Grand Isle

What a neat place. Gran Isle is just outside of the slew and off the north end of Bird Island. The couple that bought it have planted palm trees and palm fans. There is a hammock, a pirate flag, tiki torches, a fire pit, and even buried treasure. Makes you feel good to go there. (see July 2009 issue of Lakeside Magazine)

Shaking off the Winter Covers

February 16th and it made it to 65 degrees in Pell City. It was a fine day to pump out the rainwater from the boat and get ready for some early spring crappie fishing. So Edward and Paul and I set out to work at the lake.

Funny to the boys but a boat 3/4 filled with water and a 75 lb battery and a man my size on the bow.... well it won't float. SO I am standing there with all that water rushing to my end of the boat and it is going down. There was nothing that I could do but step back and out of the boat. I am standing in 2 feet of water with the kids laughing at me. As soon as the I could get to the hose end of the pump, I got my revenge on them for laughing. I hope it is a good memory for them.

We took a trip to bird island. Someone has put a travel trailer on the island. I assume that was accomplished when the lake got so low over the late fall and early winter. I wish them luck but that island will flood and I see no way for the travel trailer to be removed at this point in time.

We watched a movie and left before dark.

There was a time in my life that I would fish year round and weather did not bother me. I thought that having a lake place would make it easier to fish thru the winter but this year did not work out. Low water conditions made it difficult to get the boat in the water. Work and travel and holidays, and of course the Disney trip really took me away. But I hope to spend more time on the water this spring.

Fish Lies

A neighbor says that the lake is so low that he caught a fish that was sunburned. Pretty funny, huh?

My trip on the 22nd of July was to finish up some cleanup:

1. pressure washing the porch and trailer

2. finish up some airconditioner work

3. rearrange the living room

4. cleanup inside and kill ants

Gunther and I took a sunset cruise around the island. The water is very low at the entrance to part of the slough between the island and the public campground. I had to paddle through to open waters. The goat on bird island came out to see us and Gunther could not understand why we could not bring him with us.

Fishing off the peir was not good at all. Paul had been invited and I was glad that he did not join me on a strike out night. I don't know if it was the phase of the moon or the weather changes, but one small catfish was all that I caught. But it was a relaxed sitting on the peir evening.

And then, Monday morning was mainly work around the trailer. I left after lunch to come home to money making work.

Fish Fest

Yes they were biting big time on this Sunday night. I sat on the pier and went thru a box of redworms in two hours. I fished with a new ultralight rig and a light weight open reel. It was a nice 72 degree evening after the rains stopped. We are coming off of a full moon and I caught bream, catfish, and one smallmouth bass that went a good two pounds. I really believe that the spot light that I shine down into the water off of the pier seems to help. There was not much boat activity on a late Sunday evening. A few pontoons came by and my Tuscaloosa neighbors were running their seadoo. I left at 9:30 to comeback for a work day. Hope to make it over on the 4th of July.

Goats on Bird Island

June 10th- Not that I need a reason to spend the night at the lake but I did have a 9:00am appointment with a bank in Pell City that gave me an excuse to spend a Sunday night alone. Yes alone! No Gunther. It was different. I did not have to worry about him bothering neighbors or worry about leaving him in the car to shop for groceries or fish bait. It was just me and the goats.

Around 6:00 I spotted two goats across the slew and they were standing at the east end of Bird Island. So I got in the boat and went over to take some pictures. The seem pretty tame in they came back out of the high grass when I whistled for them. It is a male and female and no babies that I have seen so far. There is plenty of vegitation on the island to eat and of course they are surrounded with water.

I fished off of the dock till about 10 and enjoyed the cool of the evening and the lake breeze and the stars. That is one of my favorite times of the day when the boating dies down and you hear all of the night creatures and the temperature is comfortable. I tight lined with night crawlers as bait and kept loosing bait but caught no catfish.

Monday morning I was on the water at 5:30 and fished till almost 7:00. I caught nothing but enjoyed a pot of coffee and the slow trolling and a gorgeous sunrise.

After a breakfast cooked out on the porch, I cleaned up the trailer and dressed and headed to my appointment.

Even after a few months I still don't have sleeping down good at the lake. Since I go over once a week, I tend to stay up late and get up early. I am trying to take as much in as I can and the results is that I come home sleepy. I am going to work on that.

Drought Conditions Continue

Logan Martin Lake

Current Lake ConditionsDate: 2007-06-03

Hour Ending: 20:00

Lake Elevation462.05 Feet
Lake Condition Messages
Effective—2007-05-30 15:06Boatowners alert! Reservoir to drop due to extreme drought conditions. Logan Martin is expected to drop to 461 by June 15.

Special Operations Message
Effective—2007-05-30 15:06Record drought conditons across Alabama are expected to persist. Streams that feed our lakes are at the lowest levels ever recorded for this time of year. Alabama Power continues to work with local, state and federal agencies to try to mitigate the impacts of this unprecedented drought.

June 3rd- We went over for some sun and lunch and to show Elizabeth the lake place. She did some laying out and we grilled burgers. Daniel had some bream fingerlings in the minnow trap and caught a nice largemouth bass off of the end of the peir.

The rain came in around 3:45 but did not deter Daniel's fishing. We sat on the porch and watched the rain come in and enjoyed the sound on the tin roof. It lasted about 20 minutes and then it got sticky hot. Packed up and got back home at 5:30 inorder to allow time to get ready for another work week. We need rain.

Memorial Day Weekend 2007

Although Lucy was there to add the girlie touch, this was a grandson weekend. Paul and Edward had been wanting an overnight camping trip for some time now and this seemed to be the perfect time. School is out and Pop did not have much work to do during the summer months and it was a holiday.

The family went to Powell's Circle on Sunday for a get together and have some play time. With the afternoon temperature approaching 90 degrees it was a perfect time to take a swim in the lake. I inflated two inner tubes and Paul had never heard of such thing as an inner tube. But he quickly caught on to how to use them. Sorry I don't have my picture in the floating chair but that was cool.

I have to say something about boiled peanuts. It is a family thing for us. Kay had just returned from Gulf Shores and stocked up on green peanuts. I figured out why we like them and some people don't. If you are from South Alabama you probably do like boiled peanuts. If you are from north of Montgomery you may or may not like boiled peanuts. South Alabama people grew up in peanut country. But I have come to realize it is not so much the taste as the memories associated with cooking and eating boiled peanuts. Let talk about the cooking part. You have got to have a big boiler for cooking. And you have got to have free time....... a few hours or so. The water amount is not critical but the amount of salt is important. And since they have to be slow boiled the aroma lingers or slaps you in the face when you walk in the house. Now think about it. Free time is often a holiday or a beach trip and it is family time for kids growing up in peanut country. Naturally that captures pleasant memories that can be brough back everytime you smell peanuts boiling. For me it is beach memories. Peanuts starting to boil early in the morning; sneaking a few green peanuts from the boiler as if they may be ready in ten minutes; coming back in from the hot beach to a cold condo and smelling those peanuts; having another test taste knowing they still have an hour to cook; sitting at poolside and watching the waves over a stack of peanut hulls; downing a cold drink to go with the salty taste; and of course sharing with the family cause you know you have eaten too many anyway. On this particular Sunday, boiled peanuts was our appetizer.

Supper was grilled chicken with tangy bar-b-que sauce, boiled corn, slaw with John's dressing, baked Italian bread... and for dessert... somores. We roasted marshmellow and squooshed them between two graham crackers with a pat of Hershey's chocolate layed between. Good stuff?

In the cool of the evening I took the kids exploring on what we are calling Goat Island. There are two goat and 45,000 birds living on that island. Rumor is that is owned by some mysterious old man and you are not suppose to set foot on it. Well that right there makes it tempting. We had found a floating glass bottle with no message inside so it became our container for live creatures that were captured on the beach if the island. Lots of shells, a huge feather, a small fluffy white feather, and some unkown chained leash and we were on our way again.

We got back to the trailer right at dark and built a campfire. Boys love that you know. The light. The wamth. The experimenting to see what will burn the best. I was glad that Lucy stayed long enough for the campfire but then she was on her way with her mom and Kay to leave us boys there to fish and camp.

Fishing off of the peir was good with redworms as bait. Oh but first the fireworks story. I had drilled holes at an angle into a 3 feet long 4X4 to be used as a bottle rocket launcher. Why angled? To have the bottle rockets go out over the lake rather that back into the lawns that had dry grass and pinestraw. Well we launched all 144 bottled rockets over an hour period. Did you know that they continue to burn and run like a torpedo and explode under water? Hilarious.

Paul and I fished till around 11pm and caught bream and catfish. He was really proud of himself. He really got into baiting his own hook and taking caught fish off of his hook. Of course he wanted to instruct his older brother on how to do it.

Paul, Edward, and Pop slept outside in a tent. I retired to the back bedroom of the trailer. I sleep well at the lake but try to crowd too much fun time into a day and wind up without enough sleep. I was up at 4:45 making coffee and at 5:45 was on the lake to troll.

At seven the boys were up and we had breakfast. Soon afterward as I was cleaning up, I heard Paul yell to Pop that he had caught a catfish. I was proud of his dedication and success at fishing.

I got back home at 11 and had work to do in preparation for this week. When you have your own business it is "Relish today. Ketchup tomorrow." The work does not stop for a holiday.