Yakking with my son

 I am so old that trying new things seems pointless. I can barely do many things that used to be simple and enjoyable. When my son, Scott, initially proposed that I join him kayaking, I refused. I had several bad experiences on canoes when I was much younger. I figured getting closer to the water in a kayak was just asking to get drenched. He had purchased kayaks for both of his daughters and himself.

Scott persisted over the last two years. He also frequently took his kayak out fishing and was enjoying lots of success. The rivers around San Antonio are not large. They are more like creeks and are perfect for a small craft like a kayak. San Antonio doesn't get much wind either so the kayak shallow draft isn't much of a problem. 

Scott's kayak is sit-on not sit-in. His daughters have sit-in kayaks which require you to get wet. This last year Scott bought a bigger sit-on kayak because he got tired of "getting his butt wet". He did more exploring for places to fish that were not heavily frequented. He had really good results from his kayak exploring.

When we arrived in Texas, he again shared his desire for me to go fishing with him in a kayak. After hearing again about his fishing success, I relented and agreed to try. The first trip was on Columbus Day to New Braunfels on the Guadalupe River. This river is used by many for float trips, but this Monday holiday found it not busy. This was a good place for an old rookie to get his "yakkin" in.

Scott  put me in his new bigger kayak. I paddled around to get the feel. It wasn't too hard, but there was virtually no current or wind. We also avoided the rapids. We tried fishing but had no luck. It was successful in that I didn't dump the kayak.

This past Sunday, Scott took me on an adventure. He said he wanted to catch fish this time so we were heading to his most recent successful exploration. He had ordered me some water shoes to wear while kayaking. The "river" we were heading to was the Nueces River which was just outside of Uvalde Texas. Yes, that Uvalde.

We did go through part of the town, but it was a brief drive and didn't include any schools or the downtown area.  There were plenty of signs along the way, "Pray for Uvalde" and "Uvalde Strong".

Scott explained the Nueces River had at one time been the border between Texas and Mexico. This was before Texas was admitted to the union. He also said this river had several rapids we would need to navigate. We would start by going upstream. It also had a current. All of this would be a new experience for his slow moving and unstable father.

We put in and the first thing I noticed was the current was making it more  difficult to steer straight. It wasn't a strong current, just more than I had experienced on my  earlier trip.  We reached the first shallow water or "rapids" in a few hundred yards. I wasn't able to get through and was unable to pull the kayak up the rapids. Scott kindly told me to walk around and he would  pull both kayaks up stream. The water shoes I was swearing were no support on the rocks and I was barely able to walk. I struggled just to walk but I made it without falling. He parked my kayak and went back for his.

We paddled up to the next rapids, and again I had to get out and rely on Scott to drag up the kayaks. We reached the fishing area. To my surprise Scott said we were going to bank fish.

I threw my Texas rigged rubber lizard and had a fish on the first cast. It was a large mouth bass.

 The next cast was even better with a channel cat. Unfortunately it released its bowels as I took it off the hook.

Fishing got more interesting as I hooked two Guadalupe bass in succession. The second one was about 3 lbs. Guadalupe bass are a beautiful hybrid with broken lateral line and an spotted bellies. I have only seen them in Texas.

Not to be outdone by his father, my guide got his own Guadalupe.

We caught several smaller fish and were able to catch on multiple lures. I tired from standing and we eventually had worked the area enough that the fish stopped biting. The sun came out and the temperature rose so we decided to paddle home. Scott thought we might be able to float the rapids going downstream. He told me to follow him, but there was not enough water flow to get us over the  rocks. He rescued me again and took the kayaks through while I walked around. 

It was an enjoyable experience and I cannot thank Scott enough. Even if we don't catch fish, "yakkin" with Scott is a blast. I just might have to try this again. 

Fishing with my brothers

 The last weekend of September was a unique experience. Unique in that 4 of the 5 Laleman brothers were in the same location at the same time. This is a rare occurrence because we don't live in the same towns and we don't travel together. What is even rarer is that most of us were fishing. The last time 4 of us did that was the ill fated fishing trip that put us in the Shangri-la Hotel is eastern Kentucky (see Shangri-la  January 2016). 

Brother Jeff was able to join us for this adventure, but he doesn't fish, so Jeff drove the boat. Brother Steve, wasn't able to join us as he was with his family visiting from North Carolina and actually catching fish at his nicely stocked farm ponds. 

This adventure was planned by my brother, Tim. He wanted to rent a pontoon boat so my older brother, Ron, would be able to join in. Ron isn't as mobile as he was when our cousins nick named him "Two Shoe". Getting in and out of fishing boat takes some maneuverability and flexibility that is becoming becoming more difficult as we age. 

We originally planned this trip in June when all 5 of us could attend. You remember this past June, when the heat index  regularly reached over 100 degrees? We (that is Ron) said it wasn't going to happen in that heat, so I rescheduled for September when the weather would be better. Better weather includes cold and rain, but who's complaining. The pontoon boat had a canopy that two of us could fit under. One was the driver, Jeff, and the other was not Tim or me. So Tim and I got wet.

This adventure took place at Evergreen Lake, my favorite place to not catch fish. I don't catch fish there multiple times each summer, usually with my principal buddies Don and Paul.

We fished the area near where the pontoon was docked. This wasn't my favorite area to fish, but it was raining so we wanted to stay close. Tim is the "almost professional" in my family. I call him that because he fishes tournaments and even wins sometimes. 

Of course Tim caught the first fish.

I told him to hold it closer to the camera, but he didn't want to get too far from his beer. Correction, beer isn't legal on Evergreen, so I will call it his beverage. I struggled to get a selfie with all of us in the photo. This was the best of the 4 attempts.

The real purpose of this trip wasn't catching fish anyway. It was to hear stories and spend time together.

Jeff and Tim stayed outside of Secor in Jeff's elegant camper. Tim's search for area dive bars resulted in our attendance at the only business in Secor that wasn't a grain elevator. The name was significant to us because we had spent so much time fishing and goofing around at the drainage ditch on the north end of the farm where we were raised. We even commemorated it on the family reunion T-shirts we had made last summer. 

Fortunately Tim's son, Shawn, was able to join us for bar adventure and took our picture outside of The Ditch where the beer was cold, the pizza was good, and the waitress looked good with glitter on her tattoos.

This was a wonderful way to spend a week-end with my fellow Laleman boys. Maybe we'll do it again and get Steve (and even our sisters) to join us.