A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work.

     So Saturday rolls around and after a bad morning turkey hunting with the fellas [my Dad & brother, Cody], we decided that we would pack up the camper and head over to Ft. Stewart to do a little fishing. After rounding up the fiance, Mom, and ALL of our belongings we left out about 5 o'clock Sat evening. Camping out seemed to be the perfect getaway for the evening since we all had a rather stressful week.

     Well, Dad and I went out searching for "jig" poles [bamboo sticks] right away. In case you were wondering, jig poles are made completely out of bamboo sticks. You just slice the bottom stalk with a sharp knife at an angle [so it will jab into the dirt easier] and knot a thick fishing string around the top underneath a notch on the bamboo stalk. After that, you just assemble your hook and sinker and add a little bait. Diddo, you now have "jig poles".  Here are the boys making the remainder of the lines.

    Ok, so you are all wondering what exactly you do with these jig poles... because obviously we don't have ten people to stand on the bank and hold each one. Well, let me describe the process. You walk down to the edge of the pond/river bank, standing shoulder width apart & maintaining good balance you put the pole on your shoulder with the line behind you dangling. Then, with one motion you swing the pole from off your shoulder, straightening your arms to let it reach as far out as possible, and then JIG it into the bank at a low angle to keep the line stretched out. Sounds easy, right? HA! After spreading a few of these out on the bank, I had reached Mama's fishing spot. Since I had just learned how to assemble and throw jig lines, I figured I would teach her as well. Soo, I continued the lesson just as stated above "ok, come down here to the bank. Alright, now stand shoulder width apart. Make sure you have you balance, ok?.........".

Oh, the rest is priceless. After she stated "ok!", she began. She got the line extended out nicely, but in the midst of the jigging part, I yelled "harder!"... welllllll, with one big jerk, she was butt first in the pondddd!! Literally. Those crocs gave out and slid right on down into the water and BAM she was on her bootay! Unfortunately, I didn't get a snapshot of the bum busting, but I did catch a quick photo of the aftermath. Take a look!

      HAHAHAHA! I can still vividly relive this moment in my mind. Oh, it was hilarious. Anyhow, after this little incident, we were about two hours into our trip and still had ZERO fish... But, not for long. I swear my brother has a horseshoe up his rear. Next thing we know, he jumps up and reels in the first catch of the evening, a nice butter catfish.

     We also had a little friend. Look underneath the rod and reel on the left. Yep, that's a little gator hater. He got a little too close at times, but for the most part he kept his distance. The night ended with grilled hamburgers and a warm fire. We were all worn out. So, I believe we were in bed by midnight-1o'clockish. About 5:30am we awoke to the sound of Cliff's wake up call for turkey hunting. We all jumped up and headed outside to find Dad and a cooler FULL of fish. He had woke about 30 minutes prior and checked all the jig lines... one had absolutely no line whatsoever, just the pole stuck in the bank [this was where the little gator hater hung out most of the night, he is our suspect anyhow], two or three had no bait, and the rest had catfish on the lines! What we thought was a not-so-good fishing pond turned into be a rather sweet honey hole.

12 butter cats and 1 channel cat was our final total. We know next time we just have to suck it up and stay up all night. Regardless, it was a grand time!  

Even if you've been fishing for three hours and haven't gotten anything except poison ivy and sunburn, you're still better off than the worm.  ~Author Unknown