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Since our solstice was the last day before the really unpleasant high temp and high humidity (heat index 107 or more) “mugly” weather arrived today), and, the timing worked out, wifey, daughter-san, and I did our belated “Father’s Day” yesterday and headed up to a nicer lake (than Dolan Lake) up in S. Illinois: Pounds Hollow. The water was not as clear as usual due to the recent storms, but, it was still at least as good as, say, KY Lake or Lake Barkley most of the time: Ie., swimmable. And, there was no storm debris in the water.

To my delight, the Forest Service has, after many years of neglect, cleared a little bit more of the slab-rock trail the Civilian Conservation Corps built MANY years ago, north of the beach, so there is more bank access. It appears they even zapped some (but not all) of the poison ivy. So, after a good swim @ the beach that REALLY did a number on some thigh muscles I’ve not used extensively that way, for a while, wifey and I did some fishing. It started slow, but after 6 pm the bluegill and catfish were biting nicely. The Channel Catfish were hitting our little garden worms on light rigs for bluegill - there’s little like having a 4 lb. channel catfish smack your worm on a bluegill rig not even a second after it hit the water. People who think Channel Cats are just bottom feeders, don’t know the fish well! They are often voracious feeders throughout the water column.)

Twice good size fish ran me into snags. Another time the fish was simply faster than I was, taking the bobber down to a snag B4 I even got my reel engaged after the cast, and hanging me up. 2 times I was able to break the (light wire) hook free by pulling hard enough to bend it. The other time, I snapped the line and, the bobber being a no longer made, and rarely seen larger size “Rocket Bobber” (IMO one of the best fishing products ever made)... I decided to wade out to it to retrieve it. The bottom in the spot we were fishing has lots of roughly 10” - 14” diameter (probably old rip-rap) rocks, so, that was a bit dicey. But, I was able to not turn an ankle, and did safely retrieve the entire terminal tackle rig.

400(?) ft. across from us, a couple guys were decidedly “less safe” in behavior. They were using a mildly impressive rope swing hung from a large tree, and users have to hang on past the shallow water @ the bank B4 dropping maybe 10 ft. into the water. These guys were far too drunk... This resulted in a conversation drifting over to us that went like (minus the every 3rd word being profanity):

“I’m perfectly aware that I am taking my life in my hands, and I am responsible for what I am doing.”

“Yahooo!!!”

**Big splash**

“Hey! HEY!! Do you need help??!!”

**Smaller splashes**

“No, man, I’m ok. But I think my hangover has started early.”

Sheesh!

We ended up bringing home 9 nice bluegill and the 4 largest catfish - roughly 12 lbs of catfish in all, maybe a touch more. I made up simple cornmeal based breading and wifey fried up some of the catfish for supper. Oh, was that good. No fishy or muddy taste at all. :-)