XANDER'S FISHING TRIP
Our youngest daughter, Lisa Dianne Gonzales a while back asked me to take
Xander our youngest grandson fishing and I said I would try and arrange a
fishing trip with one of my friends Robert Webster of Hamlet, NC who has a
camper and boat at Lake Tillery, NC.
Robert said he would let me know when a fishing trip would materialize being
a week or more away and Xander like to drove his Mother Lisa crazy asking
about the trip. Robert let me know that the date would be on July 27,
2019 and the day finally arrived with Xander as anxious as ever.
Xander had never been on a boat fishing before and had been bank/pond
fishing with his Dad a time or two, but they didn't have any luck.
I told Lisa, Xander's Mother that I would pick him up sometime around 5AM
the the morning of July 27, 2019 and I believe I was running about 15
minutes or more behind schedule. When I arrived at their home, Xander
was waiting and came out the door with his back pack on and a black hoodie
shirt and we headed toward highway 109N through the country on Stanback
Ferry Road. I was supposed
to turn onto Grassy Island Road, but missed my turn and Stanback Ferry Road
came to a dead end and had to back track about three (3) miles if my memory
is correct. After turning around and heading toward Grassy Island
Road, a large dog came charging from a yard and ran into the side of the car
with a large noise, of which I checked later and didn't see any evidence of
the Dog being hurt (no blood) and no dent was detected in the side of the
car. I took some serious "chin music" from Robert about going the long
way through the country to access Highway 109N, but that is normal for
Robert!
Robert wanted me to meet him at the Lilly's Bridge Access boat ramp on the
lower end of Lake Tillery off the Lilly Bridge Road and when I got there, I
gave Robert a call and he immediately gave me some serious brow beating aka
chin music for failing to call him when I left Wadesboro, NC so he would
know what time to meet us there. He had earlier told me to be at the
landing by 0630 hours and I was
a little early. Robert showed up in just a few minutes after I made
the call on a 20 dollar flip top TracFone aka
Obamaphone, therefore he had
to have been on the road a little while himself. Robert checked his
Obamaphone and said I called him at 5:53 A.M. from my Obamaphone.
It didn't take Robert long to get the trailer/boat into the water at one of
the boat ramps and we were on the lake in short order. I took a pix
early and will have to do some ciphering since my camera time was not set
properly and I didn't think to check what time the ole Timex Ironman watch
was displaying.
LILLY'S BRIDGE ACCESS AREA
I took the above pixs at the duration of our fishing trip, since the
lighting was not that great when we first put in on the lake.
CAPTAIN ROBERT WEBSTER AND XANDER
The reason Robert wanted to put in at the lower portion of Lake Tillery
was because of a bass tournament and the Swift Island Boating Access
adjacent highway 24/27 would be severely crowded with boats. Xander has
the life jacket on which is mandatory and ready to do some fishing.
Robert went up the Lake and it didn't take long before daylight made its
debut.
Xander with a little grin going.
Xander's little sister
Lily who is 2 years and 4 months old said,
"Ander go fissin on boat."
HOOKS IN THE WATER AND FISH ON
Robert stated that the past several days, the weather pattern had cooled
down and the White Perch were not biting like that had been, but we should
catch a few fish.
I planned on being the camera man and First Mate. Robert showed
Xander how the reels worked and the ins and outs of fishing from the boat.
Robert has the patience of Job for sure.
For every White Perch that was placed in the cooler, probably 8 to 10
were released to swim another day.
Robert moved around watching for bait fish on his fish finder and White
Perch breaking the water in a feeding frenzy, but the small shad wasn't
schooling near the top of the water. We watched an Osprey fly over and
he went dived down and snagged a fish on his first try and flew off with the
shad in his talons.
Robert giving Xander some one on one instruction about removing the lure from a White
Perch.
RAZOR TIME
Got a pix of Robert who could use the services of Gillette razor
blades......grin if you must!
SUNRISE ON THE LAKE
It was a wonderful sight to watch the sun come up over the tree line and
one cannot but be in awe at God our
creator who put all of this world,
above, below and set the stars, sun, moon and galaxies in motion with the
mere utterance of his Word! My camera file pix was showing 5:46 A.M.,
however sun rise was around 6:28 A.M., of which my camera time was not
correctly set.
Anyone that doesn't recognize God as our creator and Jesus Christ as our
Lord and Savior is a
fool
and destined to
spend eternity in hell.
XANDER'S FISHING CAP
Xander took some serious "chin music"
from Robert over the cap he was wearing which was the only cap that Xander
could locate. Xander has a camouflage cap somewhere. Robert told Xander he was a little too big to be wearing that
cap and needs a manly cap!
PS Xander has a camouflage cap, but he couldn't find it.
PAIR OF LARGEMOUTH BASS
It wasn't too long before Xander had a pair of Largemouth bass in the
boat caught at one time. Robert has three (3) hooks rigged up with
lures such as the Shad King and Xander later caught three White Perch at one
time. The largemouth bass were released back into the lake.
Robert said he had never
caught two largemouth bass at one time! Xander has luck!
THREE WHITE PERCH AT ONE TIME
Xander reeled in three (3) White Perch at one time and we said,
"Catching
them by the stringer full."
A good White Perch!
Xander with a "keeper" White Perch.
Xander with another "keeper" White Perch.
YOU KILLING ME
As stated, I was acting First Mate and I heard Robert not too loudly say,
"You killing me." What
triggered that statement was there were two catfish in the boat on the floor
of his boat with lines and lures all tangled up. I took a pix of the
lures and swivels all tangled up which required cutting the swivels and
lures from the two main lines:
Later in the afternoon, Robert said he had to rig up three (3) rods where
we had to cut the lures, swivels and lead sinkers from the tangled lines
.....grin if you must!
SPIRITS
I was staggering around in the boat and Robert asked me if I was back on
the spirits and I told him, "No." The light bulb came on and I
remembered that I had not taken my morning meds for blood pressure, blood
sugar, Vitamin C, Multi-Vitamin and a baby aspirin, of which I immediately
took since I had it packaged in a zip-lock type bag to take around 8 AM.
The center floor plate of Robert's boat has some series cracks in it
which will required the entire section to be replaced and it will give some
when you step on it. I guess Robert has gotten use to it and he keeps
reminding me that I was in the Navy and was never on a ship which is a fact,
therefore I guess I don't have "sea legs"
at all.........grin if you must!
BLUE CATFISH BITING PRETTY GOOD
The White Perch were not biting as they should and it didn't take too
long for Robert to ascertain that the Blue Catfish were in the immediate
area as evidenced by the ones hitting the lures for the White Perch.
Xander with a good Blue Catfish and he landed ten (10) before we headed
back to the boat landing around 10:30 A.M. Below is pix of the largest
Blue Catfish Xander caught and I took a pix of him after we exited the lake.
A total of ten (10) catfish were caught and thirteen (13) White Perch
were kept.
ROBERT TRANSFERRING FISH TO MY COOLER
As stated earlier, we left the lake around 10:30 A.M., whereas Xander was
getting a bit red from the sun and neither Robert or myself brought along
any sun screen and we didn't want Xander to get sun burned.
In closing, Xander had a wonderful time catching fish and a big
Thank You
to Robert Webster for allowing Xander to have an enjoyable fishing
experience he will never forget!
When I got back home, I filleted 8 catfish and 8 White Perch.
Robert kept 2 catfish and 5 white perch for himself.
I am planning a fish fry in the future and will let Xander help with
cooking the fish that he caught and add a few pixs to this page then and/or
create another entire page, the
Lord willing of course. Tomorrow is
promised to no one!
Web page published by Bill aka Mickey Porter on 07-27-19.
XANDER'S FISH FRY
I picked up Xander at his home on 08-17-19 before 7 AM and we had
breakfast at McDonalds here in Wadesboro. We both woofed down their
big breakfast platter which consisted of pancakes, syrup, sausage patty,
biscuit, scrambled eggs and a hash browns. McDonald was out of stock
on all types of juices, therefore Xander had bottled water and I had a black
coffee.
We stopped by BoJangles' and got my bride a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit
on the way home.
Xander went about playing games on my bride's laptop and I worked some on
the wheel chair ramp.
Lisa and Lily came up around 1ish and Xander and myself fried the catfish
filets and I did a batch of hush puppies, but opted to pan fry them and
called them hush puppy fritters. I had some potato wedges baking in
the oven and used some store bought slaw by Stoney Gap.
Xander is not much of a fish eater; he might eat a few fish sticks, but
that is about it for fish.
Below a pix of Xander breading some of the catfish filets and a pix or
two of the filets cooking in hot oil:
Those catfish filets would melt in your mouth.
Lily, Xander's sister tried some of the filets too and also some home
grown tomato slices.
I will enjoy the left over catfish filets tomorrow afternoon. Plan
to do Belgium Waffles for breakfast.
Web page updated by Bill aka Mickey Porter on 08-17-19.
LEAVING ON A
SPIRITUAL NOTE
If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please take
this moment to accept him by Faith into your Life, whereby Salvation
will be attained.
Ephesians 2:8 - 2:9 8 For by grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: 9 Not of
works, lest any man should boast.
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.”
Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by
the word of God.”
Open this
link about faith in the King James
Bible.
Romans 10:9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
Open this
link of Bible Verses About Salvation,
King James Version Bible (KJV).
Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and
sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder
of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of
the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of
God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory
of God;”
Micah 6:8 “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what
doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and
to walk humbly with thy God?”
Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which
strengtheneth me."
