Lucky Charm

I've been through some harrowing experiences lately. Actually throughout a good portion of my adult life. I found this bracelet, handcrafted in Kenya, about 15 years ago and have worn it ever since, including through a devastating car crash a few weeks ago. Once again I heard the words from the doctors.."you shouldn't be alive". My favorite stones are Malachite and Jade. My older sister gave me a piece of Jade several years ago that I have on my keychain. I gave my younger brother Benson a piece of Malachite around the same time that he either wore around his neck or kept with him all the time, according to his then girlfriend. Benson met an untimely demise with a train and his car not so long ago. Brooke, the girl I was speaking of, contacted me, we spoke back and forth a while. She then sent me this piece in the mail. I was floored to have it back. I tried wearing it around my neck for some time but it just wasn't right. I had it on a very thin leather rope that tended to get twisted up, especially when it got wet, so I had a habit of taking it off before I got in the shower. Sometimes I would forget to put it back on. Including the day of my crash. So many things disappeared that day, I had all the windows down, large sunroof open and rolled the car, spun the car, got hit eventually on the drivers side and wound up in the ditch. My clothes were cut off of me and everything was removed. I may not have that pendant, precious to me, had I put it on that day. Days later, I fashioned a way to permanently secure it to my African bracelet. It feels right, the bracelet hangs well, and no matter what position my arm is in the Malachite tends to hang and sit right at the pulse point. I have a strange feeling my luck is about to change.

I've been cooking.

I got tired of the same old thing. Although really it was never the same old thing. I have always improvised to the best of my ability when it comes to cooking fish. But it seemed like it was always what new spices, what new sauces, what new methods of cooking to make the little swimmer taste even better. In recent weeks I have turned to some new, (new for me, but by no means new) and enticing methods of preparation of my lovely trout. I am eating a lot of Mahi-Mahi as usual and I find that Halibut is also a fine contender for this method of preparation while Salmon, one of my favorites doesn't work quite as well. It all started with potato chips. I had a 3lb rainbow that would be best prepared in the cast iron skillet. It had to be filleted by cutting along the backbone to the tail on both sides, removing of course head and tail, I had 2 beautiful pink fillets. Heating the skillet with just a small amount of vegetable oil which produces less smoke than olive oil, I prepared in a small saute pan only a TBSP of butter, a pinch or two of parmesan and then crumbled into smithereens a good handful of Ruffles potato chips. I tossed this around only long enough to coat the chips and removed it from heat. I then patted the trout fillets with a salt & pepper flour mix enough to just dust the flesh side of them, and proceeded to lay them skin side down in the skillet. The oil began to sizzle and I began to coat the flesh side of the trout with my potato chip mix. Once the outside of the trout skin began to curl around the edges I took a spatula and really pressed the chip mixture down pat before flipping the fillets over onto their flesh side. I gave them about 1 and a half minutes before carefully lifting them and tuning them right side up on to the plate. The chips were golden brown and I was ready to eat! But this was only the beginning of my experimentation! Next up was Mahi-Mahi. I usually eat and prepare Mahi with some type of fruit oriented sauce or salsa. Fish and fruit really go hand in hand in so many ways. But potato chips and fruit? I went back to the grocery store looking at every type of chip they had. Jalepeno & sour cream Doritos? uugghh. There were so many. I strayed from the chip aisle thinking about Panko and other bread crumbs as a possibilty even though they've all been done so many times before. And there I was...in the cereal aisle. Ahhh, a whole new realm of possibilties. I immediately thought of my 2 favorite cereals; Cheerios and Crispix. I opted for Crispix and headed home, a fresh piece of Mahi waiting, but not before picking up a little mango and a small can of pineapple. I basically prepared the Crispix the same way but with nearly half the butter, maybe a TSP, and no parm, in a saute pan just enough to lightly coat. The cereal crumbles into minute pieces so I wanted to be careful. I brushed the Mahi with olive oil, added cracked black pepper and a little ginger, then pressed the Crispix mix down on to the top side. Wrapped the fish in foil, leaving a slight gap on top and baked at 425 for about 15 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile, in a Tupperware bowl I diced mango, pineapple, added brown sugar, cilantro and lime juice. Covered the bowl and shook it up and down like I was tossing a salad, then let it chill in fridge. The fish finished great, the Crispix "Crispened" up on top very nicely and I took a metal spatula and lifted it off the skin onto the plate. Toppped it off with the salsa and I had another fun dish. More new cereal experiments to come. Perhaps Cocoa Puffs, Frosted Flakes, Captain Crunch and the dredded Shredded Wheat.

Wearily Back

Where in the world have I been? Working, working, working. In the middle of my crazy schedule I have written two new songs, ( I think they're great, we'll see what everybody else thinks when the time comes.) I am also in the middle of moving, my doctor of 8 years passed away suddenly, I got into a minor car accident, helped a dear friend of mine through bypass surgery, made it through the flu and then bronchitis and strep throat. I have cooked and eaten a lot of wonderful fish dinners. But I have not had one chance, not even a glimpse of a chance to get to the river. I think I have been doing a lot of other things as well but I just can't think of what they are right now. Maybe too many things at once....but I am sleeping! 8 hours a night. maybe that's whats keeping me going. They say sleep is the one thing the body absolutely cannot do without. One can last longer without food or even water then they can without sleep. I will hopefully have more time these days as my schedule changes to begin posting more often again. Sorry to be out of pocket. I sure hope I can have these songs ready by the middle or end of summer.

Bad Modem

I use a wireless modem. They're really cool because you can take them anywhere and sign into your account on any computer and hop online. Unfortunately mine went spiraling into the no-mans' land of cyber-confusion. Oh well, got a new one and I'm back online after two long weeks. I will resume with some new posts soon!

Well maybe this photo describes what kind of day I'm having.

Wake up!!!

It is getting late and I have to get to bed. I dread the alarm clock in the morning.....or do I? First of all let me just say or suggest this about alarm clocks.....I love my music, I love my cds. I live for my music collection. It gets me through the tough times and the good times. You know those nifty little clock radio/cd players you can buy so that you can wake up to your favorite cd or song in the morning? Sounds like a great idea doesn't it? Who wouldn't want that? It sure beats an annoying DJ screaming at you on talk radio. Of course, nobody really likes alarm clocks at all. Nobody likes anything about them. Alarm clocks are evil. The snooze button? What is that for? Only to prolong the agony of what you ultimately have to face in the long run. We hate alarm clocks, so some of us buy cd player/clock radios which wake us up to our favorite tunes. I bought one of these players and it took only a week or maybe more for to realize that something was amiss. I was hating my favorite songs for one. (the songs I was waking up to)... I kept trying to switch them out, but I would be in my car and load a song I really wanted to hear on my way to work and immediately think. "no, no I can't stand that song!"
So perhaps these special clocks, IPOD, mp3 loadable or simply cd player programmed clocks need to go if you want to start feeling at peace with your music collection again. The sound of your alarm clock can be engrained in your brain as horrible. But what about the alarm clock dilema? What IS a good way to wake up? Well I guess everybody's different. I wake up on my own a lot. I do however have a pretty cool clock that I bought that has all environmental sounds. The way they wake you up is that the sound level starts at zero and gradually gets louder and louder. You can find something like this at Target or the like. Happy Snoozing! I have much more to say about snoozing and napping, but I will save these idea for a later post.

Michael's Fish Market

I hope this image doesn't bother anybody. It's just my simple little kitchen fish market. These trout are ready to be cleaned but I thought I would snap this photo beforehand. Yes their mouths are agape but they don't look any different then the fish I go to my favorite stores and purchase.

Cows are pretty cool. I didn't really get to know a whole lot about cows until I moved to Nashville. I certainly didn't know that cows could get it up and go like this. So I say again....cows are pretty cool. They've got it goin on for sure.

whales

I am an avid fisherman. I love to fish for ; A chance to be by the water, a chance to be at one with nature, but most importantly, for a chance to catch something wonderful for dinner. If there was ever a fish to cross my path that did not amount to enough for a meal, that fish has been carefully and delicately "swum" back into the environment he came from. This is very important to me. The "fingerlings" need a chance to grow bigger, have offspring, and continue the cycle of thriving fish in that body of water. I have always been disturbed by some of the oceans' fisherman, and their habits when it comes to catching fish. Drift-netting for one, which has been banned globally by the UN and others, is still a common practice on the Mediterranean Sea. This practice catches every kind of fish in it's path. Sea turtles decades old, many schooling fish, rays, sharks and even dolphins and whales. The effort to release some of these species has been shallow at best compared to the amount of harvesting that continues to plague this seemingly lawless sea. Undoubtedly this practice is going on in our major oceans undetected. I love all animals but I have a heart for the water-worthy. For a mammal larger than where I live to be strung up in a drift-net to lose air and die is unacceptable. Sorry if this was a negative post. Well I needed to let that out. If you get the time, check out link below, and see what I am talking about further. Also there is a save the whales foundation that does not cost any money, only petitions if anyone is interested.

http://www.whaletrackers.com/whales-mediterranean-sea/fishy-business/

Where's My Head??

I am not a head hunter but this is a pretty cool head. I usually keep her in a more upright position so that she is drinking water from the fountain I have given her. I repositioned her for a couple of photos here. What a cool stone. Amongst many other cool stones....A good luck charm to me this is. Anybody have a guess as to where this came from? I know there are a couple of you that know.

Crane tried to get me

This is a Whooping Crane. I wish this was a photo I took at the scene that I am about to tell you of. Unfortunately I did not have a camera that day, so this image will have to do. I was on the Duck River last year doing what else, searching for a good trout or two. I roped into a couple of seriously fat rainbows lurking underneath a ledge of overhanging rock. When I caught the first one I was certain he was by himself but went after the hole a second and third time and another one took the bait. I fished the hole awhile longer and gave it up. So then I had these guys on a stringer, they were both at least a pound, so some pretty fat fish! I roped the stringer around an overhanging tree branch so I could wade further downstream. The river was kind of snakey as I expected for the Duck River. You can see the snakes scurrying across the water, one or two. I don't like snakes in the wild really and so I was wary as I continued forward. I was getting some good bites when all of the sudden I started to hear a great commotion behind me. Squawking and squawking and a bunch of splashing. I turned around and headed upstream to see what was going on. As I rounded the bend of the river I saw this giant whooping crane upstream, taking off and stopping abrubtly, settling on the water for an instant, then taking off and jerking and stopping again. I was befuddled at first, but as I drew closer I realized that this crane had locked its' feet into my trout, perhaps deciding that this would be an easy dinner! But of course the trout were tied tightly on my stringer. As I continued to near closer, I watched this crane do the same thing over and over again, just not willing to give up my fat trout. All the while yelling out a giant squawk every time he got cut short on his flight. At about 20 feet away I decided to just stay and watch. I didn't want anything to do with this giant angry bird, but mostly I was hoping he wasn't tangled, in which case I would have a serious situation on my hands. The crane finally sat down and didn't do anything for a few minutes, then took off without the fish! I was relieved. I headed back to fishing and a few minutes later I saw a shadow on the river.. I looked up and there was a giant crane flying by with a snake in his talons. I hope it was the same crane! I didn't want him to go home hungry!
ps. If anyone thinks this might have been a bird other than a whooping crane please post your comments! I'm pretty certain of what I saw though. Cheers!

A New Book

Well after some persuasion from two of my younger brothers, I have finally decided to disclose at least a little bit of information on one of the books I am currently writing right now. I don't have a title for this one yet so ideas will be welcome. I guess, in a nutshell, I have decided that when it comes to work, school, staying up late and cramming for tests, pushing yourself constantly to get ahead in this rat race of a world, doing whatever there is to do to make a buck better and faster and sooner than the next guy, and well just the way we go about are lives on a day to day basis, there needs to be a break here and there. We all need one and we know it. We talk about it everyday, at work, to our friends, whatever. "gosh I would give anything for a massage, my neck is so cramped" or... "I would do anything to be able to take a vacation right now." But you have no way to find the time, right? Well this book is going to be about 101 ideas, (I guess 101, if I come up with more than that than the number will change) But 101 ideas on how to chill out. And when I say chill out, I mean chill out to your very best advantage. If you have only an hour before you have to be back to work, there is an optimum way to chill, in order to maximize your peace for the remainder of the day. If you have an entire day off there are certain rules and routines you should abide by in order to maximize your chill factor! There is a way to address life with an "everything is really not so bad" attitude if you can adapt the right ways to maximize your "chilling out" time. My book is not going to give you a preaching type address but simply and only the chill factors I have learned. Why am I doing this? Because I am pretty chilled out, and I want to share.

Unknown Symbol

To those of you that are checking in..does anyone have any idea what this is, what it represents, or what it stands for? I was designing a new pattern, and have had this photo in my bucket (literally a bucket) of back burner stuff to look at for over a year. It caught my eye when I was surfing a long time ago, it just came up with no info. It is so similar to the weave and thatch drawing that I do here and there, but what really got me was the unity of the 3 pattern all over the place. I am perplexed. I searched then and I guess I am searching now. I have drawn the pattern in black and white. It looks really cool but I have no idea what it might mean. What's crazy is that this really started with a song from the bucket, I started digging around and was coming up with something I actually liked and for some reason it made me remember that this photo was in there. I started digging and here it is. I have too many irons in the fire sometimes I think. Somebody tell me what this is?!!!!

Duck on the RUN!!!

It's hard to see Mr. Duck from here. I snapped this photo last year right as a duck was about to climb into my car with absolutely no coaching whatsoever. He followed me from a pond I was working for giant bluegill when I suddenly realized he wasn't going away. I didn't live far and decided to see what would happen with a happy-go-lucky duck in my car.

Lapping it up

Mr. Duck followed me around for a good while, came into the house, clucked and quacked quietly, and seemed to express a genuine interest in what I was doing. Then he started to quack around a little bit louder and I thought he wanted to go outside. We went out and he continued his quacking, so I thought, maybe this is like a dog..... I went and got a tupperware bowl full of water, thinking, there is no way a duck needs water, and bam.. Mr. Duck drank it up. I was happy to watch him enjoy it.

Later duck

Well, after some refreshment, I decided to let him hang out with some other birds on my next door neighbor's lawn. What an unexpected night for Mr. Duck. I drove him back to the pond a little while later and he just did not want to go!!!!

Hook

Ready to hit the river!

I'm so ready to go. I won't be using these rods, although I love them. A little too heavy in action for where I am going. I probably will be held up by the weather until Thursday but that's OK I have the whole day to myself that day. I'll buy some hand warmers for sure. Those things work great!

A really good dinner....and a cigar.

It wasn't until I made some previous postings that I got hungry for fish. I have 18 or 20 rainbows in my freezer for a rainy day. Today it is not only rainy but icy rainy. The freshest fish you can purchase or eat that is out of season in a restaurant for example, can be verified by asking a few simple questions. For example, Halibut is out of season right now, yet some restaurants and markets still carry it. How do you know what quality it is? If you are told that the fish is "fresh frozen" you need to inquire a little deeper. Of course they can't say it's "fresh"' That's impossible for our location. But if you are told that the fish is "FAS", or if you ask if the fish is "FAS" and they confirm, you know you are getting the best quality fish you can buy. FAS stands for frozen at sea. Only a select group do this. Most of the mass marketers get their fish from boats that cover the fish in ice, and keep it chilled for perhaps upwards of a 3 to 4 day journey home. By this time the fish is 4 days old. period. whether or not it's kept on ice in the frozen seas. if the fish is processed on the boat right then and there, prepped and then frozen in a deep freezer on boat, you still have a very fresh fish. Time is freshness!!!!!!!!!!! I put my trout on ice in a cooler bag at river, then fil the bag the rest of the way with river water and seal it. 45 minutes later when I am home, I clean and place them all in freezer packs that i designed to hold 2 trout a pack. More on that later.

Turtles!

Oh no!! This is what happens when you lurk around in bluegill territory. Turtles have rock hard mouths and don't feel a thing, though. They are also amphibious and could hang around for awhile if you wanted, but they really just want you to let them go. I think deep down inside they're sorry that they stole your bait. Ok, back to the water you go turtle, even though that means I'm going to have to move about 40 feet down from where I was. I think I'm ready to get back on the river. I'm really a trout guy.

Bluegill on a blue day

I am an avid trout fisherman, but I did have a lot of fun doing the bluegill thing last fall, late summer. I learned how to catch the big ones instead of the scrawny ones. That's what it's all about. And of course, I braved the elements. This guy bit right at the end of a downpour which is always good for fishing as long as there is no lightning. I keep a parka either in my vest on the river, or in this case in my mini-bag on the lake. He was fun to catch! My rod was bent all the way over on 4 lb test!

Blues and lots of them!

In the previous post I mentioned "the beach" and it's reputation for being a bluegill hot spot. I have always loved catching bluegill, shellcrackers, redear, and sunfish not for eating but because they are really tough little fish to catch, and they will tug your line all the way down to the bottom every time. When I started fishing with some other guys here in TN, I began to be informed that these fish are really good pan-fried eating. You just have to catch enough of them in one trip. That's the idea. So Ricky, being a bluegill expert, and I headed back to the beach. Here was our take. Looks like enough for dinner to me. You have to have a very, very sharp fillet knife in order to get the small fillets off of these fish. Then a little salt and pepper flour dusting or dip them in milk and dredge in cornmeal (I liked even better) and into the cast iron skillet!

Who knew?

Well last Fall, one of my fishing buddies and I were driving around on a day off, actually without the intent on fishing that day. We were driving through an area near Old Hickory Lake, way on the opposite side of where most people fish when Ricky remembered that there was a place nicknamed "the beach" that was supposed to be a hot bluegill spot. Since I always keep a couple of ultralight rods in the car, (and a mini-bag) we decided to find it. After stopping at a couple of little stores and asking a very old but very nice man in his front yard, we finally pushed our way through some trees to the "beach" it's actually about 40 or 50 feet long and prime bluegill territory, but as you can see, that's not what I wound up catching. We set up and stayed for about an hour and a half, I laid into these two fat channel catfish and Ricky pulled in a blue cat and two more channels. We have been there twice since. Bluegill City!

Snake!

Not real easy to see but this bad guy was after my fish that I had on a stringer. I had just stepped out of a kayak, and had my fish trailing along because the water was cold. Then I saw him! He was curled way around on the bottom, this is about a foot and a half deep, but you can't really see his length. I am guessing better than 6 feet long. Has anyone out there ever eaten a water moccasin? I don't think I want to have anything to do with that. eeeeegghhh.

The Beaver

OK you might have to zoom in on this one..For those of you that have never had a chance to see a beaver before, well here's your shot. I couldn't get very close or he would jump, so I had to kind of creep up on him. I was in a johnboat with a light trolling motor that I had turned off because I had spotted him. I just let myself continue to drift towards him... but he jumped the second after I took the shot. Photo 1 is with tail down, seeing me and gettin ready to take off. Photo 2 well he's on the log going into the water, his tail is really starting to come up high because he is about to jump and he is....well he's a beaver.

A Collection of Trout

This was a good catch but it wasn't all mine, I had a buddy to add his catch to the creel. I used to have this old porcelain sink in my kitchen, and when we got back to my place I just dumped all the fish in the sink so that I could start cleaning them. It looked really cool so I took this shot.

46 miles?

Well the marathon is over. It was more than a marathon actually. Enter..pedometer! It kind of started on Valentines' Day 1992, in a restaurant that had 3 floors in Oceanside, CA. We called it the "marathon shift" because the seven of us on the main service, were all working from 9 am to midnight. Nonstop. Three floors means the bar is on one floor, your dining room on another, the kitchen perhaps a different floor. So we all got the idea a couple days before to get pedometers to see how many miles we really walked. That day we all did around 17. Not to mention carrying 50 lb. trays of lobster and prime rib to the happy couples! Anyway it kind of stuck with me and I have 2 or 3 different pedometers that do different things. The best ones don't count steps if you are standing still and stepping in place. You have to program in your gait at a fast pace, say 2 1/2 or 3 feet. Then the pedometer will not register a "step" unless you reach this gait, thus invalidating any claims that walking is not like running, moving about at work doesn't count as true "power walking" etc. It does if you know what you're doing! Why am I still talking about this? oh yeah. I walked 46 miles and a little more this weekend. OOh. I need some new shoes maybe.....

Almost A Song

A Danneman Summatra would've been a good way to end a 15 hour shift tonight, but tomorrow will be a much better occasion. That is for certain. I'll be ready alright. And I know that when I am home.. once and for all, I light a candle, I light a smoke, the song will come. I don't know what it will be this time but I know I will be happy to read it when I am done.

Work

There's something about working 40 plus hours in 3 days that tends to pluck you out of your life as you know it, and simply place you into a completely different reality for...well for 3 days. The brief time you spend at home, which is really just for sleeping purposes, doesn't really seem like it happened by the time you get back to work the next day. It's a curious stretch and you try to pace yourself but it's not really possible. Usually on the second day, the 3 or 4 fellow employees running the same marathon as you will make little jokes like "didn't we just leave here?" or the always popular, " I slept on a cot in the back." ha ha ha ha ha. And the everlasting shift runs on. Interestingly, by the third day, when joking would seem to be the most prominent, (after all it's the last day! We're almost through!) there is instead, bleary eyed silence, and sullen faces. Everyone just wants to get the hell out of there. Yes day three is certainly the longest day of all, although hour for hour, it is in truth, usually the shortest day of the three. By 4:00 tomorrow afternoon I will be at about the halfway point of this marathon. Phew.

Winding Down

Well, it's late. I've played guitar, given myself a cool new haircut, watched my fish pick up rocks and spit them out on the other end of the tank over and over again. I've gone for a drive with loud music and the sunroof open since we were given a 55 degree day today. I've blogged again and again. I've read other people's blogs. I've checked my facebook status. I've been on the phone all day. I did laundry, watched tv, downloaded new drivers for my computer. And I have been badgering my brain all day about this book. It's been a good day....? I think.

My pet

Now this is one fish I will never eat. This is a beautiful South American Cichlid called an Oscar. He is an adolescent at best, but still quite carnivorous for his young age. He lives in a large tank with other cichlids, is about 8 inches in length and lives on a shrimp diet. When I bring home trout he gobbles up trout livers like they are caviar, and on the once in a while occasion that I stray from fish and feel like a good ole burger, he will devour raw ground beef! What a monster! I can't wait to see what he will eat when he is fully grown!

Dinner 3 nights ago..

This was a beautiful rainbow trout that put up a magnificent fight at about 6 am with fog all around. It weighed in just over 4 lbs. Can we say a 40 dollar fish? Oh yeah. As you can see the fillets I took off this fish are pink just like salmon and the flavor is a lot like salmon too, but much more delicate so the seasoning is a little trickier. But still chock full of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. So good for the skin and so many other health benefits. I dusted these fillets in a salt and pepper flour, added a pinch of turmeric,and coriander and did a light saute in a garlic seasoned extra virgin olive oil. Wonderful....But more important...wonderful for your body!

Beer and Water

I used to drink beer. Eventually I figured out that beer and an active lifestyle on the water doesn't really mix. Being on a crystal clear foggy stream at five in the morning with deer drinking from the river, trout jumping all around you, the beauty of nature at it's finest, combined with a hangover.....well it just doesn't work. Sans the beer and what a beautiful experience. So I got wise. Beer and water don't mix.

328 Perfomance Hall

I think long hair is coming back again. I couldn't care less. I love short hair. I might just shave it all off one of these days just to see what will happen when I look in the mirror. This is a photo of Mindvault during the 90's at, I think 328 Performance Hall. That's Scott on bass in the background.

New Grill Pan

A Danneman is a pretty good cigar/cigarillo. With a smooth, balanced aroma and abundant character. Not too strong. I prefer the Speciale Sumatra. Oh did I mention I have decided to start writing a book. I am expecting this to be a very long project. I mean, how many irons can a guy have in the fire, seriously? Anyway, I have two book ideas. Which should I write? Or should I just throw myself to the wolves and attempt to start writing both at the same time? Hmmm. I might just crack. Or it might be really cool. I think I'll sleep on it and see what happens. That usually works. That's a few hours away though I think. Something might come up between now and then. Including a half pound piece of Mahi-Mahi I am about to cook on my new grill pan. I love cast iron. This grill pan was a gift and I have yet to use it. Basically a cast iron skillet with raised ridges on the bottom about 1/4 inch high. Just like an outdoor or restaurant grill. A little olive oil and I am ready!

Sunset

My last night at Center Hill, I swore I was going to get a photo of the sunset because they were so amazing. Then I was so busy cooking and having a wonderful time I stopped paying attention. Suddenly it started seeming dark and I realized the sun had just dropped. I was bummed but I took the picture anyway. Not even half as good as it was 5 minutes earlier. Can't beat it though. Great way to end the day.

Cool Campsite

Found a pretty cool little campsite last year on Center Hill Lake which is huge. Me and another outdoors buddy of mine pitched tents about 100 feet from the water. Toured the lake by boats that we rented from a marina nearby and of course, plenty of fishing. We got those boats going faster than we thought they could go and it was pretty fun. We had a water faucet, one electrical outlet for a coffee pot or whatever, a fire pit and a grill. Not bad for 8 bucks a night. of course you gotta have the gear. We got surrounded by skunks on our 2nd night. They weren't spraying or doing anything awful. But there was an army of them, maybe 20 or more, in single file line, forming a circle around our site. Round and round they went, wanting our food. We didn't get much sleep that night. Center Hill Lake is beautiful....

Hottest trout spot ever!

This is one of the hottest rainbow and brown trout fishing spots on the Caney Fork River. I have covered just about all 24 miles of this river, I am not the amateur, "go to the man-made, park type areas" that are always full of fishermen. I have gotten horrible poison ivy, poison oak, bug bites of every variety and come face to face with a water moccasin about 5 feet long. He was not acting very pleasant. All in quest for the biggest fish, the most beautiful fish, or perhaps most important of all....the ever elusive "perfect fishing hole" Well my friends I have found it. And I'm not telling any of you where it is or how to get there. If any of you want to go on a trout fishing adventure with me one day, only then will you know where it is. And I'll bet a dollar you wouldn't be able to find you're way back there without me even if your life depended on it! The tannish color of rocky gravel that you see in this photo that looks like it might be about 4 to 6 inches deep is easily 2 to 3 feet deep. This is how crystal clear the water is in this area! Call me up! Let's catch dinner!

5 beautiful fish

2 more to go! Seven is the creel limit in TN of these beautiful rainbows. You have to pay for an annual stamp and license that totals about 36 dollars, but if you eat seafood and fish like I do, (that's all i eat) It pays for itself quickly. Rainbow trout are typically around $9.99 lb. at the local fish market. Often they are upwards of $12.99lb. Each of these fish are almost a pound if not right at. That's $50 to $60 of fish that is fresher than you can get anywhere except right on the oceanfront. And even some of those restaurants are serving one or two day old fish, even fine dining at $40 a plate. if you have never tried a fresh catch that's only a few hours old and you like the taste of salmon or trout, well....you just don't know what you're missing.

About me....

I'm always singing.... I have my own place and the walls are not paper thin so I have the luxury of singing whenever I want, which usually happens once I wake up a little. I am an avid singer and songwriter now working on a solo career after singing with a local rock band with this city for about 10 years. Music is my life and I am currently married to it until the right woman finally comes along. But another favorite pastime of mine is catching the most beautiful rainbow trout this state has to offer. I am on the river pursuing the trout at least every couple of weeks throughout the year. But wait......That's not a trout!!!! Oh well. We'll put him on the fire anyway. Give me a fish and I will cook it! (Oh and eat it!)

I really do love the water

I love the water. If there is water I will go. If there is a picnic in the park and its not a park with a river, lake or stream, I am confused as to why we would have a picnic there. When I was a child I lived in Chicago and was just mesmerized whenever I caught a glimpse of or visited Lake Michigan. Much like the ocean, it laps, has small waves incredible sunsets, and you can't see across it. Just a water horizon. ( for those of you that have never been to the great lakes.) When I moved from Nashville to Southern California in my early twenties I was in a house just a matter of a few hundred feet from the edge of the ocean. This will change your life. The Ocean became my friend. The rivers are now my friend, living in TN. And I will jump at the chance to do something water-bound any day. It recharges me. Uplifts me. It's really, really, spot on cool.