quality lake time

got up to the lake right in time to watch dave's mastery with a fileting knife, he made short work of several fish on the dock while waiting for his friend to show. after we got his friends boat in the water, we pushed out into a rain shower, going out to an island point that candice, the kids and her parents had been staking out by floating in front of it for a couple of hours. we got there and tied ropes for the houseboat in the rain and then they went back to tow the houseboat out to the point. after getting it settled and tied in, candice's dad brought her and the kids back, and we got back in for some more swimming & floating. then as the sun went down, the pre-fishing started.

dave dropped these giant green tube lights in the water to draw bait fish, and when the sun finally went down, the waters were practically churning with lil fish, which proceeded to swarm and circle the lights, looking like a fish hurricane viewed from satellite. it was thoroughly fascinating to watch(which i had plenty of later). dave proceeds to begin dropping a net down into the fish storm for some bait, & then the fishing began. so after a few quick trout catches, a couple of them immediately as soon as the worm was to depth, dave and his friend take candice and the kids back to the marina to spend the night on her moms houseboat. they left a few poles baited that i couldn't legally touch, but this one bell just kept tinkling, so i couldn't resist. after losing the fish but not the bait, i was going to put the worm back in when i see the outline of a boat floating dark out in the lake close-ish to our mooring. so i'm thinking hell, i'm busted for sure. but the boat never came closer, and i eventually realized it was a dead boat with folks swimming it back to the marina, haha...but to my credit, the boat WAS shaped exactly like the game warden's and completely unlit.

so, i'm there on the boat by myself, waiting, waiting, waiting when all the swimming, beers and whiskey kicked in. after more than an hour i gave up the catnapping on the hammock chair and crawled into the cabin cruiser and fell into the sleep of the dead. i got up when they eventually came back hours later(they had towed the dead boat back to the marina), watched them catch a few more, but could barely hold my eyes open so crawled back in my hole. i didn't realize how much i missed growing up on the lake and being rocked to sleep by the houseboats i used to spend my summers on. it had been close to 25 yrs since i'd been out on a lake, i think i slept better up there than i have in years, thoroughly asleep the whole night, apnea be damned. i may just have to buy me a houseboat or a cabin cruiser now.

i was the first one up, and proceeded to lament my forgetting coffee, but made the most of the morning by reading in the cool lake breezes. the day before had been perfect for me, being overcast, the sun was not brutal at all, but eventually, as the morning wore on, the cloud cover started to clear and began cooking my ass. made a makeshift shade with a beach towel, but proceeded to get my feet burned, so after a morning swim, i decided i'd skip the sunburn and make my way slowly back to nashville on the back roads, checking out little towns i'd never been through before. eventually i ended up in rutherford county for a visit to my old mama for some free lunch. was a damn good weekend, gonna have to take them up on their offer in the fall when it's not quite so hot. they got a lil slice of heaven on that lake, it's gorgeous & so freaking clean, no wonder they spend so much time up there. thanks, y'all

they don't call him the fishfinder general for nothing & that's not even a 1/3 of his armory

courthouse in gainesboro

the old bridge over into carthage