Let's see, where were we?
Ah, a follow up on the North Carolina trip.
Before that, Debbie's tooth...the antibiotic worked, the swelling went down and we have an appointment scheduled for her on July 28, in...you guessed it, Lincoln, Nebraska with the famous Dr. Bruce Condello, full time pondmeister and grower of giant bluegills and part time dentist. Why in the world would we pay $4 a gallon for gas to drive 600 miles to see the dentist? Because Debbie loves him, that's why. Besides, what's your wife's comfort worth? Everyone else buys jewelry, diamonds and gold. I buy fillings and happiness.
Will shoot photos of that adventure...only you folks would want to read about Debbie's trip to the dentist.
But, back to the world of the Pond Boss and his travels and travails.
Debbie and I left in the manly Dodge 3/4 ton diesel truck on June 22. Yes, I wanted to leave around 5ish in the morning. She didn't. I compromised and we left at 2:20 in the afternoon. Geez, 1200 miles to go, must be there by 5 Monday afternoon and we wait until mid-afternoon. Oh well, it worked...sorta. We headed east and passed through Jackson, Mississippi about Ewest's bedtime, so we didn't want to bother him or his bride, Ruth. We made it to Meridian, Ms and caught a few winks.
Does it bother anyone else to pay $80-90 for a hotel room for six hours?
You asked me, "Why did you drive?" Good question. I like a long road trip two or three times a year. First off, we turn it into a mini-vacation.
Second, it's some of the only "alone" time I get, and some of my best thinking is done behind the wheel, watching the windshield and the white lines fly by.
And, I also knew we would be gone a good 14 days and I wanted my truck, not some little rental car with a vacuum cleaner engine in it.
Besides, being a guy, I knew we could haul some stuff if we needed to.
We arrived Laurel Hill, North Carolina late afternoon on Monday and met up with Gene Jensen, our new friend met via
http://www.bassresource.com. Gene is an avid fisherman and I had asked him to hang out with us and look at being a guide at Richmond Mill Lake.
Here's the scoop on Richmond Mill. The Morgan Company, with Jim Morgan at the helm, has started a new business formulated after three years of prayer, thought and analysis...lots of analysis...and lots of prayer.
It's a novel concept but one which looks like it will work. He is using his lake and some proprietary management strategies to create a pretty good fishery as a focal point to attract clients. The mission of the King Fisher Society is to provide a warm, relaxing environment to bring your best clients to build or further relationships. With guided fishing trips, all the equipment and followed with five star food and live jazz music on the deck, Jim has a recipe that already swept a number of people off their feet.
Several months ago, Jim had scheduled a good size fishing tournament. Being a Wake Forest alum, Jim spends a fair amount of time and energy assisting the university...from supporting some medical programs and some of the athletics, to sitting on committees and boards.
This tournament on Tuesday pitted the football coaches against the athletic department. 14 people fished the tourney in 6 boats. Each boat could keep 5 fish and cull twice. In other words, they could put only 5 fish into the live well and could replace two of the smaller fish with two larger ones. And, as a kicker, we told them they could have a third cull, but their weight total would be docked a full pound.
Jim hired a camera crew to shoot the entire thing and create a marketing dvd for the King Fisher Society. If you want to know more about the program and business, go to
http://www.kingfishersociety.com and check it out. If you want to see some vignettes we shot a month or so ago at Richmond Mill Lake, go to
http://www.bass-maxx.com and click on my mug. You'll get an idea what's going on there.
The tournament was a blast. The winning team won by less than a pound and the biggest fish was about 5.25...pretty large for this young fishery.
Here's an interesting side bar...the young man who caught the largest fish was in the winning boat. I was in charge of the weighin and afterwards I interviewed him. (Almost all the anglers who come to King Fisher are novices.) I asked him what he caught the big fish on and he didn't remember. I asked him if he had fished before and he said "Yes, once...in Texas." I asked him where he fished and he didn't remember.
Now, we were all up around the lodge, enjoying drinks and fingerfoods (Five star fingerfoods, mind you) and the conversations were rolling. The happiness level was fever pitch and I was hearing all kinds of stories. Each boat had caught at least 60 bass and some had caught upwards of 100 during the 5 hour tourney.
Then, the young man with the largest fish came to me and told me the only other time he had fished was in a pond in Dorchester, Texas. He had called his buddy who reminded him where and when. It seems his only other fishing trip was at Phillip Wildman's place north of Dallas, Texas. I about fell on the floor. I know Phillip and had stocked the very pond this North Carolinian had fished. Small world.
On Wednesday, we cleaned and organized boats, tackle, equipment and food. Toward the end of the day, Jim's cell phone rang. He didn't answer it. I probably would have chosen to let it ring, too, since he was in the boat, sampling. Well, sorta sampling. Everyone else might call it fishing.
But, the same guy rang twice more and Jim picked up.
It was a fellow he has been building a relationship with and the guy was excited. Seems he just got a call from one of his client friends who had a client in town who would love to fish.
They were talking over cocktails at the hotel at Pinehurst and this client made mention that he had a few hours the next day and would love to fish. Well, they knew who to call.
Jim was excited..."can we get a guide, food and musicians?" One phone call and the food was in check. Musicians? Check! What about a guide? Too short a notice. So, I raised my hand and we were on for a world class visit in less than 12 hours.
Our two guests arrived at 7 a.m. the next morning and we had everything ready to go.
Two folks came to the dock, I was introduced and off we went. for a morning of bass fishing on Richmond Mill Lake.
Guest number one was Donna...her husband couldn't make it, but she wanted their client, guest number two, to have a great adventure and time.
His name? R.J. Harper, the man in charge of golf operations in Pebble Beach, California. He was at Pinehurst on business, had some time and wanted to fish.
As you can imagine, his time is limited and he stays focused on business...a lot.
The first hour was fun. He was a little tense, but 10 or 12 bass began to loosen him up.
Donna caught some fish, and we were beginning to find a pattern. R.J. was a pretty good fisherman and for Donna it was like riding a bike. A few casts and she was throwing like she had done it forever.
Another side note...my 15-55mm camera lense passed away on the shores of Lac LaCroix, Canada in June and I had not replaced it by the time I had to go to N.C., so I don't have any photos for this thread. But, I bought a lense and am back in the photo saddle again.
By the second hour, both anglers were loosening up and start to laugh a little bit. By the third hour, they had boated and released a total of 70 fish and were almost giddy and were giggling like little kids. By the fourth hour, R.J. and I were singing rock songs from the 70's and most of the bark of his left thumb was gone and he was bleeding. It was a beautiful sight to behold.
Now, approaching lunch, from across the lake, R.J. saw a man in a white coat. While some might have thought that could be the guy from the funny farm, R.J. recognized immediately a chef. He asked, "Is that a chef?" I grinned and said, "Yessir, that's YOUR chef!" He just shook his head, grinned ear to ear and tossed another wacky rigged senko and set the hook on a two pound bass.
We had another 20 minutes before lunch and had counted 85 bass. It was a surreal day, almost insane they way they were catching fish. It had to be an anomaly.
But, I challenged them to hit 100...that meant they needed 15 fish in 20 minutes. I drove the boat to an area where I thought they had a chance and sure enough, they were at 96 with two minutes. Each caught one, then they finished with a double. 100 bass in less than 5 hours on that lake! Stunning, ridiculous, but huge, huge fun for these two great people. I rather enjoyed watching them myself.
They had a great lunch and I am sure have told their stories to all their friends.
We stayed in NC until July 2, when we started our way back in a more leisurely fashion. We took the north route and stopped at many places over the next two days. We bought fresh peaches in western NC, went through the mountains and visited briefly in Asheville. Then, we made our way into eastern Tennessee and traveled westward. We spent the night 30 miles east of Nashville and enjoyed a bottle of red wine and a sunset next to the hotel pool. The next day we made our way through Nashville, did a couple of fast turista things there and continued westward, stopping in Memphis at a BassPro Shops of all places. We shopped a bit, traveled a bit, stopped and made our way through Little Rock and homeward. Got home at a reasonable time and then spent July 4 with family at LL,2, where we shot off fireworks and had a nice cookout with the grandpeeps.
Then, we turned our complete attention to the conference...so I'll move onward to that thread for you....look for it, next. I do have a few photos of that and will share.
Fish on....
Oh, looky...I did find a few photos of NC fish.
Typical bass caught during this trip.
One of the tournament anglers...first time to fish and her team won. Her boat was within ounces of the largest creel.
Cool fish. I caught it on a small spinnerbait similar to a Mepp's minnow. It's called a "Flier" sunfish.
