We sold the HOOYAH!!!! this past Thursday. I'll miss this boat, but we be a whole lot more flexible as we transition to civilian life (and the current uncertainties of where we will live, whether we buy a house or rent, when can we get into a house, so on and so on). ALOHA good boat - we had a blast with you!
We took our friends to the Natural History Museum (this was the first time we went back to back to this museum with out La protesting). We checked out the new exhibit again - Q?rius (curious). This is as hands on as you can get - a must do if you are visiting the area. We also went through the Ocean Hall again - and as usual, we still found more things we hadn't seen before. Great Sunday!!!
Had a late lunch with family friends. I had the Reuben, La had the Crab Cakes - really good food! They had a special oyster menu - looks Piratical to me so it has to be good. If you find yourself with an empty stomach while walking near the White House, stop in and grab an awesome bite!
Not. The water was high from the runoff and it wasn't too clear either. BUT the Mighty Bluegill came through and delivered action packed adventure. I brought the Barclay out and fished it with the RIO Perception line - I love this setup more and more as I keep on fishing it - and bonus points for me that I've had to improve my casting to get the most out of this rod (and oh how rewarding it is).
Back to the bluegill - I caught 5 or so near the 4MR outfall, then I thought I'd try my luck at the Route 1 bridges. Only 1 bluegill. I also tried using my ultralight St Croix setup and even used Gulp - no takers. Still a great time (casting a sweet rod - love that Barclay Glass)!
Productive time when there is 2 feet of snow outside, frozen lakes and general wintertime gloom and doom. I let the kids color the Waspi poppers with Sharpie markers, then I placed the eyes on and epoxied the whole body (to give it some durability against the bluegill and bass attacks). I'll be tying on the tails over then next few days. Yeah we could buy store bought poppers, but the eclectic look of these make catching fish on them even more fun!!!
Today I brought out the Scott F26533, a SA Supra DT3 and a RIO Gold WF3F. I started out walking upstream towards the outfall. I spent most of my time at the storm culvert with the WF3F line - bluegill, pumpkinseed, green sunfish and large mouth bass - the 4MR foursome. I did make it up to the outfall itself and caught a green sunfish that seemed to have a bad right eye. I lost a good fly about this same time - a small shrimp/clouser combo that sank well (bead chain eyes). On a back cast, the fly hit the rod and broke free - don't ask me where.
I wasn't trying to pick up a foursome - I was actually trying to get a bona fide goldfish to take the fly. I switched flies out several times but didn't get the time of day from that fish. Next time I'll bring some Gulp Maggots - that'll do the trick (who doesn't like eating a maggot???...???). Goldilocks here actually had a couple of escorts - but they were much better camouflaged (brown and golden - like the bottom of 4MR).
I moved back down stream and fished by the bridges/power line island. I lost count of how many bluegill hits I got - probably 50+. I had switched out the WF3F for the DT3F line. When there wasn't any wind blowing, and I got a good lift on the line, the DT3 cast really well. But it was less forgiving of mistakes (which forced me to keep my form up)
I went to a retirement ceremony today for one of the UCT's finest. The ceremony brought several folks together that time and service to country have dispersed across the globe. I'll leave names off for security sake (damn identity thieves), but this crowd is pretty distinguished - decades worth of underwater construction just with these few individuals. It's hard to believe so much time has past and I am on the precipice of my own retirement. A lot of old memories got stirred today. Master Chief M - fair winds and following seas - but I'll be back to catch up with you (and I'm bringing my fishing equipment)!
Yes that is my truck. Yes that snow is piled up on the tonneau cover to nearly the height of the cab. Yes we had to dig the truck out - 3 hours of shoveling. Now I really hate winter. Thank goodness we have a short driveway...
Marlon and Noe both have Green Iguanas for pets and Marlon has been studying the works of Charles Darwin - they had a particularly keen interest in the Marine Iguana. The display with the surfboard, paddles, diving and fishing tackle seemed like what they really wanted was an exhibit of me... I could have saved them the trouble and just given them a picture or two of me in the water doing all these things at once (yes you can do it - SUP paddling with fishing gear is surfing, paddling, fishing all in one - throw on a mask to go snorkeling and a speargun and you just pegged the meter on ocean coolness). If you are in the DC Metro area - this place is a must see. Despite the multiple trips we have been there, we always see something new!
Touching highly encouraged!!! This is on the ground floor. Drawers and drawers full of specimens that you can pull out, examine under a microscope (that displays on a screen) and scan the bar code and review more info at home. If this is what the museums of the future are going to be like, it is going to be an interesting place.
