Last night we saw the Texas Rangers stomp the Oakland Athletics 7-4 and retain their lead in the AL West. The A's were — and still are — in second place. I've got a friend who has season tickets, and he was nice enough to let us use them in his absence last night. Little Alton was with me along with his good buddy Tim Weatherly and his brother. Tim wants everyone to know that he and Little A are both single. Imagine that!
A really cool thing happened while we were there, too. During the 7th inning stretch, six people in my section lined up and asked for my autograph right there in the ballpark. Then I could hear others around me begin to ask, "Who is that guy? Is he a movie star?" Several of them came to get my autograph too, just so they wouldn't miss out on anything. They didn't have a clue who I was! Winning the Classic really does make you more recognizable, no matter where you are.
This past weekend we went over to some private lakes in east Texas and had a really good time, but it didn't start out all that great. I went into the boathouse to get a fish basket and when I went out to the dock to hang it over, out come wasps to sting me and the dog! However, things definitely went uphill from there. We fished for a little more than an hour and caught 20, with the biggest about 4 1/2. Nothing giant, but a lot of quality 2- to 4-pound bass. We caught most cranking and a few on a ribbontail worm. They were starting to school a little bit, so that was fun.
We also saw a bunch of alligators, which is a cool thing for the girls. Little Alton and I see a bunch of them, but my daughter and her friends enjoyed it. They're really making a comeback over there. We saw 16 or so, and it was really cool watching them. It's kind of a novelty. They're fun to watch.
However, the real excitement begins in a week or so. They're finally opening Lake Falcon back up. Tuesday morning at 8:30. The Coast Guard is the one who shut it down. That really hurt a lot of local businesses. Zapata thrives on the fishing community. When the lake is closed, the economy comes to a screeching halt. Everyone's really excited about it re-opening. I'm planning a trip next week, so hopefully I'll have a report for everyone. It'll be new territory for me as I've never fished it at full pool. I'll give everyone an update on the state of the lake and the fishing in the next blog. I can't wait to get down there. It's what I've wanted to do most this offseason.