Got a small taste of the ol' bug today.

Earlier this week, Lynn (just out of the blue) said she'd like to go fishing sometime. WTF? She's never been fishing in her life! She worked all week and I've been busy as all get-out, but early this morning, I dug out my old fishing gear and started getting it cleaned up and new line spooled on a couple of light spinning outfits. (One light, one medium actually) We had a lot on our plates today and just got home, so I decided we'd just walk down to the lake bank a little later this evening, set up a coupl'a folding chairs, a small cooler for refreshments and the usual necessary gear, then spend the night fishing for catfish. I really don't even know the lake. Depth? Hot spots? Whatever, I'm clueless. It's kinda dumb because I've lived on this 500 acre lake for 30 frigging years and I've never wet a line in the darned thing. It's a clean water lake (spring fed) and looks like it has some interesting areas to explore, but I've simply never done it. I no longer have a boat, so we'll just fish from the dock or possibly the bank (we have quite a bit of frontage) and the property is on a small cove or inlet off the main lake. It should be a nice little holding spot, although I have no clue what sort of depth I'm dealing with. We have a small, private boat ramp next to the dock, so it's not terribly shallow. Heck, going for catfish is the simplest thing I could come up with for a first outing tonight, especially since we've just been too busy for any daylight fishing. Even if we don't catch anything, it should be fun.

Wanna know how long it's been since I've wet a line? I found my stash of poles in the garage, but I was missing a few and had no clue what might have happened to them. I started digging around and finally found them. They were locked in an airline approved case in the back of a spare bedroom closet downstairs. They've been in there so long, I had to cut the locks off (no clue where the keys are). I looked at the airline tag attached to the case and it appears when I returned from my last Canuckian fishing trip with ol' TW and a bunch'o youse Good Hunting deplorables, I simply stuck it in the closet and it hasn't been touched since! I have to admit, while cleaning them up and re-spooling them, it brought back fond memories of past trips and I actually felt a slight tinge of the old fishing bug I haven't felt in years. I don't know how long Lynn will hold up tonight and it really doesn't matter as I'm sure we'll have some fun ... if nothing else, a bit of quality time away from the usual rat-race.

Here's the little cove we live on. The dock and covered picnic table table is just to the right of the boat ramp.

Attachment 10807

This is prolly not much help, but I goggled your lake and found this.

Lake Gibson:
Average depth: 7 ft.
Max. depth: 20 ft.

Hope ya'll catch a bunch !!!!!

:fishhooked :fish1 :fishing :fine

Have fun!

See how much I know Muddy? :(

Yeah, it's been pretty warm lately and I have no clue where the holes are. Heck, for all I know, the little cove may be a deep hole! I'm assuming they probably dug that out for fill when they built our little community in 1970. It has no through traffic (just a loop) and only a single entrance/exit. Most everyone here is older and the lake frontage seldom sees any action at all. There's a large grassy area (community property) just to the left of that cove that's pretty hard to see in the pic. 2-3 times/year, we'll have a big community bonfire and potluck type get together in that area just to see who in the neighborhood is still alive. The big grassy area to the left is owned by a church and nothing has been done with the property in the 30 years I've lived here. The large grassy area at the center right of the pic is a huge pasture. The old man who owned it died about 15 years ago and the family sold it to a developer, who so far, hasn't done anything with it. That is some really nice property with probably a 1/4 - 1/2 mile or so of lake front as well as two large canals that lead from the lake to the main road. The canals were originally dug for the cattle to have plenty of water access, but I'm sure, someday, they will be back yard access to the lake for the bazillion houses that will probably be built at some point in time. Right now, we're right between large areas of open property and that buffer keeps things nice a quiet. On the other side of the road from that property is low lands and I'm not sure if that property can be built on. I would think it would be pretty wet during the summer, but I've never seen any standing water, so who knows? It will pretty much suck once development kicks in. It's all around us ... but so far, nothing next to us.

The lake map I pulled up didn't reveal much, but if you can find out where the drain or emergency outlet is located, that'll be some of the deepest water, and a good place to fish.

Hmmm, yep, that would be a slight bit S.E. of where we are. At least I suppose it would be there. Most of the lakes down here are "connected" and basically form a "chain of lakes". This one drains into Lake Parker a bit east of us. That narrow canal has a very small public boat ramp on it. It's a narrow canal and the ramp hits it at 90-degrees, so only small boats can be launched there and it's the only public access to this lake. The canal is not navigable past that ramp, so boats can't navigate onto this lake from other lakes on the chain. I assume that would be considered the "drainage". To keep things simple (plus the fact we'll have no boat), I just figured we'd drop some stink bait in the cove and see what happens. That way, when Lynn needs a potty break (prolly about every 30-40 mins) she can just run up to the house and drop trou. ;)

Just a trial run to see how serious she REALLY is about wanting to go fishing. Once a coupl'a skeeters get past the OFF and she gets hot (it's after 7:00 pm and still 88-degrees here), I doubt we'll be out for long. :(

Well.... how’d y’all do?!


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Ha ha! Not even a nibble! :(

I have no clue how deep that little cove is. I’ve lived on this lake for 30 dang years and have never been in it, on it or used it in any way other than to look at it. Funny, as my son and neighborhood kids were growing up, they spent almost as much time jumping off the dock and playing in the lake as they did in our own pool with a slide and diving board!

The thing is, somehow Lynn has been bitten by the fishing bug and now wants to know what we can fish for today. I told her the simplest, spur of the moment thing would be just to grab some dough balls and go get some pan fish (bream, bluegills, whatever). She’s ready to go now but I convinced her to wait until it cools off a bit this evening. I have a feeling this little cove we live on is relatively shallow and it’s been in the 90’s for weeks now. I’d think most everything has moved out to deeper water, plus the cove really has no cover or structure other than the dock, which is minimal.

Heck, if this bug she suddenly acquired actually lasts, I may have to start considering some REAL fishing. I’m starting to get tired just thinking about it. :(

We have another large lake right down the street from us that is completely open and has tons of cover along the shoreline. The road encircles the lake and all residences are on the opposite side of the road, so you can fish anywhere you want from the bank. On our lake, all properties are lakefront so we’re pretty much relegated to our own property or a boat. That pretty much narrows our options as far as spot choices.

It all boils down to the fact I simply don’t know the lake. I know a lot of bass fishermen put in at the public ramp and fish the lake, so it holds fish. Oh, AND gators! ;)

Sounds like a little jon boat might be in order.

Ha! Yeah Johnboy, I've prolly had 10 of 'em over the years. Problem is, they sat out back behind the shed 99.99% of their lives. I washed my hands of ALL boats a few years back. My final clearance was when I dumped my 12' deep V aluminum boat (15 hp Mercury) along with my 28' Stamas cuddy cabin (350 Chevy marine w/Volvo Penta Outdrive). After that, I made myself a promise ... NO MORE BOATS!

I'm in the middle of boat country, but they can become like many wives after a while ... too expensive and more trouble than they're worth! (I didn't REALLY say that!) ;)

If you'll look at this map, it'll show you why fishing is so big around here. I assume this map will load the same at all times. If you right click and drag the map, I'm on Lake Gibson (just a bit to the left and up). A bit right and down is another large lake (Lake Parker) where I used to do most of my fishing. Scan around and you'll see a fisherman's dream. Water everywhere! I guess that's why the city is named Lakeland. ;)

Of course, we're also 45 mins from the coast if salt water is your thing.

I'm simply not into it anymore and really don't want another boat to deal with.


https://www.google.com/search?q=imag...9!2i863!4f13.1

an old telephone magneto

I’m in the same boat. Ha. My son really want to fish but I haven’t been in so long the line on all of my poles is brittle. I did buy him a cheap pole the other day and he’s been doing a little fishing on the lake where we keep our boat. So far he hasn’t caught anything big but he’s caught some perch, bluegill, and a crappie.


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