Monday night's sunset... ...morphed into a variety of scenes... ...as the sun set further. Tuesday morning looked bleak; couldn't get much worse; cold, windy, no sun... ...and then it got worse...rained most of the day. Spent a lot of the day working on fishing tackle...getting rods ready for when the grandkids arrive...making up new leaders for the fly rods. Then, having lost three or four surface plugs to the bluefish over the past week, I decided to try turning a cheap bobber into a topwater bait. The wire that runs from the front swivel to the rear split ring is Tooth Proof stainless steel leader wire, 27#, which is fairly easy to put a haywire twist into. I'm probably not saving a penny with this rig by the time all the labor is figured in, but it was fun to do. Some anglers are familiar with these bobbers which are used in spotted seatrout fishing. You hang a shrimp below the bobber, throw the rig out there, and pop the heck out of the bobber. The sound attracts the seatrout and they grab the shrimp. In theory at least...I"ve never tried it. I'll let you know how the fish react to this...thing. ...and provided a colorful ending to a drab day. I woke last night to the sound of thunder. How far off I sat and wondered. Started humming a song from.... Wait a minute. [Apologies to Bob Seger.] It wasn't night. It was Wednesday morning. But what the heck was that racket? Terrible sounds coming from the house next door to our south. Oh no! I thought...now what? We've endured vacation times here when they were using all sorts of power equipment to clean off the lot next door so construction could start...and then the actual construction itself. I've had to call the construction company and ask them to tone down the language being used by the workers [to their credit, the contractor put a stop to the bad language immediately]. But there's no toning down hammers, radial saws, tile cutters, and endless trucks coming and going [thank goodness they didn't drive the dock pilings while we were here]. And now this rig shows up! In response to my restrainedly polite questions, the rig crew told me they were just cleaning out the bottom of the boat basin next door...a job that would not take more than several hours [much better than several weeks]. Thing was enormous! The crew obviously was experienced and professional to get that gear between house and fence. and away... ...and away... ...and sometime around mid-afternoon, they stopped. Have to wait to Thursday to see if they're done with it all...and if they haul all that gear out of there. I have two fishing friends, named Charlie and Charley, who, although separated by 1,500 miles, smoke fish. I don't mean they roll them into joints. They take fresh fish, put it in a smoker, and come up with something you can put on a cracker and have with white wine as an hors d'oeuvre...or a meal [if you're like me]. This smoked bluefish filet was from southern Charley and it is excellent. ...was not brilliant, but still pretty. Looks as though someone launched a spacecraft from Key West. |
• Meanwhile, in other news...
• It Was A Warm Year, but Not the Warmest: 2013
“ “2013 Listed as One of the Warmest Years on Record ”Two government agencies said Tuesday that 2013 was among the warmest years in the global temperature record, though they differed on exactly where it ranked.” Please visit this link to read the full article: NYTimes.com |
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