Steeldrifter

Fun day for sure. Don't get a lot of largemouths on the river where I fish, so it's always a nice surprise to get one. Looks like you found a lake that has a nice supply of them.

Some more pics resized of the renfest...

Have to say. Huge thank you to Mark (Mark Knapp) I got a surprise package in the mail last week. Was a bunch of real pelts from Alaska, thanks to Mark. To work into my viking Mantle. I worked them in. Went today again to the renfest, 3rd time the past few weeks. But pic on the Iron Throne looked much cooler with Mark's pelts on my mantle👍

Real nice smallie there Tom. Such a great fighting fish when they hit that size! 😎

Looks like a fun time. That had to be a blast catching that many mahi.

Great day at the Ren-fest today. Will post some more pics later but this one is by far my favorite because I'm a HUGE Game of Thrones fan, and there was a pub there that actually had an Iron Throne Had a great time. Hung out most the day with a life long friend whom I haven't seen in person in prob 20+ yrs. To say my viking outfit was well received would be an understatement. Couldn't go more than 10 mins without someone telling me how much they liked it. Had prob 20+ people stop me and want to take a picture with me. And let me tell ya, go to a ren-fest dressed as a 6'4" Viking when most other guys are wearing 17th century frilly shirts, flop hats & tights, and the women flock to ya Was a really good time. Long hot day, but fun. Plan to go back again before it is over.

That's a pretty lil' stream. While I enjoy fishing rivers with big trout in them, I always enjoy hitting a local small stream couple times each year. Always a nice change of pace and more technical type of fishing where you have to be more stealthy. Just as rewarding to find a 10" trout in a tiny stream, as it is to find a 20" trout in a big river.

Not fully done yet, but about 95% there. Put everything on tonight to make sure it was all comfortable and goes well together. Was a lot of work but came together really good looking. Will have better pics this weekend at the faire with all the rest of the stuff done but here's a quick pic of everything so far.

Giant one there. I actually just started growing my first tomatoes this year. Always wanted to try it but never did till this past spring. Bought a single plant and it's crazy how well it has done. Had a total of 22 tomatoes on it at the same time just a couple weeks ago. I've had three ripen fully in the past week. Been fighting some animals though. Lost two real big ripe ones to either a coon or possum. Whatever it is has started robbing me at night lately so I had to buy a screen fence and netting and think I have put an end to his thieving ways now.

Nice solid smallie Tom. It's so cool to see a sturgeon in a river. I've only seen one myself in a river but still remember it even though it was over 20 yrs ago. When you are trout fishing and a 4' fish swims right by the boat when you aren't expecting it, it is something you don't forget. Scared the hell out of me at first 😂

Mainly just start out with a fresh new xacto blade in a knife is what I start with. That will usually get some of the high spots off. Then I take sandpaper starting around 80grit. After that I'll go down to about 120, 220 and just work my way down to finer grits till it gets down to the blank.

That china rock fish is pretty cool looking. I don't think I have ever seen one of those before.

Crazy how much most of them cost these days. I gave up cell phones about 23 years ago and never looked back. I find life much simpler not being connected or reachable 24/7.

Not surprising in the least. Insurance claims are ridiculous how long they take. We have a neighbor around the corner that had a big tree limb fall on his mini-van during a wind storm back in late March. The limb was on his van for almost 2 months because he was waiting for insurance to come out. Absolutely absurd that you can pay in some damn much money on insurance, and then the one time you need to use it, they drag their feet like they do.

That's some great pike there. That 2nd one you're holding looks like it has some serious girth to it.