Vacation...fishing

So back from vacation.  You see when my daycare provider goes on vacation that means I go on vacation by default.  Went back to visit my mom in Dubuque, Iowa.  Yes Mike James I was in your neck of the woods.  Drove right up I380, hopped hwy30 to hwy13 to hwy151, etc.  So it was a good trip, had another relative come in at the same time and so there was always something to do.

However one of the things I was most looking forward to - fishing - sort of got put on hold due to the crappiest weather.  We were going to be in town for 5 days and so I figured I could get in 2 days of fishing.  Now this isn't sit on the bank and stare at a bobber fishing, this is the real deal.  I know a little river in that area of Iowa that has smallmouth and largemouth bass in it.  This river is mostly a few inches to a couple of feet deep in the bends but usually only about 20 feet wide or so.  Its the best, you grab a pair of crappy shoes, some old jeans, an ultralight or a light action spinning rod with 8lb test line and a handfull of rooster tail inline spinners, red the the only color you need really.  You just climb right in the river and walk slowly upsteam while throwing your lure and pretty much reeling fast enough to keep it above the rocks.  Bam! Smallmouth.  Smack! Largemouth.  Standing in cool water in the shade of the cliffs and trees, doesn't matter how hot it gets, its just perfect.

So I hit the river a bit later than normal, around 9am, by 11am I've stopped counting fish after 30.  Now granted a LOT of those fish are tiny, like palm sized but every 10th one is maybe 1/2 lb. or so and every 15th one is a bit over a one pound and every 30th is one that goes over 2 lbs.  Those are the ones you really have to work and take your time with.  Light line, strong fish(smallmouth are seriously strong for their size), standing in a current = one helluva good time.  Plus the bigger ones stay down and so at first you just want it to stay on long enough to get a look at it, and then you get greedy and want to land it.  Now I practice catch and release so no worries to the health of the fishy.  They are just a bit tired and probably late to whereever they were going(copyright Mitch Hedberg).  Ok, now around 12pm I'm feeling pretty good as I just had a 5+ minute fight with one that went 2+lbs and I notice the sky is a bit dark.  No problem as little shade never hurts.  Then a bit of a low rumble.....no worries there either.  Next a light sprinkle.  Rain? Who the hell cares about a little rain, I'm standing in a damn river for crying out loud, what am I gonna do get wet?  I mean lets see...I'm coming up to a killer stretch where I'm pretty sure I'll get another in the 2lb. range and do you think I'm going to let a little sprinkle stop me?  Hell no, that would be a job for the LIGHTNING.  So as I look up to see how big the clouds are I see a gigantic spider web of lightning explode(and yes thats probably the right adjective) above me followed by a tremendous crash of thunder.  At this point I realize I'M STANDING IN A DAMN RIVER and holding a graphite fishing rod, which most of the time oddly enough has its tip pointed in a generally upward direction.  Um..yeah, fishing over. 

So it proceeds to rain off and on the rest of Wednesday, downpour Wednesday night, rain on Thurs, Friday AND even friggin a bit on Sat. evening.  Can't fish the river for a couple of days once its rained as it gets muddy and a bit deeper.  If it would have stopped on Wednesday night I think I might have been back catchin' hogs and rippin' lips on Friday morning or for sure on Sat. morning.  Ah well, next time those fish are mine.

Posted by Raider30 @ 9:29 pm EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

First blog ever...

Ok, as the title states this is my first blog ever.  To be honest though the topic wasnt what I had thought I would write about, but such is life.  Going to give you all some information and then ask for a bit of feedback and dont be afraid to be critical if you feel its called for.

Situation is this:  I am a divorced father with custody of my 4 year old son.  My ex has "reasonable visitation" which in the state I live in generally means every other weekend and 2 weeks in the summer.  We live about 20 miles apart in the same general area.  To avoid any bias for those of you who choose to respond that is all the information Ill give out.  Here are the questions:

1) For those of you who have step-kids or are divorced parents yourselves,  does the non-custodial parent pick up and drop the child off when they have their visitation?  It was always my understanding that the non-custodial parent was responsible for getting their child and bringing them back.  Yes? No?

2)  If the custodial parent agrees to meet somewhere to pick the child up when visitation is over is it an unreasonable request that the non-custodial parent contact the custodial parent and give a time and place more than a few hours in advance, like say calling the night before to set up the drop off. 

For those of you who can read between the lines Ive had issues with my ex over the two above questions.  I had always said that I didnt want to be "one of those" divorced couples who hate each other and have a hard time being civil, but it seems our relationship seems to be deteriorating and its hard to always be the "nice one" who gives in all the time while asking for very little in return. 

Anyway next blog will be something a little more less serious.  Thanks for listening.

 - Raider30

Posted by Raider30 @ 3:25 pm EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments