Fish Ohio 1999

July 10,1999 was a special year for a Fish Ohio catch on Lake Hodgson. I decided to start trolling the lake instead of working live bait like I normally do. They call July and August the Dog Days of fishing because the lake temperature heats up and the fish are harder to catch. I went to trolling Hot-N-Tot lures around the lake. I have a bright silver Hot-N-Tot and a silver and black Hot-N-Tot that I pull behind the boat. I always try to get out at 6 AM when the sun isn't shining as brightly on the lake. I have 8# to 10# line on my poles so I'm not worried about anything overpowering me.

I had went to the North End of the Lake then headed along the West shore to the South end of the lake. As I was heading back toward the boat dock I was trolling along a sand bar. I have a fish Finder on the boat so I use it to keep me off the sand bar and trolling along at the correct depth. I hooked into something big. This is the same sand bar where I had caught the Fish Ohio Carp in 1994.

I started to fight the fish and realized I had three problems.
1: I was fighting a large fish and had to be careful.
2: I was alone and had to net this fish alone.
3: I was drifting toward the sand bar.

I certainly didn't want to get stuck on the sand bar and add to my problems at hand. I worked the fish toward the boat and it stayed down. It was either a big Walleye or a Channel Cat from the fight. I got my net ready and fought the fish to the boat. It was a 28.75" 11# Channel Cat. I was able to get the fish on the first try and was really surprised by the size. this was the biggest Channel Cat I had ever caught. I took it and had it weighed and measured. I then brought it back to the lake.

Prostate Cancer II

I received some bad news from my sister from PA the other day. Her husband has found he has Prostate Cancer. This really hits close to home for me. I had Prostate Cancer and my father died from it. There had been Prostate Cancer in my brother-in-law's family which had caused early deaths. If you have your PSA checked this Cancer can be controlled.

I wrote a post in November about Prostate Cancer and having your PSA tested. It's a good thing my brother-in-law has had regular tests and found his PSA had gone from 2.3 to 4.5 to 6.5 fairly quickly. It is scary when you see the PSA rising like that. He then went to the next step which is the biopsy of the Prostate. This test showed that he did have Prostate Cancer. The biopsy results are a little harder to explain but your doctor can help you if you need to have that explained. Make sure you have a Doctor who can make you understand what is going on with this reading.

He is now trying to decide how to attack the Cancer. There are several options in the way you fight the Cancer. Methods depend on your age, health conditions and how aggressive you want to be. this is something that Doctors, Nurses and people that have experiences in the Prostate Cancer can help you through. There are web sights that can be searched to direct your thoughts during this time. I will try to let you know which decision in the way that my brother-in-law decides to fight the Cancer.

All of you that are getting close to 40 talk to your doctors about having your PSA checked.

LSU 38 Ohio State 24

Ohio State came out hot against LSU and got of to a 10-0 lead. That was short lived. After LSU blocked a punt, they completely took over the game. Ohio State could not stop the LSU attack and it was an uphill fight that wasn't even close. Congrats on LSU becoming the National Champions.

Ohio State has been to the National Championship two years in a row against the SEC teams. They really don't match up well with that conference. I heard today they are 0-9 against the conference.

The team will be a year older next year. Let's see how they do.

A Must Read Today

If any of my readers don't check out my art blogs you need to read Rebecca Burch's blog 'carpe you some diem' today. Rebecca had a student of hers die in a car accident before Christmas. She wrote a beautiful memorial to Laura. If you're not moved by this post you must have a lock on your heart.

Rebecca is a wonderful artist and does some great things with her students. The writing today showed an artist view of life in a special way.

Random Toughts for 2008

I was going to put down some random thoughts:

1: the weather has been strange this year. We've had two blizzards move in on the weekends. Today it was 56 F this morning and headed into the 60's F. This is a strange start to the winter.

2: The weather plays havoc with my sinuses. I like a steady temperature rather then this bouncing up and down through the temperature reading. We have had two large snows this winter and everything is melted with no signs of winter. It seems that we are going to not stay study during the winter. The next thing that happens is the spring flowers will think they should sprout.

3: The Steeler's lost their play-off game on Saturday. They looked bad during the game but came back after the half to take the lead. It's probably good they lost so I didn't have to suffer through another game. There was no consistency this year. They didn't look like they were the team they were two years ago.

4: Ohio State takes on LSU tonight. It could be a late game. That makes it really hard to stay up until the end. Sometimes when I try I just fall asleep and wake up in the night and check ESPN to get the score. I hope there is a good game tonight.

5: We have had ice on the lakes around here because of the cold spell. That should change quickly with the heat wave.

6: I need to get on with my Fish Ohio writing. The next is a special year to tell stories about. I need to do it this week for sure. It gives me satisfaction to look back over the years. I really enjoy Lake Hodgson.

7: I hope you are enjoying the CD reviews. I certainly enjoy doing them.

Willie Nelson 'Super Hits'

I was walking through Wal-Mart and looking at Cd's and saw a Willie CD called 'Super Hits'. It was on sale for $5 and had my favorite Willie and Waylon duet 'Pancho & Lefty' as one of the tracks. This ranks way up there in my favorite songs of all time close behind 'Desperado' by the Eagles. I brought it home and have really enjoy the CD.

Another of the songs I enjoy is 'Always on My Mind'. It's a classic and tells the story of not always saying what you really feel.

Who among us doesn't remember Willie's big hit 'On the Road Again'. It certainly is the story of Willies life as he travels around the country entertaining.

There is also the Ray Charles hit 'Georgia on My Mind'. I found a video with Ray playing for Willie.

When they titled it Super Hits they weren't lying. It's a great bunch of Willie hits that show his singing ability. There are 10 great hits in all at a great price.