Jhap sorry for stealing part of your title!
We went to our property Saturday night for the first time since deer hunting last November. We had NO idea what to expect with the legal issues over our access road with the neighbor. When me and 2 of my daughters got there, the found the neighbor had decided to claim even MORE parts of the road and had also erected a gate at the entrance from the highway.
I checked out the gate and chuckled out loud at abundance of chains, plus I noted his home had no cars and that his travel trailer was gone. Like Jhap, I would have taken my pistol, just in case, but it was in the trailer (at least I hoped my guns were still there). Anyhoo, after asessing the joke of his newly built security system, we headed to the 24/7 Wally world for some food and assorted supplies.
Arriving back at the new gate, the new bolt cutters worked as expected and the gate was open in less than 60 seconds. I still had no idea what surprises lie ahead on the 3/8 mile road to the entrance of our property but it wasn't too bad. I was pretty glad I didn't need to use the 1/2" log chain I had brought with me to give the V-10 Ford an opportunity to flex it's muscle. Although total removal of his obstructions with extreme prejudice will be very personally satisfying, now is not the time. His gate would not even be a bad thing where it is if he had ANY carpentry or building skills. I'd post a pic of it but I fear too many hardcore Rednecks that fill their yards with old appliances and junk would kill him for embarassing them!
On the drive down the ur kind neighbor had blocked a ditch so part of the road would wash out. It was pretty rough but easily traveled in the Ford S-D which we bought for the farm to double as a tractor to pull the 14' JD disc down there for food plots. When we got to OUR gates I was a little shocked to discover that the neighbor had been kind enough to put a new lock on OUR gate. Again the bolt cutter we bought at Wally world worked well and since, unlike our neighbor, I'm NOT a thief, I placed his lock on his fence post so he would find what was left!
We could tell something had been driven on our road during our abscense, but not in several weeks. When I got to the 37' travel trailer we put there to stay in, the 3+ foot tall grass was pretty trampled at the door and a path in the general direction to the neighbors place. I could worry about the trailer later, we wanted to see the pond!
We didn't arrive at our place till well after dark so I couldn't see too much of the pond. What I COULD tell in the dark was we definately had a leak, but it only dropped the level about 3 feet so I knew now where the repairs will be needed---that's a good thing. Also, as most of you know, the exposed clay around parts of the pond have made me quite an expert on using alum due to the multiple times I've had to clear it. Last November while I was there deer hunting, I had the local Co-Op deliver and spread 10 ton of Ag Lime and even in the dark I could see the pond was MUCH clearer. Given the fact that we had gotten several large rain events in the prior 3 weeks to being there, the Lime had to be the reason for this new clarity, and it had me STOKED! All was well in the world now! (at least in mine). Not wanting to do much in the dark around the pond in case our great neighbor had been enjoying it in our absense, we headed back to the trailer.
The trailer was still locked and no damage was visible. We had expected that mice had gotten into the trailer but had never considered the sewer lines drying out. The mice had made some messes and nests, but moths and asian beetles were everywhere! I went out to the pressure tank house and turned on the water, then went back to the trailer to turn on some faucets to flush the lines of the old water when I discovered the brass stem had ruptured on the sink faucet.---No water yet. We also found that the propane/electric refrigerator/freezer no longer refrigerated or freezered anymore.
Upon opening, the 4 pounds of chicken livers normally used for CC bait, packed quite a whollup! The plastic containers had exploded like someone had tested their m-80's ----Back to Wally world for some flying insect killer, mouse poison, sink faucet, LOTS of baking soda, paper towels and TP, and Vick's menthol rub. I remembered an episode of CSI said putting the menthol in your nose and on your upper lip hid the smell of rot---it WORKS!!!
I spent the entire night doing minor repairs and cleaning out the fridge while the kids slept. In the process, I discovered the mice liked the 20 pound bag of Tecomate Food Plot seeds and had an established plot of seeds and soil under the couch/bed in the slide-out living room. This helped me discover a roof leak. No growth due to lack of sunlight though.
Now that I'd had enough fun cleaning,or maybe I was a little high from all the Vicks, the sun had just started to rise. I'd already been up 36 hours straight and was barely able to stand. Walking down the hall to my bedroom, I fearfully opened a closet I'd neglected to check yet. I expected to find more mouse damage, but I guess even mice respect a humans love for fishing. The closet was our fishing pole and tackle box storage place. Suddenly I was wide awake again and I grabbed a pole and the tackle and headed to the Pond. When Buddy, my dog, saw me pull out the pole, he started hopping like a rabbit he was so excited! We headed to the pond at first light and since it was an unusually cool morning, the fog lifting from the pond was thick. I put an old Jitterbug painted like a Cicada on and cast into the fog. I heard the lure hit the water and before I'd closed the bail on the ultralight reel, I heard a bass explode on the surface! I smiled big and reeled in a 5 inch monster!!! With the problems from turbidity, catching a LMB is very rare! Over the next hour, maybe 20 casts came up empty, but the largest bass was only about 12 inches and they were stocked 4 years ago. Obviously the are reproducing, but they are starving. I didn't catch any Blue Gill over 5 inches either and I have seen hundreds over 8 inches so I fear we had a big kill since the feeder and aerator have been off since last October. What was really nice about the pond was the water had about 12-14 inches of clarity and not a hint of FA. I still don't have ANY submerged plant growth though, I did not find a single plant. Even if I have to drain the pond to re-work the clay,I now know the end is in sight for getting the pond right. Reading this forum has taught me all the things I did wrong at the start, but it has also taught me everything to make it work too! Thanks guys and gals!
Before we headed down, I'd PM'd one of our newer members, theMoMule, because he had a place in the same county as mine and I had hopes we could meet up. David called me and came over late that morning. We walked the pond and and chatted about things I'd done on the place and all kinds of other things and made plans to meet later for lunch then go to his property.
After lunch, my girls and I hopped into Davids SUV and headed the short distance to his place. He had told me in some PM's that he was wanting to do something with the spring he has. What he DIDN'T tell me was that the spring emerging from a cave, is absolutely incredible! Not a massive water flow, but the cave enterance is huge! About 25 feet wide and 15-20 feet tall. about a 25 foot wide stream, 2 feet deep flows from the entrance into a small pool he has dammed up to divert the flow for drying a future pond site. The local beaver decided the stream needed the 2 foot depth so after David and the beaver argued over the dam, the beaver built a dam David can live with.
I'd love to say more about his place and the beaver, but that's Davids domain. I sure hope he finds the time to tell all of us! I hope he will take some pictures and post a thread here about his plans and dreams for his place. The beauty of his place and the potential are breathtaking!
After parting ways with our new friend, and an offer of a future flaot trip and cave exploration, the girls and I headed back to our place just 20 minutes away. The girls were itching to get some fishing lines wet. What kind of Dad can refuse THAT? They had gone to the pond earlier, but had little success trying to catch gills. They wanted to catfish and didn't know I had bought some fresh liver at the last run to Wally world, and they thought I was pretty cool after I told them I had!
We had been catching several CC when, my 16 year old asked to drive the truck back to the trailer to get something. We were all having such a good time that I didn't even care when she ran over the brand new trolling motor and battery that was laying by the leaking bass buster boat. She feared the wrath of Dad when I picked up what was left of the motor, but the confused look of relief on her face was priceless when I just shrugged my shoulders. She's apologized at least 50 times. I think she may realize i really don't care that she ruined it.
We fished till twilight and caught several nice CC. My 15 year old also caught several BG and LMB. I took one BG she caught about 3 inches long and it wasn't 20 seconds before I reeled in a nice 3 pound CC. Another priceless look on their faces!
The only sad thing about this trip was the very low numbers of YOY, not seeing ANY sign of larger BG, and the obvious very low Wr of the LMB and CC. These downers where far out shined by the kids hooking CC that easily snapped the 6 pound test Berkely Firewire lines, the HUGE improvement in clarity, lack of FA, and most of all, quelling all the fears of what the ashhole neighbor might have done to our place while we have been away.
No doubt the neigbor will get more creative in his attempts to block us access to our place, but who knows. He is certainly not a very bright fellow and now that I have recovered the .40 S&W along with the other firearms I kept there, there will be less concern if he decides he wants a confrontation, but we can always hope he the guy develops a brain after 55 years.
Here are a few pictures of the day.
A oouple of the skinny, stunted bass. The FIRST time I have caught fish that at least have SOME color! About 8" and 10" as the morning fog was lifting. PEACEFULL!!!
A shot of the exposed area of clay and the suspected leak.
A few of the CC the girls caught. Erin (left) and Emily's smiles are almost as big as mine was this weekend. Buddy was pretty impressed and happy to be back on the land!
Life is getting good at R&S ranch!!!
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