Sorry, it's not a fishing report, just a trip report. There is a VERY
slight flyfishing content.
We left home a day early because of an incoming storm. We planned to spend
the first night at Little Rock and notified our son in Nashville of our
change in plans. He e-mailed back and offered us the opportunity to stay
free - in his suite at the Embassy Suites......he had to go to Little Rock
Children's Hospital for a couple of days to do some procedures. We turned
him down since he wasn't getting in to L.R. till 9:30 p.m., but we did
offer to pick him up at the airport. We then took him out and watched him
eat a late dinner and delivered him to his room. Kinda unique
happenstance, since we don't get the opportunity to see him more than 2-3
times a year. That was an auspicious start to the trip, in spite of the
snow that was coming down when we picked him up.
We awoke to 2.5" of snow/slush all over everything. Traffic was moving at
about 10 mph. We left a little late to miss the rush hour (if you can call
10 mph a "rush" hour).
By the time we got out of Little Rock, we were speeding happily along at
about 30 mph. And we were glad we were outbound. A truck had died in the
inbound left lane of I-30 and had created a 5-mile backup. We drove out of
the accumulating snow in about 1-1/2 hours and the rest of the trip went
without incident. Although the people in New Braunsfels, where we spent
the night, thought the prediction of snow there that night WAS an incident.
It didn't snow there - although Boerne had snow. We got out of there and
drove on to Corpus Christi - and heard that it DID snow in San Antonio that
night.
The rest of the week was spent bird-watching, and doing a lot of the
rubber-necking that tourists do. We fell in love with the area and saw
MANY birds we inlanders had never seen before. One day we devoted to
fishing. And the operative word is fishing.
But it was fun and both Martha and I enjoyed our first experience fishing
the salt. I had assembled a 9' 9wt Kunnan rod (I'd had the blank for about
10 years) and was delighted with its performance. It really was easy to
cast the majority of the line. And I consider myself a very poor caster -
especially when it comes to distance casting. Oh. And I DID learn to do
more of a side cast instead a straight overhead cast. Those weighted
Clousers in the back of the head DO get your attention. <g>
Seeing all the big ships in and out of the harbors was really fascinating
for us as ground-bound land-lubbers. Watching the ships loaded with
military equipment going through Aransas Pass was both exhilarating (lots
of action with Coast Guard boats and helicopters escorting them) but also
quite sobering.
On the way back, we stopped off at Lake Charles, Louisiana, where I met an
old friend for the first time - Mark Delaney ('chemprof' on the Virtual
Flybox list) and his neat family - wife Valerie and daughters Bridget &
Brianna. After we ate with the Delaneys (I had GREAT fried crayfish tails
- that's a good Cajun area), we all went over and visited with an old
acquaintance Martha and I had not seen for 20 years - Tom Nixon, author of
"Fly Rodding for Bass". He's still a real feisty guy. He had to give up
flying, though. He had a heart attack, in his words, "a few years ago."
He said everything was fixed up perfectly after two surgeries, but when his
pilot's license expired two years ago, they wouldn't renew it just because
of his having once had a heart attack. So he quit flying....at the age of
86! He said, "Oh, I could still fly with a licensed pilot, but that's no
d*****d fun." The 3rd edition of his book now has beautiful color pictures
of all his flies in it. It is available (autographed) directly from Tom.
His tying room is covered with pictures, one of which caught my eye - it
was an autographed cartoon from Ed Zern. All of us "more mature" folks
remember him. And one big saying that his wife gave him (she's been dead
five years now) which I really liked. It read, "The second biggest thrill
a man can have is flying. The biggest thrill is landing safely."
After we left Lake Charles, we stopped off at my sis's in Monroe, LA, for
a 3 day visit and got home last night JUST in time for our next snowstorm
tomorrow.
We just now watched the weather forecast (up to 6-9" here in Indpls
tomorrow night). Martha said, "Quick - get on the internet and find motels
that will let you bring animals. I'll do the laundry and we can load up
the cats and leave to go back before the storm hits!" I think she was only
about 70% kidding!
We now understand why there are so many "snowbirds" in Florida and Texas in
the winter.
Allan
Allan Fish
Greenwood, IN
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
