one of these days I am going to get one in the boat.

The lake is still on a slow rise, and over last weekend the valley got some good rains in a lot of places.. Not all of it, but it should help us keep some water. We got 1.30 last Saturday and the country is looking good. The sound of lawnmowers is pretty common in Zapata about now..

Launching remains a non issue, with the two roll out mats at the state park, which are reportedly working very well.. I have been putting in here at the county ramp the last three trips and running the lake.

And here's a news flash.. I actually caught a nice bass in Pierce's cove on Tuesday. It was the first time in a year that I have caught a bass in there. Maybe the clearing water and flooded cover will slowly repopulate with fish farther north.

Speaking of water color, the Veleno is off color, but the river itself is nasty down to about marker nine, but gets a lot clearer as you go south. The water in School Bus looks pretty good. And you can see the dirty water shift from side to side as it moves with the current above marker eight.

The lake starts to spread out once you get to Blanco, and from the river channel, a bunch of the pockets on the Mexican side are starting to look really good. I am going to go flip some trees right above marker eight. Just going to have to be really aware of the nets that are all over the place. But it looks awesome from afar..

Well the strait of Hormuz is still basically void of traffic.. I wonder if there any giant Bluefin tuna in there.. Seems like it might be a good time to put out some downriggers and do some trolling. Being you don't have to worry about giant boat wakes and such. Not what flag to fly.. Might get it from either side..

I wonder what kind of fish are in there. But looking at the countries around there, it's probably all sand bass..

In any case, I think we need to clean up this mess over there.. I know we can starve em out after a long siege, but whatever they agree to, you know the motherfuckers will never abide by it long term.

Probably best to whack the shit out of em again, but killing the last radical over there is probably about as likely as wiping out all the rats in NYC. I really don't think it can be done..

It's really a no win situation. Unless you just want to go scorched earth on the motherfuckers, but I don't think the US and the world has the stomach for it..

And how about our former Kenyan president. Has he not learned from former presidents that after your term/terms are over, to fade to the background, enjoy your millions, and secret service protection, and STFU..

Did he think Trump was going to carry on traditions he started and Biden continued..

Nobody steps up to the podium and doesn't adjust the mike..

I guess he is just trying to fill the void of leadership that the democrats have. Because they certainly have zero credibility and are the biggest bunch of hypocritical motherfuckers ever assembled. And God help us if they ever get back in power again.

It was/is hard for me to see a big section of Biden's bureau heads, and not see nuts on their chins.

And speaking of spineless motherfuckers, the republicans are not much better, but do have a few exceptions. If you let your tenure of power expire without passing the SAVE act, then you are bigger pussies than even I ever imagined.

How anyone can think that a non citizen could, or even should vote is beyond me. The founding fathers warned against many of the things that we see happening right before our eyes. And if we don't get this thing back on track soon, what we knew as the USA will be gone forever.

Look at Europe if you want to see what multiculturalism has done for what was once the pinnacle of society.. The big cities have turned into festering shithole's.. And we're getting pretty good at it here as well.

In other news, I hear the TV reality show called The View, is going to be re branded as The Feedlot.. I can smell the burning hair now..(see what I did there?)

The Swiss have started an investigation into where all that cheese went..

Rosie and her partner have gone to work for the Irish Electrical Institute, because they are the best pair of dykes in the country.

The Biden library has broken ground.. I mean broken down.. It is a 1972 24' Winnebago Bookmobile.. Bringing Dr. Suess to your town..

Remember when Chicago installed all those microphones around town to detect gunshots.. Well they moved the listening post from the police station to the coroners office to save time.

Have you seen those commercials for Pretty Litter where the litter changes color to tell you what health problems your cat might have? Well the same technology is now able to detect when you have the clap. Municipalities will soon be adding a chemical into the water supply, right along with the fluoride.

So if the water in the bowl turns , see your physician immediately.. Or you might get a disease called rottcherkokoff..

Did you notice how many medicines that have commercials on TV are always talking about a rash or inflammation of the perineum. Well they used to.. Now they say it may cause irritation between the anus and genitals.. I guess nobody knew what the perineum was.. What is commonly referred to as the taint'. I'm not gonna explain that one on here as this is a PG rated blog..

And being that as it may, I better get off here as things seem to be deteriorating..

I hope it ain't rottcherkokoff..

See you on the lake..

May 7, 2026: As promised, the boys from Inland Fisheries at PAW made their way to Falcon yesterday, from A.E. Wood fish hatchery in San Marcos.

They showed up a bit after noon, with over 430,000 baby bass.. 60,000 of which we dumped into the Veleno here in Zapata at the county ramp. These fish were not scattered by boat, but released from the trailer right at the ramp. They have a ton of cover here in the Veleno, so many should survive.

There are all kinds of guesses and estimates out there about what the survival rate is in a big reservoir. And that of course depends on the predators that live in and on it. And of course the amount of cover they have for protection.

Bass think baby bass are tasty.. A white bass think they are a delicacy.. Blue cats will eat them like Tic-Tacs when they can.. And there is one other predator that likes them a lot as well..

Fuckin cormorants.. And we have a few... Pieces of flying shit.. We should kill all of them we can.. Cause you ain't ever gonna put a dent in the overall population.

But that's a story for another day..

So about 383,000 fish were brought to the state park. And I think we had seven boats distributing the fish from the back of Government Cove all the way up to the Tigers and every creek in between.

As stated here before, we have a shit ton of cover in the water of for these little guys to hide and grow in.

Survival rates are oft thought to be under ten percent, and fish growing to sexual maturity is probably closer to five percent.. Just educated guesses all in all. But PAW will be the first to tell you that they do not stock fish to improve the population of bass in an established water body.. Just to influence the genetics and keep as high a strain of Florida bass as possible..

And while the propaganda arm of PAW will now tell you that these are Lone Star bass, the truth is that they are just Florida strain bass.. Not a new species.. Not..

Special thanks to all that helped. Most of them had helped in years past. These folks used their time and money to pitch in and we all cannot thank them enough.

Of course most of us did some AM fishing till the trucks got here.. And a lot of us caught fish pretty darn good. Payment in advance for work to be done..

The other day I was saying that I can still fish pretty good.. I may have spoken prematurely.. In the last month or so, I have had run ins with four big fish. I ain't seen em all, but I promise I know what I am talking about.. And I am 0 for 4 on getting one in the boat.

I have been talking about fishing the flooded willows, and I have a line of them that has been really good to me. And it was my first stop yesterday morning.. And I had fished about fifty yards of it without getting a nibble. And I was starting to think that maybe they just ain't in here today. And I guess I was getting inattentive and you know what happens when you do..

I made another pitch into the willow line and before I got the reel clicked this fucker took off with my bait.. No tick, no thump, no nothing but hauling ass.. And out to open water.. I'm thinking this is all good. And being she was about to pull me out of the boat, I never got to set the hook. She jumped out of the water about three feet high and spit it back at me..

And while I didn't get to put her on a scale, if she didn't weigh seven or eight pounds I'll lick a yellow stripe off a highway..

Water temps right now are right at eighty, and the fish love it.. They are stronger than battery acid, and they are very pissy when you get one on..

I feel like I am on the edge of getting one in the boat..

Also yesterday, another crew from PAW installed two roll out boat ramps.. I guess that is what you call em..

Man.. 400,000 fish.. A new boat dock.. And two temp roll out boat ramps.. I'm feeling Forkish..

These two ramps are pretty much side by side, and point about south on the slow sloping bank in the cove that leads to the actual concrete ramp. And being that are only about twelve feet wide, most folks down here won't be able to hit em with a trailer.. :-))

You'll still have to back out there a ways, but a two wheel drive vehicle should never get stuck while utilizing them.. We'll see how they work and I'll try and get some feedback on them.

The lake is holding steady this week.. I'm hoping for some rain this weekend, and I hope it makes it to the valley as well.. I am sure something is going to happen around the area as the scizzortails are raising hell at dawn, and that means there is going to be some disturbed weather somewhere near.. You can take that to the bank..

I'm itching to get out there, but it will probably be next week before I can. But that don't mean you can't..

Hey.. We got water.. We got fish.. We got a new boat dock at the state park.. And temporary ramps for you to launch on.. No more excuses..

So get down here.

Don't forget it is Mothers day this weekend.. And come Monday I will not be in the store till ten or so..

See you on the water!

May 4, 2026: Well we never did get any of that stuff they call rain.. We smelled it.. We seen it in the distance.. But it never fell on the streets of Zapata.. Maybe this next go round..

Lots of places west of San Antonio and some to the south got some really nice rains.. Including our home place just west of Devine.. Filled the tank.. And a lot of other peoples..

It is good to know that it can rain in a few back to back weeks.. Maybe we got one more coming late this week..

I don't think we need any rescue boats as of yet. Falcon has leveled off, and actually dropped an inch over the weekend. And like I always say, who the hell knows what's going to happen.

The lake looks awesome as it sets, with tons of flooded vegetation and a lot of greenery in the water. Good timing for the fish we are going to stock on Wednesday.

I talked to the folks at the San Antonio office this morning, and the plan is to send three trucks of fish this go round. These trailers can carry up to 200,000 fingerlings apiece, but we'll see what we end up with. And when they throw a number out there it is a guess.. A decent one but not entirely accurate..

It don't matter the exact number, just bring a bunch of them motherfuckers..

So as of now, we plan to take two trucks to the state park, and one to the Veleno. The north end certainly needs some help, as it is near impossible to catch a fish above Pierces. There's a few, but they're far between..

I fished again yesterday, as it was a glorious day to be on the water.. It started out flatter than a pancake, but by early afternoon there was just a nice little ripple on the water.. And a high in the middle eighties made for a perfect day..

And I thought it was going to be one, cause my second stop along a line of flooded willows, produced three nice fish in a fifty yard stretch. I was so sure it was ON that I called a friend and told him to hit the willows in about three feet of water..

I should have waited.. As number three was the last fish I caught out of similar water.. And my buddy did not do much good on them as well..

Those fuckers.. Just when you think you have em figured out.. I caught a few more, but they were on rock houses midlake.

But I'm telling you that there are days and stretches when those willows will produce. So if you see a line of willows in that depth, flip a hundred yards of em and see what happens..

There were a lot of boats out yesterday, and the few I talked to said they had similar results.. Scattered fish..

Well tomorrow is the official, "Let's get fucked up on tequila day."

AKA Cinco De Mayo. The day that the Mexican army defeated the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862..

But lets remember that it was the French.. The inventors of the white flag.. So I don't know if it was really that big a deal.. But hell.. Any reason to drink some tequila has always been good with me..

But I have always had a dosage problem with the stuff.. Those first six or eight shots are a joyride.. But somewhere just after that I usually get bucked off..

I have posted this picture more than once.. But it is always my 5 de Mayo go to..

Here's another pic of the marquee.. And although the sign and marquee show some wear, I think this new endeavor I have started might make me some money.. If it worked for those goofy fuckin' Somalians, maybe it will work for me.. Even those stupid fuckers outsmarted the entire the hierarchy of Minnesota..

Who the fuck are yall electing up there?

If you are receiving any educational grants from the government, give me a call..

I think I can work you into my class schedule..

Well maybe we'll see you on Wednesday.. I'll report on the details later in the week..

In the meantime, keep your worm wet.. And keep smiling.. It'll make people wonder what you been up to..

See you on the lake!

May Day: Month five rolls around, as thunderstorms and rain roll across south central west Texas. But they ain't made it here as of yet. It's 9:24 am..

Some decent rains fell on the river above us around Eagle Pass, and it's great.. But it ain't a game changer.. That said we'll take it all.

People ask me all the time, "When is the lake going to fill up?" I always say you'll see people standing on roofs from Zapata to Big Bend when it happens.. And that's what it takes to fill this lake.. Basically a disaster..

And that's one of the things Falcon and Amistad were built for.. To help mitigate flooding..

And dammit they are sure doing their job the last fifteen years!

Floods are a part of nature, and so far nature is undefeated when it comes to controlling the weather..

Mother Nature has been toying with me the last fifteen years. "When you can snatch the pebble from my hand Grasshopper, I will fill the lake.."

Somebody a lot younger than me might have to tag in because I'm sure my reflexes are getting slower every day..

The only thing quick about me these days is my tongue.. And you sick bastards can quit thinking about some perverted sex antics..

I am still able to spit out a smart ass retort in an instant, and I can Motherfuck a situation in a heartbeat.

The rest of me has not quite kept up.. My Daddy always said getting old is not for pussies. He was rarely wrong in retrospect, and he was certainly right on this one..

Another thing I can still do is fish. And drive a boat.. And I'm pretty fuckin' good at backing a trailer..

And maybe you'd like to do all three next Wednesday as we have some work to do..

PAW is bringing some fish to stock.. A lot of em it sounds like..

They are scheduled to be here around eleven or twelve at the state park. And your presence is requested to help us scatter them out around the lake..

What an opportunity.. You get to stock your own favorite spots. Well.. As long as they are on Falcon..

Bring your bait net if you have one. Or a big aquarium net will work.. I may have an extra or two..

And make sure your livewells are working properly.. And maybe the next time you have that fish in your boat it will weigh ten pounds..

I can't remember when we started this tradition.. A long time ago.. And I have heard that some other folks have started doing it at their lakes as well.. Just makes sense..

I have not heard much about the fishing since I last wrote.

But here is a tidbit of info.. The rumored dock at the state park has appeared..

I know.. It's a miracle..But thanks to those in power that got it done..

Anyway.. That's all I got for now.. I plan on fishing on Sunday weather permitting and will report..

In the meantime, do something nice for someone who don't expect it.. It'll make you feel good..

See you on the lake!

April 29, 2026: Well I said I'd report after yesterdays adventure, after having such a good day on Sunday .And I barely slept a wink on Monday night knowing I was going to beat the gegeezers out of em on Tuesday.

I shoulda took a double dose of Nyquil.. Cause yesterday sucked..

It's not like I didn't catch any fish, although I caught just a handful, but it was crushingly disappointing. It was like popping a Viagra before she says yes..

Most of the fish I caught yesterday were off old rock houses and the woods right around them.. And they were few and far in between..

I revisited several green tree lines that have been inundated where we caught fish the other day.. But they wasn't biting.. And I know we did not catch them all. And I started looking for similar places with similar water depth and found several.

Well them fuckers weren't biting there either.. I even fished some main lake willow trees, and let me tell you there are plenty of them. This pic is right at Bob's Knob on the Texas side.

One new to the lake might think it is full.. But sadly we are still about forty three feet low..

At this level there is still a lot of water out there, and the lake will always be twenty three or more miles long. Depending on where you hold the end of the tape. This pic is looking pretty much due north.. And those willows are at least ten or twelve feet high above the water. And the water is about three feet deep at their base.

And BTW.. If you are a bow fisherman looking for some tilapia, skirt the edges of these willow lines.. They are everywhere and a lot of big ones in there as well..

It was a beautiful day with cloud cover and light winds, and I was by myself so I chose to put in here in Zapata where there is a good ramp and a dock. I ran down south of Tigers to several creeks and worked my way back.. And did not really land on any fish till stopped at some of the rock house piles around Bob's Knob.

What a difference a couple of days make..

I did talk to a few folks that did much better than I, throwing spinner baits and some cranks.. But I must have forgot my deodorant or something cause they really did not like me..

Speaking of a dock and a boat ramp, I hear we might be getting something resembling one down at the state park..

Wars and rumors of wars.. Nobody knows anything definitive as of yet, but the scuttlebutt is that they may put in one of those roll out ramps and a dock of unknown origin and structure.. Hey a rumor is about as good as we get around here..

I can see twenty lawn chairs and fishing lines aplenty being tended by a swarm of folks on the dock. I hope the park folks will remind them it is a boat dock.. Not a fishing pier..

But in this part of the country the two terms appear to be pretty interchangeable..

The lake is holding about dead level but yesterdays requested release rates show that we will be letting out more than Amistad.. We're not dropping yet as of today.. We'll see how this plays out..

I would have loved to tell you that I kicked their ass yesterday.. But I have tried to weed the prevarication out of my personality..

Well maybe a bit to enhance or embellish a story now and then.. But not when it really matters..

Well this much is true.. I'll let you know about the next adventure whenever it occurs.. We have some weather coming this next Friday it appears, so we'll see how that goes..

And hoping Central and South Texas get in on some more good rains.

Till next time.. Go out of your way to be nice to people..

See you on the water!

April 27, 2026: Well it didn't take 2026 too long to burn up the first third, as we are already four months into the anno of our country's 250th birthday. And I wonder what the Founding Fathers would think of our progress, or lack thereof so far.

I'm sure if many of them were resurrected they would be prying their coffin doors back open to return to a safer place, and a time where people were just a bit more people like.. Instead of people hate..

I just don't get it..

Yes a quarter of a millennium ago some brave and very smart people put a theory into motion that has become the gold standard for opportunity and freedom.. I hope we can make it another 250.. We'll see..

Well.. We won't but some form of us will.. Just not sure what that form of us will look like..

I personally believe that I have lived in the exact right place during the most awesome period that ever existed.. Blessed and lucky..

Speaking of blessed and lucky, yesterday we caught the fire out of the fish.. Doing it the way I like best.. Flipping a soft plastic into the thickest of shit you can find and yanking them out like an OB-GYN..

And yes, many of them were kicking and screaming..

There are a lot of fish in the four foot and less water, and they like it where they are at. And they do not like being drug out of their homes.. They are full of piss and vinegar and will pretty much kick your ass before you get them in the boat.

There are a lot of shad up in the flooded trees and brush as well, and several of the fish we caught were spitting up shad. Bait is everywhere..

And I have not seen so many tilapia up in the shallows in years. Big sombitches.. Hundreds.. Bow fishers dream date.. Lots of gar and long nose gar swimming around up there as well.

Probably the water clarity has a lot to do with seeing so many fish. All the flooded greenery in the water has really filtered the water and protected the banks from a lot of wave action. Many places the water was clear enough to see the bottom in two feet.. Which for us is pretty clear.. And that was with no sun out yesterday.

If you are a bow fisherman, you need to be down here now.. The carp are also all over the bank, and the gar are spawning in the flooded weeds and on rocky banks.. The locals and some visitors are scoring some big gar.. Some over seven feet..

Jay went with me again yesterday, and we had over twenty fish in the boat by noonish, and we had probably a dozen bites we did not execute on properly.. Especially me. I don't know how many times I was fucking with something else when I got bit.. Maybe they could see me too..

We had a couple of fours a bunch of threes, and I don't know if we caught a non-keeper fish.

And on our merry way we ran into this giant beaver hut.. This fuckers teeth must be worn out..

See what I'm saying about the water clarity?

It was a lot of fun and of course, Jay had a big fish tie him up in a tree and kick his ass.. As did I, but I don't think the one I had on was as big as Jays.. His ass kickin lasted all of 2.5 seconds and I was watching the whole thing..

He was still mumbling about it when we were back at the shop..

I thought it was funny.. Him.. Not so much..This is the third fish in the last month that I/we have not seen that has absolutely dispensed an ass-whoopin and left with our shit..

At least I have been around some big fuckers, and one of these days I am going to put one in the boat..

Thinking about some braid and a some goggles.. I have often said that you might have a fifty-fifty chance at getting one of them big fish in the boat when you hook him in the middle of a hardwood.. It takes a little luck and some good line and a bit of skill on occasion to get em to the net.. Probably luck is the most important of the three..

As in Corinthians, Faith, Hope, and Love remain..

You gotta love to fish.. Hope you are fishing in the right spot.. And have faith in your skill and equipment..

And then throw in that fourth, some luck to get the fucker to the boat..

The water rise has about stopped, and as far as the fishing goes, that's helpful in my mind.. These fish don't seem to like rising water, and they can be downright persnickety on a slow rise.

We are sitting at 258.47 up just an inch and a bit from last report. We are releasing some water, but Amistad releases are keeping up at present time.. We'll see what happens.. Hopefully more rain will come to south Texas and the Valley soon, and we can save what we have..

I heard mixed results from The Po Boys tournament over the weekend. Some of them caught em pretty good, and some struggled as is the norm.. These guys are just as much about the camaraderie as the fishing and they all appeared to be having a big time.. Thanks to all of you who stopped in and spent some money with FLT.

On Saturday the big fish was a seven something, but I have not rec'd final results from the overall. The white bass appeared to be pretty elusive for most, and that is a big part of their multi species tourney.. I'll report when I hear..

I'm going to try and hit it a while tomorrow morning and will report back on my findings.

I can hardly sleep..

See you on the lake

April 22, 2026: Three weeks into April, the wind is still a factor most days.. But it appears that we are in for a kinder stretch the next few days.. And winds for today were predicted to be around eight MPH..

Big Fat Liars.. I was trying to fish some rock houses around Bob's Knob this morning and I can tell to those were not eight MPH waves.. Oh it was fishable.. But bumpy..

And I caught a few off the rockpiles on a senko, but decided to roll a spinnerbait over the top of one of them.. And I kept getting hammered but could not get a fish to the boat. So I picked up a squarebill and proceeded to catch a handful of big fat white bass.. Some of the biggest I have seen on Falcon in a while..

If Idda known I was going to catch a bunch of them I'd have put em in the livewell..

And an hour later I ran into another five or six just inside the mouth of Pierces.. Which I still cannot catch a bass out of.. But it looks so good..

The water is still on the rise around here, and a few rains in the watershed have helped but mostly it is water from Amistad.. For the last ten days we have released almost nothing, but releases from Amistad have remained pretty steady..

And the valley has received some good rains and their demands have been light as well. So it all adds up..

We have a ton of flooded vegetation on the banks, and a bunch of flooded willows as well.

I went out of the Veleno today, and on the upper end of the lake the re-growth is phenomenal.. When this thing fills up we ain't gonna catch a fish for two years..

Reports of fish have been few and far in between, as there are not a whole lot of folks on the lake lately.. The wind certainly don't help..

A few folks have done pretty good, but a few have struggled as well..

This weekend, well Friday and Saturday, will see the forty ninth happening of the Po Boys fishing tourney, which is an annual event. These guys have a lot of fun, and most don't try to take it too seriously.

It's about fun and friendship, eatin and drinkin, but there are a few hardcore anglers in there.. We'll see how they do. They expect about twenty five boats to participate.

I believe they will weigh in at the state park.

The lake level has crept up to 258.32 and this is the highest we have been in two years. We got room for a lot more.. We're still 42.88 feet low..

We only got about half an inch of rain here at the store, but some places above and below us had several inches of rain. I like the way the rainy season has started. But ain't going to say nothing more about that..

But a lot of south Texas got some much needed rains the last week.

Well there have been a few jobs lost in the senate and congress the last couple of weeks. And I wonder if any of them will ever do any time.. But probably some of them need to.. It just seems that they are above the law.. Which they always say nobody is..

It is just sad to see how many of the elected take advantage of government funds. And in all likelihood, there are hundreds more stealing and misusing monies of their constituents..

Most of them never get caught.. At least till they are no longer useful to the cause, or they piss off someone a few rungs farther up the ladder..

It's a nasty game for sure..

I've had a few thoughts lately that seem a bit quizzical.. I'll share a couple with you..

Are the people who make 'Summers Eve' fiduciary's?

Is it true that vegetarian pedophiles, once imprisoned, start to eat a lot of meat?

Is it not true, that people without critical thinking skills will always be easily manipulated?

And that those who aspire to mediocrity rarely achieve it..

Just a couple of things to ponder..

Well I better ponder my way back to work..

I'll report the good and the bad when I hear it.. As always..

Be nice to people!

See you on the water..

April 17, 2026: There's an old saying in fishing that 'the wind is your friend..' And I guess in some instances it is.. As long as it is within reasonable parameters. But anything over about fifteen MPH around here becomes a real pain in the ass.. And the knees.. And the back..

And wind we have had again this week, and it just won't seem to relent..

I looked at the forecast early in the week and decided Thursday (yesterday) was the day to go, because the prediction was for eight to eleven.. Well I went yesterday and it turns out that both of those numbers were involved.. And I am not sure if they were added together or multiplied by each other at certain moments during the day..

I wanted a bit lower wind day so I could fish the open water rock piles down around Bob's Knob.. And like a fool I drove there.. And promptly turned back south and hid in the Tigers out of most of the gale..

When I got to Bob's the waves were coming over the bow before I climbed my fat ass up there.. I shoulda known better.. Yeah I have fished out in rougher.. But I was younger and a lot madder at the fish than I am now..

Jay Grieshaw went with me as he had a day off, and I was in need of a partner.. Most of my fishing buddies have headed north for the summer. I imagine for the next few months this will be a common occurrence as most of the fishing guides businesses slow during the summer months as well.

Anyway we fished a few points and gravel bars and I caught about a six pounder.. To bad it needed a shave.. Those whisker fish will certainly bite a soft plastic..

We caught a few dinks, and I caught one off a hardwood that was about a foot long.. That might be impressive in a porn flick, but not in this sport..

Jay chunked right back at the same tree and went to yellin' for the net.. With good reason.. When this fish's head came out of the water I thought it was going to be a double..

But it was a Tennessee Toddie.. All head and no body..

But it got the blood flowing.. At least I have been around a couple of big fish lately..

Speaking of which, I don't know if you follow Matt Reed's facebook page, but he has been catching some really nice fish lately. Double digits have not entered the picture as of late, but a bunch of post spawn six to eight pound fish have been caught. Here's a pic of his scale from Tuesday.

He did say that Wednesday sucked however.. But they caught them good again yesterday.

And truthfully it has been a little hit and miss lately.. But those who get out there and get after it have mostly been decently rewarded.

At this moment launching at the state park is as good as it has been in a long while.. I launched my boat with my truck with two wheel drive very easily..

Lots of times this spring I had friends take their 4X4's when the water was lower.. But right now it is gravy..

We are still slowly creeping up and we are at 257.24.. The entirety of the lake has cover on the edges and if you did not know better you'd think the lake was full..

Interestingly, a lot of Tulies or Reeds, as many folks call them, have popped up on the shores at scattered locations. And until the last year or so it was very rare to see them. I have been looking at them and as of yet I have not really concentrated on them.. But lots of them have enough water on them now to hold fish..

I see a Tulie flipping trip coming up soon..

And I am surely fixin to hit some hardwoods again when the wind lays a bit and the bright sun is shining.. Fishing the shady side of hardwoods is a hot weather pattern here that can really be fun..

The shade thing really caught my attention a lot of years ago.. Of course bass like cover.. And are ambush feeders.. As any bass fisherman knows.. And I am sure they like to jump out of the shadows and swallow up whatever swims near.

Kinda like sitting at a table next to Rosie at a restaurant.. If your waiter has to walk past Rosie's table with your food, it may or may not still be on the tray when the server gets to your table..

That is often why waiters hold the tray high in the air when walking across the serving floor.. Cause they know that fat bitch cain't jump..

But I digress.

Back to the shade thing.. Many many moons ago I was fishing in the back of a big flat in the way back of a long creek way up the river. Lots of greenery in the water and it was clear as tapwater.

There was an old fence line of steel posts across a three foot deep flat. And there was a fish sitting on several of the steel posts. And how wide is a steel post.. Probably an inch and a half..

All the fish that were on that fence line had the shade of the steel posts lined up right across their eyes.. I don't think it was a coincidence.. They don't sell Foster Grants anywhere below sea level, so these fish do the next best thing.. They shade their eyes..

And this is the reason I have been talking about the shady side of the hardwoods for years.. Well that and the fact that I have caught thousands of fish off the shady sides of the hardwoods..

And Duh.. That's where Jay's big fish came from yesterday.. And the pissant I caught..

Best baits still seem to be soft plastics, but I am hearing of a few jig fish. And a crankbait is a necessity on the deck as well.. If you are not around a bunch of flickering shad, you are going to catch significantly fewer fish.

And right now they are not everywhere.. But if you happen on a bunch be sure to give that area a bit more attention than areas where they are not active.. They were not very frolicky yesterday..

I look for fishing to get more and more consistent in the next month, as hopefully the wind subsides a bit and the very end of the spawn concludes. (Which I think is a wrap..) Probably a few stragglers out there..

Better fish will migrate to ledges and brushpiles in about ten to fifteen feet of water. And sit in the shade.. Waiting for a delectable morsel to swim by.

And smaller chasing fish should be up on breezy points and rocky banks where bait has been pushed up..

Man this fishing shit is really easy to figure out..

Launching in Zapata is still on concrete and is getting easier every day.. Actually if we get just a bit more water, we will be back on the main ramp and not out on the point. Some smaller boats are already utilizing it..

Last report I went off a bit on government in general.. Which could be done on any given occasion.. Cause they need a good ass chewin.. Not that it seems to do any good..

If the US government was a whorehouse, it could find a way to loose money.. It is amazing.. The biggest income generator in the world, and the till still came up Forty Trillion short.. I'd write that out numerically, but that's too many fuckin zeros..

Imagine explaining that to your boss at the end of business..

"Sir. Em.. Err.. There seems to be a slight discrepancy between the cash drawer and the daily sales tape.."

No shit.. The bastards don't have a income problem.. They have a spending problem. And a fraud problem..

Heads need to roll, but I am quite sure they won't..

The Republicans are only slightly better than the Democrats, but at least a few of them are trying.. Or paying lip service to the monetary issues anyway.

The Democrats just want more.. And more..

And I find it hilarious when on several occasions, the current Dems have been mystified at how they lost a presidential election on their watch.

And the quote that always cracks me up is, "We just need to do a better job of getting our message out there.."

No Mother Fuckers... Your messages have been received loud and clear And anyone with any self responsibility, sense of pride, or even a lick of common sense can see that you are a bunch of lunatics..

Fuckin Whack jobs..

It's amazing..

Well hopefully things in the Middle East will wrap up soon, so a hundie will fill my boat..

And one more thing.. Don't tell me that the Strait of Hormuz doesn't affect America, cause we have all the oil we need for our use.. If I hear that one more time.. All the ones that say that ain't bought their own gas in years..

Fuck you.. Tell me that at the gas pump face to face..

I have zero love for the Iranians, and I hope they can keep themselves busy rebuilding their shit hole for a few years and we don't have to fuck with them for a long time..

But I guarantee you we will..

Because if you leave that ideology breathing it will just be a matter of time..

Change my mind..

Well I'll be out of the shop Monday afternoon and and Tuesday morning as I have to attend a funeral out of town.

But I'll see you when we do.. And I hope it's on the water..