I want to share with you this blog by Savvy Raj. Short but filled with wisdom.
Month: June 2018
A Much Needed Night on the River
Smallmouth Bass caught on the Big River. (13 and 3/4 inches long.)
Finally on June 23, I was finally able to feed my addiction, I spent the night on Big River near Leadwood, Mo. They were calling for rain both days however I only got sprinkled on a couple of times. To top things off the night sky was sporting an almost full moon.
My adventure started around 5 p.m. Saturday afternoon. I put the yak in the water and headed up river. I fished as I went along, looking for places to set my limb lines and a place to set up camp. I had opted not to take a tent and was looking for a place sheltered from the west in case a storm blew up. I finally found a perfect gravel bar that had a 10 foot bank sheltering me from the west winds so I continued up river so that I could let the current bring me back down the river. That would make it easier to fish that stretch of the river.
As I fished my way back to the camp site it started out a little disheartening. Fish didn’t seem interested in anything I had to offer. Then I caught a rock bass and even though it wasn’t very big it was a start. I ended up catching several panfish and 8 smallmouth bass under 8 inches. Then I hooked something of size and the fight was on. When using an ultralight with 4 pound test line you can’t rush things. I had no idea what it was then it came straight up out of the water and did a tail walk. It was a largemouth bass. We went back and forth for around 10 minutes and then it did its fifth tail walk, gave me a big grin and spit the lure out of his mouth and I am pretty sure he was laughing at me as he hit the water and disappeared. Damn the luck.
I made it back to the camp site, unloaded the yak and got a fire going. Now f you have never started a fire with wet wood you probably have no idea how frustrating that can be. With no fish, Vienna Sausages were on the menu. I had 7 limb lines out so I rigged up a line to fish tight line from the bank, baited with nightcrawlers. I ran my lines at 11 p.m. and all the bait was gone and no fish.
I ran the lines again and still no fish so I went back to camp. Around 15 minutes after I got in camp I heard a growl come from up on the bank. Now there are many different kinds of growls. There is the I don’t like you growl, stay away growl and the I am going to scare this old man. This growl wasn’t any of those. It was more a kick arse and take names kind of growl. I slipped over and got my 45 out of the water tight box and stood real still. After around 5 minutes, but it seemed like 5 hours, it moved on. I let out a sigh of relief and went back to fishing.
Around 3 a.m. I heard something making a racket in the direction of one of my limb lines so I shove off and head in that direction. I shine the limb that my line is tied too and the limb is shaking up and down and going in all directions. I ease up and grab the line and start pulling it in and on the either is a huge snapping turtle. It decides it wants to come aboard my yak and the fight is on. Only problem was I didn’t have room for a 30 pound snapper. I finally got him loose and headed back to camp.
As the darkness started retreating and the light started to flood the morning sky I heated up some water to pour into my MRE and made some coffee. Around 5:30 a.m. I began breaking camp and loaded the yak and headed back up the river for some fishing action. At 9:30 I heard the awfullest racket coming from downstream around a bend in the river. Finally I see several cows making their way up the river crossing the river and heading up the hill on the other side.
That was pretty much my weekend in a nutshell and what an enjoyable night it was. I needed to recharge my spirit and the adventure in nature was what I needed. I can’t wait to see what the next river adventure brings.
Thanks for reading my blog and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did my river adventure. Stay safe and spread the love.
John Muir – “Father of the National Parks
“The practical importance of the preservation of our forests is augmented by their relations to climate, soil and streams.” – John Muir
My blog today is about a man who every outdoorsman, or one who loves frequenting the National Parks, should know. He was a naturalist, environmental philosopher, glaciologist and activist for the preservation of wilderness. His name was John Muir.
John Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland, on April 21, 1838 and died December 24, 1914. He was also known as “John of the mountains” and “Father of the National Parks”. He also founded the Sierra Club. He was well known for his writing. He published two articles about Wilderness Preservation in The Century Magazine that influenced the US Congress to establish Yosemite National Park in 1890.
“Only by going alone into silence, without baggage, can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness. All other travel is mere dust and hotels and baggage and chatter.” – John Muir
The Muir family left Scotland in 1849 headed for America. They started a farm near Portage, Wisconsin. The farm was known as Fountain Lake Farm and it has been designated a National Historic Landmark. He enrolled in University of Wisconsin – Madison at the age of 22 and in 1864 moved to Canada until 1866. Indianapolis was his new home and he went to work in a wagon wheel factory.
In September of 1867 Muir began a 1,000 mile walk that started in Kentucky and ended in Florida. You can read about his journey in his book A Thousand – Mile Walk to the Gulf.
“Nature is ever at work building and pulling down, creating and destroying, keeping everything whirling and flowing, allowing no rest but in rhythmical motion, chasing everything in endless song out of one beautiful form into another.” – John Muir
John was very active his whole life trying to save the wilderness and was at home in nature. Some controversy followed him concerning some of his activism, but his love for the outdoors prevailed.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Hope you enjoyed it. Remember, spread the love.
“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” – John Muir
It’s Your Life; Who’s In Charge
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“Sometimes we make the process more complicated than we need to. We will never make a journey of a thousand miles by fretting about how long it will take or how hard it will be. We make the journey by taking each day step by step and then repeating it again and again until we reach our destination.” – David B Wirthlin
In the picture above the river represents your life and the dam represents control. Who/what controls your life.
Old cowboy saying, “A woman finds her a man she wants and says I can change him. A cowboy finds a woman he wants and says I hope she never changes.”
So many things can control your life and you may not even know. Drugs, alcohol, gambling, and sex can all become a control issue. Most of the time they are pretty obvious to your friends and family and garner a lot of attention sometimes resulting in one getting help.
There is one form of control that literally breaks my heart. Low self esteem. It can make you a prisoner in your own world. Some people don’t even realize they have it. If you were bullied in school, had abusive parents, always ridiculed and never complimented or parents that never interacted or did things with you, then you probably battle with low self esteem. Good news is that if you are, you don’t have to. With the help of some family members, friends and YOU, YOU can heal yourself.
These wildflowers are representative of a new beginning.
“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you are one that suffers from low self esteem, to beat it you have to restore your self confidence. You have to quit listening to others and believe in yourself. You are somebody. You are beautiful. You are a good person.
It’s not gong to be an easy row to hoe. You are going to have to be strong and unwavering. Create yourself a negative free environment and begin a healing process. Surround yourself with positive friends and family and seek out a good counselor. All these people will be good for you. Again I stress you have to believe in yourself and take control of your life.
For those of you that have an addiction, you will have to use a little different approach but you can get control of your life back. Surround yourself with positive people and again, find yourself a good counselor. Set realistic goals and don’t lose sight of them and don’t ever give up.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Share the love.
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