The thing that has taken up most of my time this past week has been a cold. They say that summer colds are the worst ones you can get, and I’m starting to believe that. I’m a week into it, and on the downhill side, but still under the weather. There were a few days when I didn’t feel like doing anything at all, but, I did have something to do. I was in Terrell, Texas, for a speaking engagement.
It went really well considering I was heavily medicated for my voice. I’ll also be speaking tonight in central Texas and again later next week. Speaking is one of my favorite things to do in the offseason. There are many parallels between fishing and what the Lord’s doing in my life. One example I use involves my electronics.
They help me look and see the unknown world under the water, and provide a trustworthy picture. It’s useful data if I follow it. I correlate that to the Bible. God has given us His word for navigating a world full of mysteries. If we live by the principles that He lays out in the Bible, it’s trustworthy and beneficial.
Little Alton and I attended the Legacy Outfitters fundraising banquet where they auction off a bunch of really cool fishing trips. One item that was auctioned off was a trip with me and former Dallas Cowboys superstar Randy White. We got a pretty penny for it, so it was a lot of fun. Plus, I bought Little Alton a thermal hog hunt. What it is is a nighttime hunt with thermal imaging scopes. He’s going to take a friend, and I bet it’ll be a hoot. Once they get that trip over with I’ll let you all now how it was. I'm eager to find out myself.
Now I’m planning my next tip to Falcon. The next trip that I know of that’ll be down there is coming up in October; it’s my annual charity event that benefits LifeLine Youth and Family Services. It’s called Fish with the Pros. This will be the first time that it’s ever been at Falcon, so I’m confident that it’ll be the best event we’ve ever had.
We started it at private lake in east Texas a number of years ago, then for the past two years it was at Lake Amistad, which was a step up from the private lakes, but this year we’re going to Falcon. It should be a real eye-opening experience for the guys who are coming. A lot of them are from up north, so I’d wager that 90 percent of them will catch their biggest bass several times over.
The puppies continues to grow, and not only do they get cuter every day, but they get more active as well. They’ve gotten to where we’ve had to put a half door on the whelping box, or they come piling right out. Their eyes are open, they’re playful and they can make a big mess really quick. They’re becoming a lot more fun and more work at the same time.
I’m also beginning to get my Classic preparation in order. I haven’t started doing tackle and such, but as I think about baits and things that I want to try I jot them down. That way if I get a great idea, I won't forget about it. I’ll probably wait until it cools down a bit to make a prefishing scouting trip. I think November will be about right.
In the meantime, I’ll be fishing a couple fall tournaments. It’s hard for me to stay away from tournament fishing.