Rural Lifestyle

Life in Rural America

Tag: fishing

June 2018 Fishing Trip on the Angelina River – A Short Story

Fishing and Boating, Pictures, Random Ramblings
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Southeast Texas alligator

The day started a little earlier than others when the alarm went off at 5:00 am. As soon as the alarm went off a war of attrition began in my head. One voice was talking about how comfortable the bed was and to forget about the fishing trip. The other voice was telling me to get up and go because in a few weeks the full brunt of the Texas heat will be here.

Realizing in another three or four weeks the July heat wave will be upon us, I decided to crawl (though reluctantly) out of bed and head to the shower. There is something refreshing about getting a morning shower.

Attire for the day was Levis jeans, green Carhart shirt, and Justin leather work boots. Typically, I wear shorts and sneakers on fishing trips, but this trip was different. Part of this trip was for pictures and videos. Rather than walking through a swampy area with sneakers, to decided to wear boots.

All of the gear had been loaded in either the Toyota T100 truck, or in the Weldbilt aluminum boat the night before. All that needed to be done was take a shower, get dressed, grab my everyday carry gear, and head out the door. I had wanted to leave the house around 5:30, but was able to leave around 5:20 or so.

Driving to the Angelina River

Disrespect For Nature

Fishing and Boating, Random Ramblings
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Bee Tree Slough Jasper Texas

Friday April 25, 2014 my daughter and I went fishing on the Angelina River here in Jasper Texas. We left the house around 7:30am, went to the Exxon gas station at the intersection of HWY 96 and HWY 190 for a bag of ice, went to the donut shop on HWY 190 then headed to Bevil Port.

For breakfast my daughter got a large kolache while I got a ham, egg and cheese croissant. While at the donut shop I asked my daughter if she wanted a chocolate milk to drink. She promptly replied she was not three years old anymore. I smiled, gave her a hug, and told her something like “nope, you are not three years old anymore.” Kids grow up so fast it seems time flies by.

The launch at Bevil Port was typical. Pull the boat around, unstrap, make sure the plug is in, load tackle box, life jackets, 5 gallon bucket of noodles, then pull around and back the boat down. The starter switch on the motor is going out, so I had to use the pull rope to crank the motor.

After a couple of pulls that Evinrude 30 fired up and off we went.

Trash on the river

Hobbies For Survivalist

Preparedness Articles
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So you are sitting around the house, nothing is on TV, no new or exciting news on the internet,,,,, what do you do?

You could always play some Skyrim or Left 4 Dead 2. But Left 4 Dead 2 is getting old.

What hobbies can survivalist get into that will help improve our long term SHTF survival skills?

Coin Collecting

Most of us handle money in shape for or fashion just about everyday. Why not get into coin collecting so you can start stockpiling silver and other valuable coins?

Silver and gold have been recognized as being valuable for thousands of years. At one time the US dollar was backed by gold, but now its just backed by a promise. If that promise ever falls through it would be good to have some kind of money that has a real physical value.

Ever though they are getting very rare, from time to time I find a pre-1965 quarter in my change. When I find silver coins they go into storage.

Years ago I used to take my kids down to a pawn shop in Orange Texas to buy them silver dollars and half-dollars. I was trying to teach my children the value of real money. Times change, things change, we moved away from Bridge City and Jasper Texas. The local pawn shops around here do not sell silver coins.

Crabbing Baileys Road Bridge City Texas

Fishing and Boating, Pictures, Videos
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Crabbing on Baileys Road in Bridge City, Texas

As the people who live in Bridge City, Groves and Orangefield Texas already know, crabbing on Baileys road is a local tradition.

Before the Rainbow Bridge was built there was a ferry that ran between Bridge City and Port Arthur.

Baileys road was constructed through the middle of a marsh. As you are driving down the road, there is a canal that runs parallel to the road on the right hand side, and marsh grass on the left hand side.

When the road intersects Sabine Lake, the road makes a 90 degree turn to the left.

From the 90 degree turn, Baileys road winds along the edge of Sabine Lake for maybe 1/2 a mile or so until the road crosses over a bridge and dead ends.

After the Rainbow Bridge was built, people no longer needed the ferry so it was decommissioned. Even though the ferry was gone, Baileys has remained a popular icon.

Baileys Road

Chickens Fishing and Cooking After SHTF

Fishing and Boating, Homesteading, Preparedness Articles
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Cooking at the Bug Out Location

As a survivalist, prepping / survivalism should NOT be a hobby, it is a way of life. What good does it do if you stockpile food, stockpile survival gear, but never practice or test your preps. If you incorporate survivalism into your lifestyle, you will always be testing, planning and looking for ways to improve.

While looking across my backyard this weekend, I realized that part of my preps were not only in the backyard, but how they were part of my life. The three preps I saw were the chicken coop, boat and bar-b-que pit.

Think about that for a minute, the chicken coop and the boat are a source of food. The pit provides a way to cook and smoke meat.

Some people raise chickens for fun, some raise them to know where their eggs and meat came from. Survivalist keep chickens so our families can have a source of food and protein during a long term SHTF survival situation. That is how we look at things. Survivalism is not a hobby, its not something we do on the weekends, its a way of life.

Video about cooking some mac and cheese that had been stored in a mylar bag for 1 year.

On the topic of fishing

Fishing and Boating
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Bass fishing southeast TexasIf you are looking for peace and quiet, few things can compare to fishing. Casting a lure or bait out into the water, and letting it sit, is about as close to nature that one can get.

Last weekend my wife and I went to Dam B to do some fishing. As I was casting off the bank, and bass followed my lure up to the bank and grabbed it just before it was supposed to go out of the water. It was so peaceful and natural, as the bass swam up to the lure and grabbed it. I wonder how many times that has been replayed over the past thousands of years.

The bass was pulled up, the hook was removed and the bass was released no worse for the wear. Maybe it will be a little wiser from its experience, but then again, maybe not.

If there is one thing that I like about fishing (besides catching something), it has to be being close to nature. When the boat is launched, and I head out on the water, there is a certain peace and clam that is over the water.

The water is pure, it knows no violence, it knows no anger, greed, envy, jealously, or hatred. The water is a friend to everyone, as it treats everyone the same.

Stockpiling SHTF Fishing Gear For Fishing After Collapse of Society

Fishing and Boating, Survival Gear, Videos
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Stockpiling SHTF fishing gear for fishing after collapse of society

One of the things about keeping a stockpile of SHTF survival gear, is having a well rounded stockpile. This includes having SHTF fishing gear on hand. A lot of survivalist focus on various items, and often overlook at age old resource of fishing.

Some fishing gear on the market is cheap, so there is no excuse for not stockpiling at least the basics.

With tackle box and catfish bucket in hand, its time to take inventory of my fishing supplies.

Lets take a look at the tackle box first. I have owned this tackle box for close to 16 years. Its been just about everywhere fishing with me, everywhere from 30 and 45 miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico to lake Sam Rayburn.

My gear is divided into a couple of different boxes, with more gear stored in the gear room.

Stockpiling SHTF Fishing Gear

Ok, lets get started:

On the topic of fishing

Fishing and Boating, Videos
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While playing around in youtube, I decided to put together a few playlist. One of the playlist is about fishing and here it is.

To advance to the next video in the play list, click the next button in the bottom left hand corner.

Fishing is something that I was raised around as far back as I can remember. when I was maybe 4 or 5 years old, I remember my mom and dad taking my brother and I fishing around the local ponds. When we moved to Bridge City, my dad bought a boat to take us out on Sabine Lake between Bridge City and Port Arthur.

Now that I am grown and have kids of my own, I have tried to keep that family tradition going by taking my kids fishing.

Stockpiling Fishing Supplies for SHTF

Fishing and Boating, Preparedness Articles, Survival Gear
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Bass fishing on the Angelina River

As I have said in several forum post about stockpiling survival gear for SHTF, I think fishing supplies should be at the top of the list. That is, unless you live in a desert or hundreds of miles from a water source.

In some kind of long term SHTF survival situation, fishing could be an important food source. The better prepared you are to utilize fish as a food source, the better your chances for success.

On the way home from work today, my wife and I stopped by Ward’s Outdoor Supply in Jasper Texas. The store is snuggled in the corner of an Exxon gas station at the northeast corner of Hwy 96 and Hwy 190.

To be honest, when I entered the store, I was not expected much, but I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, I was very surprised at the wide selection of fishing supplies that Ward’s had in stock.

Buying Fishing Gear For SHTF

Fishing and Boating, Survival Gear
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While my wife and I were doing our Sunday shopping at the local china-mart, I went to the sporting goods section to look at the fishing supplies. Choices, choices, so many choices. Should I get some perching supplies, or stuff for catfishing, bass fishing,,,,,. Do I want supplies for artificial or live bait.

A lot of survivalist stockpile freeze dried foods, food in mylar bags, canned goods, seeds for a garden and ammunition for hunting. One thing that I do not see talked about a lot is fishing supplies. Maybe fishing supplies is a given, that everyone should have fishing supplies stockpiled, or maybe its overlooked by a lot of people?

Fishing supplies bought today:

1. Zoom artificial lizard, 6″ long, cotton candy color – for bass fishing

2. Eagle claw hooks, box of 40, size 1/0 – for catfish, noodles and trot lines

How to Organize a Tackle Box

Fishing and Boating, Preparedness Articles, Survival Gear
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How to organize a tackle box survival fishing supplies

Last night I was going through my tackle box trying to get it a little better organized. The problem was that I had hooks and weights spread out over different section of the tackle box. The top of the box is mostly lures and a few weights and hooks. With the bottom of the box being an assortment of different hooks, weights and other supplies.

Some of the lures in the top of the tackle box include rattle traps, crank baits, beetle spins, and a couple of tiny torpedoes.

After looking through my tackle for a little while, I realized that I fish for about 3 different types of fish – perch, bass and catfish.

For perch I use split weight and small hooks. To organize my tackle box for perch fishing gear, I bought a small double sided container. On one side of the container goes hooks, on the other side goes split weights.

Since perch stay in shallow water, I try to keep a small stock of bobbers (corks).

For bass fishing I use artificial bait, like worms and lizards. A bottom section of the tackle box is dedicated to artificial worms, on top of the worms is a small double sided container like what I keep the perch fishing stuff in. In this container hooks go on one side and weights go on the other side.

Fishing in Sloughs and Gators

Fishing and Boating
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Southeast Texas Alligator

Short version: This morning my daughter and I went to a local park to go fishing. After a few minutes a 6 foot gator showed up to see what was going on.

Over the course of about 15 – 20 minutes, the gator slowly worked its way to within about 8 – 10 feet of the bank. the day was getting hot, and the gator was getting a little too close, so my daughter and I decided to pack up and go home.

Long Version: The day started off around 10:30am when my daughter decided it was time to drag herself out of bed so we could finally go fishing. I had already been up for a couple of hours, had gotten my shower, brushed my teeth, and even made a trip to the store to pick up a couple of low carb blue rock star energy drinks.

While I was waiting for my daughter to get ready, I went through my tackle box, sorted through some of my fishing gear, rounded up the fishing poles, loaded a small ice chest with drinking water into my truck,,,,, finally we were ready to go.

Fishing With Jug Lines After SHTF

Fishing and Boating, Preparedness Articles, Videos
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Drop Lines for long term survival shtf situation

At the end of November of 2010 a buddy of mine and I went on a 3 day camping trip on the Angelina river close to Jasper, Texas. While we were camping, we took the boat and explorer some of the slews in the area.

As we were heading into the slew, there were some jug lines in the water. This got me to thinking, why couldn’t someone use jug lines for harvesting fish during a long term survival situation?

What do we need to make up some drop lines / jug lines?

  • Spool of trot line string
  • Hooks
  • Weights
  • Swivels – optional
  • Spool of monofilament line, something like 20# test
  • Something that floats – 1 gallon plastic bottle, noodle from local china mart, something like that.

When I started working on this jug line project, I wanted the system to be modular. Meaning, all of the parts needed to be easily replaceable. To accomplish this, loops where used in the trot line string.

Tie a loop knot in the end of the trot line string. Make the loop maybe 1.5 – 2 inches long.

Swivels

Going Out on the Angelina River

Fishing and Boating, Pictures
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Weldbilt boat on the Angelina River

Last Saturday my wife and I went out on the Angelina River south of Lake Sam Rayburn for a day of fishing and relaxation. Long story short, it was hot, my wife got sunburned, and she caught the only fish of the day.

I don’t know what it is, but the fish just were not biting. The fish were not biting pumpkin seed worms in a Texas rig, nor were they biting a beetle spin. The only thing we even got a nibble on was a worm on a perch hook.

The boating trip really started on Friday. The boat was uncovered, the battery charged, rods pulled out of the closet, and some drop lines were made up. One thing that I wanted to try Saturday was some drop lines.

So I went to wal-mart, bought a couple of noodles that most people keep in their swimming pools. The noodle measured something like 56 inches long. In the end, I had 8 noodles measuring 7 inches long.

3 Day Camping Trip On The Angelina River

Hiking and Camping, Videos, Wilderness Survival
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camping angelina river jasper texas

It all started several months ago when I was telling my buddy about the undeveloped / primitive camping spots on the Angelina River here in Jasper Texas. Years ago we used to go camping along the bayous and marshes around Bridge City and Orangefield, Texas. But we have not done that in several years. So after talking for a little bit, we decided to take a camping trip on the Angelina River.

Back in early November, a date of November 29 – December 1 was picked. The permit was submitted and the site was reserved.

November 26, 2010

My daughter and I took the boat out to make sure that it would run ok for the camping trip, and to check on the site my buddy and I were going to be using. The site we had reserved was occupied on November 26th so my daughter and I could not stop and take a look at it. We just turned around, and headed back home. The boat ran fine, so there were no worries there.

November 28, 2010

My wife and I drop my kids off at my moms house where my ex-wife will pick them up. From there, my wife and I head over to my buddies house, visit for a little while, then he rides back to my house with my wife and I. Instead of him making the drive to my house Monday, we just picked him up on the way back home.

Kevin Felts © 2008 - 2018