A Morning with Caleb

Caleb, my great-nephew found some spare time in his busy schedule to spend a morning fishing a special section of a local stream with me. There was a time when I baited his hook, unhooked his fish, and even carried him across the deeper parts of the river on my back. Now at 16 he can look me in the eye without looking up and wear my old wading shoes :).

Even a lowly Rockbass can put a smile on a true fisherman's face.

Here's Caleb fishing the "Enchanted Pool". This section of water has produced some nice fish in past years but this time we came up empty.

A couple of pics of the water we fished. It's a popular trout stream farther upstream but few fishermen bother with it's lower stretches and that's just fine with me.

We did find a few smallies that were too hungry to refuse our offerings.

All in all another enjoyable morning on the water making memories to relive in years to come.

An Afternoon on the River

Got away for a couple of hours for some smallmouth fishing. After making my way down a steep ridge along a faint trail this stretch of river was all mine.

Caught some Rock Bass and Smallies including a fat 13 incher, but neglected to take any pics. When I pulled in this feisty sunfish I snapped a quick pic.

The sycamores bear the wounds of past ice flows as they cling precariously to the river bank.

Some finally give in to gravity.

A cluster of yellow butterflies that caught my attention.

As I approached a small island I remembered nearly stepping on a fawn hidden in the sycamore saplings several years ago. The saplings are taller now but as I waded nearer a brown spot looked out of place.

I focused the little point and shoot camera on the spot and cranked up the zoom lens and this appeared.

As I inched my way closer the fawn stood up and came out of the saplings, unsure of just what this strange thing wading up the river was.

As is often the case I soon spotted another fawn hidden in the cover. This one had learned its lessons well and remained motionless.
After a couple of pics I decided to reversed my path and let the fawns settle back into their hiding place to wait for mothers return. So ended an enjoyable afternoon on the river with some fish caught and some pics of my encounters to share with you.

A Fruitful Walk

A walk around the Back 40 revealed a nice crop of soft mast for fall. These are wild plums on some trees I planted 6 or 7 years ago. A Seckel pear tree fruiting for the 1st time. Hopefully the bear won't break it down if they spy it's fruit.

A close-up of the Seckel pears.


The wild blackberrys are looking good. Maybe they will keep the bears busy.

An apple on a grafted "Sherry" apple tree. This variety is noted for its fruit hanging on the tree all winter.

The Paw Paw trees are heavy with clusters of fruit.

I get a great feeling of satisfaction when I see a tree that I planted years earlier setting fruit and knowing that it will still be producing long after I'm gone.