Fatih and Keith's The Blind Leading The Blind Adventure begins!
Hey everyone!
For those who don't know, my name is Fatih and I am from Turkey. I started a thread about 2 months ago called "Alone in the USA for 45 days", which explains why I am coming here and how this all started.
If you have comments about the trip please post them on "Alone in The USA for 45 days" so we can keep this one for pictures, updates and stories during our travels.
Lovnlivin (Keith) from Lincoln, NE asked to join me. At first i thought "No one can keep up with my tempo as i will have infinite excitement and never want to rest. And i don't want to let someone else to decide anything for my trip". But then i saw all my worries were unnecessary. Keith has done nothing but help. And i will be saving at least 3-4 grands with his contributions(cheaper car rental, no gear i need to buy, sharing all the expenses).
He always let me decide what to do and not do and never put his thoughts to manipulate anything.
After a lot of planning, talking, changing plans, and talking some more, we will start our ultimate fishing adventure with me flying to NY from Turkey on June 1st and meeting Keith (lovnlivin) in Georgia on June 10th.
Since many of you have followed this and are interested in our adventure, this thread will be our way of keeping you up to date during our travels.
I have also brought along a lot of video equipment to make this adventure into a documentary for the people in my country and hopefully in the USA also.
Here's a schedule of what we have planned over the next 45 days.
June 1st Fatih will fly into New York and travel to NC to stay a few days with his family.
June 6h - Fatih fishing with a friend at Ware Shoals, SC.
June 6th - Keith arrives in Nashville, TN from Lincoln, NE
June 7th - 9th - Fatih meets with Basslover for some bass and catfishing near Atlanta, GA
June 7th 9th Keith meets with Yolksac in Nashville for a get together and dinner, and hopefully do some Striper fishing on Percy Priest Lake in TN.
June 10th Fatih and Keith meet in Atlanta GA and start heading towards Tavernier FL in the Keys.
June 12th Florida Keys fishing charter with Capt. Ryan fishing the wrecks, reefs and wherever else he takes us!
June 14th 2-part Fishing charter with Capt. Thadeus for Peacock Bass in the canals near Miami the first half of the day, then we fish the Everglades the second half.
June 15th 18th Were renting a houseboat for 4 days/3 nights on the St. Johns River near Jacksonville, FL and towing along a bass boat for daytime fishing.
June 18th - Meet with Bobby Rice near St. Augustine, FL for some pond fishing and fish fry!
June 19th Arrive in Pensacola, FL and spending the day fishing and exploring.
June 20th Well be treated to a fishing charter in Pensacola by a forum member Fatih met on a Florida fishing forum.
June 22nd Renting a Jon boat to fish and explore the Atchafalaya swamp river basin near Henderson, LA (yupp, with the gators! )
June 23rd 25th Meet and fish with Fireishot (Al) in E. Texas, meet with Dave Davidson and possibly Bob Lusk if he's in the area.
June 25th - Guided Striper trip on Lake Texoma (hopefully)
June 27th 28th Meeting CMM in Windsor, MO for some fishing and fun! Rainman will join us if he can.
June 28/29 Meet Rainman (if he's in the area) as we travel through St. Louis, MO
June 29th or 30th July 5th Meet with Esshup in IN and we'll be staying at his lake house and taking some time to fish and relax after a lot of driving! Scott has other plans for us as well and possibly hooking us up with a friend of his for a guided Muskie trip.
Also during this time we'll meet with Bob-O, Cecil and Bill Cody before heading to Grand Haven, MI
July 6th - Meet with JKB who will show us around and prepare us for the charter on Lake Michigan.
July 7th Fishing charter on Lake Michigan compliments of JKB, including Scott, fish n chips, Matt Rayl, Keith and myself.
July 9th Muskie Fishing charter on Lake St. Claire near Detroit with JKB, Scott, Keith and myself, compliments of Keith and myself for everything Scott and JKB have done for us!
July 11th Keith heads home from Detroit, MI.
July 13-15th Fatih will make his way back to Turkey
We will try to give daily updates and hopefully share photos of a lot of incredible places, people and fish!!!
And thank you so much to all the Pond Boss members who have done so much to help us make this happen! We couldn't have done this without you and your support!
Bocomo, sorry we'll miss you but not necessarily bad timing as you'll have some fantastic photos and stories to tell also! Have a great trip and I hope you're planning on sharing with the PBF!
Guys, i made it to NC safely. I am fishing lake Hickory right now. My fishing trip hasnt begun yet but i just couldn't stand being so close to lakes and not fishing. In 2 hours i landed 5-6 catfishes. Unbelievable. This is more than all i caught in Turkey all my life.
I can't share pictures because no internet here. I tried to do it with hotspot but T mobile wont let me do it unless i pay more. Haha. Shocking for me...
Everything is great except it is cold as winter...
I have some great footage already, I guess first episode of my documentary is ready to be edited .
This post is reserved for pics and videos of Keith trying to choke down a half dozen Olives Don't worry Keith, the ones chillin in the fridge are laced with Jalapeno
This post is reserved for pics and videos of Keith trying to choke down a half dozen Olives Don't worry Keith, the ones chillin in the fridge are laced with Jalapeno
Ha! The picture would have been priceless, the video even better! I would say I'm sorry to disappoint, but I have a feeling there will be another opportunity coming!
Well, as much as I wanted to head out first thing this morning, I was up until 1 AM adapting the PVC rack and loading and at 1 AM when I went to grab my sheets out of the dryer, realized I never started it So there was a another half hour of loading, waiting for the sheets to dry.
So much for a good night's sleep .
So here's before:
And after, working out pretty well:
Fatih, I hope all of your stuff will fit in a small grocery bag!
I should be on the road by 10 AM but now not likely to hit Nashville today, maybe St. Louis..Reexxxx????
Yolk?????
A song that comes to mind and a favorite travel song: (sorry, I don't know how to post a YouTube link like Zep did)
I think Cathy and I were the first to enjoy Keith's company at the end of his first day driving. What a great guy! Keith arrived at out home around 6:30pm and after getting lost in easy flowing conversation, we took him to our favorite Asian Buffet. A HUGE assortment of steak, seafood and American dishes.
Keith had mentioned him and Fatih will have to try crawfish while in Louisiana, but he was not sure how to easily get out the tails. This restaurant has the second best crawfish in the St Louis area too. After eating, more talking and before we know it, at 10:30 we are an hour past when the place had closed for the night. I drive him back to our place and then took him over to my man cave for him to sleep. Hopefully Yolk Sac will get to spend an evening with Keith tomorrow if Yolk's schedule will allow.
Keith on the left, me on the right...crackin craws...
Our selfie out front of Hokkaido...Cathy, Rex, Keith
So am i. Guys i finally have a chance to share some photos even though i don't take lots of photos since shooting videos is already taking all my time and it is irritating while fishing !
Today, i was with Nick(i still am). In the morning we were in Lake Russell , caught nothing. It was a bad day for every single fisher on that lake.
Then we got to Nick's pond and i landed 3 LMB(about 1 lbs each), and some good size BG's ( to use as a bait for the catfishing we will be doing tonight in lake Saluda).
By the way i am "WORN OUT" ! I did get no sleep yesterday , as my train was at 02:45 AM and i have been fishing since 7 AM . I hope i will get some sleep on the boat tonight . Honestly i did not think i would ever say "i am tired" because my excitement is just at an amazing level.
I will share my Lake Hickory and Lake Russell pictures.
Many of you may not get it but after so much going on in ones life, to be camped out in Tennessee, surrounded by a forest with trees so tall you can barely see the tops, on a dead calm night listening to John Denver Live At The Sydney Opera house is nothing short of Europhic!
Got a better spot after everyone left, still at J. Percy Priest Lake near Nashville. I'll head towards Atlanta, GA tomorrow as they're calling for a possibility of strong storms here.
Not a great fishing spot but at least I got a line in the water and it's a beautiful day!
The rod, reel and line basslover bought for me. It was very thoughtful of him. He knew i didn't want to buy any gear as Keith was bringing all the stuff and i didn't want to waste my budget on gear(i can't even take a rod back home) and he bought everything for me. Thank you very much man!
Bowfishing in Clark's Hill. A 17 pounder Carp.
Weather was not very good but we shot some(With basslover).
Catfishing in lake Oconee. It wasn't a good day. I landed a 10 pounder(photo coming soon) . But that was it...