Fishing With Oh Dad

Just made a new video using vintage tackle. This time it was my dad’s Zebco 44 trigger spinning reel, my father-in-law’s Wright and McGill spinning/fly rod and one of my dad’s old flatfish lures. Each of these items are at least 55-60 years old. Video should be posted to my YouTube channel in the next couple of weeks. Hope you enjoy the video as much as I enjoyed making it. My last vintage tackle video is here. Check it out. It was a great time fishing! It just goes to show you don’t need the latest tackle to catch fish! Yesterday I was talking with my hat embroiderer at The Merch Maven, and we got on the subject of hanging on to things in our past that were good and meaningful. So as I was writing this post, these two things reminded me of Jeremiah 6:16 that says: “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.” Sometimes we need to hang on to the old ways of doing things, because sometimes the old ways are actually better. Remember that the next time you want to chuck some old item or way of doing things away!

Finally the cooler weather is just around the corner! So don’t be unprepared for the colder temps. Get one of these “Oh Dad” zippered hoodies now! Great for staying warm on the water. Go to my Merchandise Page and get yours today!

Well I hit up the Tiny Pond again last evening for channel cats and I actually caught a channel cat. The previous 4 or 5 trips yielded nothing. Many thanks to Jeff Lewis with Catfishing Arizona for turning me on to a great bait. It’s called Danny King’s Catfish Punch Bait. The kind I used was the Blood flavor. It wasn’t a big cat, but it was a cat none the less. After catching that cat, I decided to pack it up; it was getting too dark to film anymore. Many thanks to Chris for allowing me to fish at his place! So maybe the stink is off for me there. But, the next time I do fish there, it will be in the morning hours.

From time to time I will be sharing some pictures and memories (if I can remember them) of past fishing trips. I am so thankful that God gave us memories. Some of course are better forgotten, because they are too painful to relive. Other memories are best pushed to the far recesses of our minds, only to be remembered so that we don’t repeat them. Others, good memories, are wonderful to relive and ponder on. I am thankful for those. I am also thankful for the pictures that help us remember those times past. Mostly, I am thankful for those people that I shared those past events with. Those people are the best reason to remember those times. (Proverbs 10:7)

It is truly amazing how and what God can do in our lives. After the service at church was over last Sunday, I had just stood up when I heard a small voice behind me say something. Being hard of hearing all I could hear was “are you Oh Dad?” I turned around and it was 2 young boys. One was Peyton: the brave young man who rescued my hat from the stormy waters at the lake last week. The other boy was Benjamin, who is Peyton’s cousin. Peyton was visiting his cousin who just moved to my area several days before. I also met Benjamin’s family (sister Emily, father Charles and mother Donna). Since I had remarked to Derrick at the lake that I didn’t even get my rescuers name, God took care of that by bringing Peyton to my church. Peyton’s father’s name is Andy, mother Sarah, and sister Madison. A wonderful family and so was Benjamin’s. It was a great blessing to me to see Peyton again and to meet Benjamin and his family. “For who hath despised the day of small things? (Zechariah 4:10).

A good friend and I were fishing at Patagonia Lake last Thursday afternoon when we started noticing how the clouds had quickly built up over us. It was a welcome relief because it was very hot and muggy. In my fisherman’s way of thinking though, I figured we would probably get rained out and that would end our fishing. We had wanted to catch a mess of sunfish for bait, as we were going to try and get on some flatheads. We were starting to catch a few when we started to hear a noise some distance off in the trees. I told Derrick that I think we better get off the lake quickly. We high-tailed back to the marina and no sooner did we get tied up then the heavens cut loose on us. The wind cranked up and branches started flying off the trees and the rain came down in bucket fulls. Then the hail (pea size) started. The hail probably lasted for half an hour. The rain kept up for probably an hour or more. When we tied up at the dock, I stood up and my fishing hat blew off into the water and the wind quickly blew it away. I thought, “there goes a nice hat.” Well, there was a young family tied up at the dock also and the boy tried to snag the hat with his rod and then the father tried, but to no success. So the boy decided that the hat was too good to lose and he dove in and swam about 15 yards out and retrieved it. Many thanks to the young boy (shame on me for not getting his and his family’s name) for doing that. We all raced under the marina porch and watched the storm. The father stayed in their boat and caught a small channel cat. The boy brought his rod over and caught a channel also. The rain eventually stopped and we headed back out to finish catching our bait. We got a few and decided to set up for flatheads. We had one decent take down but no hookups. I think this storm really affected the flattys. You know, storms can affect fishing that way and I thought we drove all that way and nothing (flatheads) to show for it. On our way home, I started to see some of the blessings in the day: 1. I was out with a good friend, 2. We were safe, 3. We met a nice family and gained a couple of new subscribers, 4. Got my hat back. The next morning Dianne (my wife) and I were talking and she said that the rain we had at our house was “like a love pat from God.” That statement sure put things in their correct priority. It has been so horribly hot and dry here and God new what we needed when we needed it. Dianne really needed it that day; the heat was really getting to her that afternoon while doing her outside chores. Isn’t that just like our God??!! To give us things when we NEED them. Jesus said in Matthew 6:31 – 34: “And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” A lot of our lives is taken up with thinking about why isn’t God doing this or that and not about simply trusting him. God sums it up in Isaiah 55:8 & 9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Maybe this is where I need to end this post.

Filmed another installment of Pan Fish Wednesday (I know it’s really Tuesday) today and met a very nice young boy and his father out fishing. They were visiting from Colorado. The boy asked if I had a YouTube channel because he saw the camera equipment. A short time later the boy reeled in his first ever bass and I had the privilege of filming the exciting event. That video will come out possibly next week or the week after. It was neat to see a father and son out fishing together: way to go Dad! I believe it is becoming a thing of the past. The father and I were standing next to one another fishing when I suddenly caught a crappie. The father remarked to me that we only see what is on the surface, because that fish seemingly came out of nowhere. That statement got me to thinking about the Apostle Paul and as I am writing this post, King David came to mind. We see only what is on the surface (the exterior) of a person and not what they are really like. Paul was not a good speaker (I Corinthians 2:1-4). If Paul was in some of our churches today he would probably be laughed out of the pulpit. And yet God used him to write the majority of the New Testament and to bring more people to a saving knowledge of Jesus than anyone else outside of Christ Himself. When Samuel came to anoint the new king at Jesse’s house (Samuel 16), he thought sure that it had to be one on David’s brothers because they physically looked the part. And yet God chose young David, the smallest of them all, because David was “a man after mine own heart” (Acts 13:22). So the next time that we are out fishing and we are trying to “read the water” to see what kind of lure or bait to use, remember we can’t always see below the surface. Or when we meet someone and we make a snap judgement call of that person, remember we can’t see below the surface and that there may be a Paul or a David in that person. “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because the LORD seeth not as a man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

Had an epic morning in the Itty Bitty Lure Challenge! Wait till you see the video that will come out on FishingWithOhDad this Friday August 21st. Here are some of my friends that allow me to use the pond.

Fishing sure can be a funny (I don’t mean hilarious- even though it can be that too) thing. What may seem like the correct lure to use might not be the one you need to use. What lure may work at one time, won’t work now. What speed of a retrieve worked one at one time, work work now. It can be slightly frustrating and sometimes highly frustrating endeavor. That was the case in today’s video. I tried several things that had produced fish before and had no success. So, I just kept at it until I found something that would work. Watch my video to find out what it was that worked and how things went on the water. This got me to thinking that with Jesus, we never have to figure out what will work in any situation we find our selves in. The plan is found in God’s Word! The most basic of all the plans that will work EVERY time is found in Romans 10:13: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” This most basic of God’s plan ASSURES us of a home in heaven. For the here and now, one of God’s most basic of plans is the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20: 3- 17). Yes, they still apply to us today; which if they were followed would sure make life on earth a whole lot easier. God’s plan(s) always work; there is no second guessing or trying a different way: for “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) Works every time!!

Did you ever have one of those days where you were totally blown away by the events of the day? Well I had one of those times this morning. An epic few hours of fishing. I started a new FishingWithOhDad series called the Itty Bitty Lure Challenge and man did it get off to a rip roaring start. The video will be out on August 21st.