Officially a Gumpy Old Man

[Jbworkin]

So I took my FIL to Newton on Saturday, got there early before light to get set up, things don't move very quickly with a dementia ridden individual that's getting rather bullheaded and won't take suggestions like you need to wear your bibs to stay warm...  Well i left him in the truck while I got the tent set up and the heater going, taking him out on the smitty sounded like a battle with every bump causing one new pain or another... but I finally got him in the tent and fishing, and we parked in a great spot, we had lots of perch in the area and Rich caught 3 fish on his own, which is the first in a long time, as he has become more child like due to the effects of the disease, he has lost most of his fishing skills and likes to continually move his lure out to the strike zones... Well things were going really well considering the situation and the snow storm going on outside, we even seen some bass, bluegill and two tiger musky on the camera, even though we couldn't get them to bite.. Our count was getting up to 19 or so fish when all of a sudden less than 30 feet from my tent a group of three guys and a little boy came and set up right next to us, pulling out their gasser auger drilling more than a half dozen holes, noisy as a high school band... Not that I think I have rights to the whole lake, but there were tons of open area in the exact same type spot as I was in, and they came and had to set up right on top of us.  I was not very happy.. The fish didn't like the intrusion either, we ended up only catching maybe 3 more perch after they showed up.... I guess my request would be, don't be a jerk, folks get set up early so things settle down around them so they can catch fish, if you didn't get there in time to get your favorite spot, please try a new one and be courteous... give folks some space and try to be quiet...  Okay that's my GOM speech...  Ice is still 10+ inches, the edge margins looks bad, but is still holding okay, but I expect the new snow and moisture to raise the water level some, so watch the edges, may need a plank for a few days...  Fish though abundant were small, I think I had one that might have made 9", but most were 7"ers...  I did catch one bass that looked big on the camera, but was only about 11" when it came out the hole...   Rich had fun, even though I about froze him to death by the time I got him home... Well so he kept telling me, and he was only in the weather from the heated tent to the heated truck while being pulled by the snowmobile.. which didn't take too long...  Anyway it was fun, sort of a lot of work, but turned out well... Later Jeff

Nice to still have some good guys around that are willing to take the really GOM out on the ice.  I sure hope when I get get that old that my boys will be mentally stout enough to put up with my lack of a good brain filter and waning fishing skills.  Too bad you can’t build a moat around your fishing spot or at least use your trebuchet to launch a few flaming balls at those who lack common curtesy these days. That’s what we used to do when I was a boy.