Back in Tennessee

After a nice few days in Oklahoma visiting relatives, fishing, and being lazy, I'm finally back in Tennessee. I spent parts of several days fishing in the creek and had a good time catching plenty of panfish and a few small bass. Unfortunately, the gar never cooperated and neither did the carp I spotted during the last afternoon of fishing. The last day was strictly dedicated to fly fishing which I felt would provide the best opportunity to catch the gar. Of course, the fish would have to choose to not show up the last day until just before quittin' time. A few fruitless casts later, the gar vanished for good. Oh well, there is always next time.

Anyway, enough rambling. I took lots of pictures over the last few days and thought I would share a few, some of the fishing and of course, other random pictures. On the way out, we took the "Missouri" route which takes us across the southern portion of the state. We crossed the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and noted that shipping is alive and well on both rivers.



The trip out was uneventful and we were glad to arrive at our destination in the Bartlesville vicinity. Our first full day there was absolutely gorgeous and a prime example of why the plains states are so nice to visit this time of year. Late spring in Oklahoma brings some of the most vivid colors to be found anywhere with the greens of the prairie stretching away for miles.

The oil business seemed to be doing just fine, a fact I'm sure President Bush and Vice President Cheney are far too happy about.

One of the sure signs of the season, a young warbler of some sort was seen leaving the nest and held still long enough for this closeup.

A few hours later the whole family had disappeared into the brush, the only clue of their presence the chirping of the young ones.

Of course, I know everyone is probably here to read about fishing. As mentioned in a previous post, the first day or two was relatively unproductive but then things picked up nicely. The first day of fishing was strictly with a spinning rod as the creek was still awfully muddy and the small spinnerbaits did a much better job at drawing fish then any of my flies and popping bugs.

As soon as I started fishing the small spinner, I was into fish like this one. A few were smaller and a few larger but most were around this size. They provided a lot of fun and were a whole lot easier to catch than trout, not a type of fishing I do every day but a good time regardless. That finishes the first couple of days of the trip. There are lots more pictures to come including of the small stream bass I managed to fool and the copperhead I found on a lonely country road one evening. Check back soon!!!