Just When You Think It's Safe To Go In The Water
The sun even shines …
I piled the manila envelope with the regular mail because I just wanted to get out the door, going somewhere, about a week ago.
When I finally sorted the mail, the tubularly bent envelope contained my certificate for the TPWD Ray Roberts Fly Rod Record for Black Bass. If you’ve been following this yin-yang ordeal, you know that I ripped open the envelope to slide out the certificate, holding it with my fingertips, and making sure it didn’t catch on the edges of the hastily torn envelope.
There it was; my name (spelled correctly), date, species, location and weight – all fresh off somebody’s desktop printer in Austin, Texas. No need to waste time, and degrade this fine print, I quickly scanned it and put it on my facebook account – quickly as in under five minutes. Sure, this was the first fly rod record registered for Ray Roberts, does that lessen or increase its import? And I wonder what these folks would say if I sent another one in this week? Gaming the system? Yang can be the judge of that.
The only records I really want to register are those that would be, shall we say with all due respect, hard to beat. I think a five pound Largemouth Bass on a fly rod is beatable, but it will actually take a little effort.
After I went worldwide, I went back to where the mail was dropped, and picked up the envelope. Out of curiosity, like looking a second time in a birthday card with no cash, I looked inside and saw something. It was another certificate – this one had a gold seal on it. Whoa. Fly Fishing Record for Largemouth Bass at Ray Roberts. I tipped the envelope and out slid one of those pins so many anglers adorn themselves with … it said “Angler Recognition Award”, “Catch and Release” and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. I am glad I always check envelopes twice (always looking for money to fall out these days). OK, right now I am thinking it’s not a copy. Let’s see … OK, one says “Fly Fishing Record”, and one says “Big Fish Award”! That goes to show you, just fill out all the boxes on your entry and two or even three records are possible from one fish.
Double the pleasure, and double the fun.
There is this residual effect after something like this though. What am I going to do at Ray Roberts? I love catching LMB’s, but it would all be for fun now that the record chase edge was off. Melancholy set in and was fueled by the rain. The only plan I can formulate sitting here today is to try and knock off LMB records at nearby lakes, or go to work on other species. That would be easy enough with someone like Joel Hays bringing in 10-pound Common Carp on a regular basis, he is due. There are these other records that have fallen into lethargy, with no one even attempting to chase them (on other area lakes). A plan has yet to take hold, but you will be the first to know, and as always; If you have a record you want to chase, or broadcast, or questions about the strange process of registering a record — feel free to ask.
Category: Culture on the Skids, Events
