The best meal after Kayaking, Halloween Stew....

Not too long ago, my buddy's and I floated the Duck River. You may ask, what is floated? Well around here the technical definition is...to float down the river, in a boat while fishing from one destination to another, float. The crew included Buttermilk (Jeff Loudermilk) and Duck Master (Tim Oldfield). Duck Master knows this river like bananas know yellow. The weather was a typical fall day with the wind blowing lightly and about 60 degrees. Lucky for us, the leaves were just starting to fall from the trees, which was good because we didn't have to worry about leaves getting tangled in our lines. We actually paddled up stream and floated back down.

Here we have Buttermilk giving Duck Master, in his banana boat, a shove off to start the adventure. The water was amazingly clear for this river. Our plan was to fish for about four hours and catch a few bass or anything that would bite and paddle back to camp for a hot bowl of Buttermilk's Pumpkin Stew. More about Pumpkin Stew later! 

Right off the bat, Duck Master catches a small largemouth bass on a silver artificial minnow crank bait. Notice that smile, even catching small fish makes people gitty.   

Duck Master relaxing in his kayak. What a great day to be on the water with friends! As I always say..."Life is short, Get away from the big screen and get on a big stream." If more folks would do this, then there would be a lot more happiness!  

While paddling over to a nice spot to cast, I heard a loud sound. It actually sounded like my neighbor raking leaves at 6:00 am in the morning, next to my bedroom window. I looked up the steep bank and spotted a very chubby animal. It even looks like my neighbor. It was a woodchuck, also known as a groundhog or land-beaver. Luckily he was only foraging in the leaves and not chucking wood. 

Fishing was a little slow, but we did manage to catch a few more small bass. Here comes "Fancy Paddle" also known as Buttermilk. The reason I call him fancy paddle is because his paddles cost more than my Kayak. No kidding, they're a piece of art.   

Well, there is always an adventure on the Duck River and Duck Master found it. While paddling up fairly swift water he turned sideways and the banana boat leaned into the water and capsized. Not only did Duck Master get wet, he has a bruised banana (boat). We did find his fishing pole, bait box, etc... I'm sure glad it wasn't 30 degrees!

Do you feel the warmth? After the Duck Master incident we hurried back to base camp. Checkout our fire! There is nothing like a warm fire on a cool fall day, especially if someone is wet. Notice that large back log. Perfect for radiating the heat, in fact it was so hot I had to rotisserate to keep from getting burned. Stay tuned because we are fixing to eat. I know, you may ask what is fixing? Fixing, a southern term which means "ready to do something."

The perfect end of a fishing trip, Halloween Stew. Before we left, Buttermilk had prepared a pot of Halloween stew, dutch oven style. I asked Buttermilk what is Halloween stew and he said that he carved the carrots like little pumpkins. Hmmm....I'm not sure about that. Anyway, why does food taste better near the water after a full day's adventure?

Amazing, check-out those little carved pumpkin carrots! Hope you enjoyed the post.

Custom Lake Maps

I DON'T ALWAYS DO MAPS, but when I do, they are treasured maps. I just completed this 20x40, custom lake map of Lake Washington located in Minnesota. It's a beautiful lake with lots of wildlife.

Not only are walleyes common, but large and smallmouth bass, crappie, blue gill, and northern pike are too. You will find much wildlife/waterfowl around the lake such as eagles, osprey, cranes, otter, beaver and my favorite, loons. In fact, I added a couple of loons on the map along with fish, and Canadian Geese. Interesting, I always hide a tiny mermaid to the waters of all my lake map paintings that folks love to search for. 

Also, you can add a star to your favorite spot. If you would like to see more and read about my treasured maps go to LeoLakes.com.  We have Lake house maps, and vintage style maps, that make great gifts for the lake house. If we don't have your lake, a custom map can be produced, check us out.

Remember: Life is short, get away from the big screen and get on a big stream.

Father daughter tattoo........

I have a secret, I have a tattoo. It's not unlike Fred the Fisherman's tattoo below, but it is different. I do fish, however I didn't get a fishing tattoo. I would describe it as sentimental, an activity done over a long period of time, and it has a twin. Yes a twin. Who would put a tattoo on their face, not me. My new tattoo is actually located on my ankle, however some folks may call them cankles. 

I suppose it's time for the big reveal. My tattoo says 'run." Yes, that's it. Why in the world would I get a tattoo that says "run"? That a great question! I wasn't drunk when I got it. Believe it or not, I have run about 12 miles a week for the last 23 years, but that's not the reason I got this new tattoo. It is all because of my daughter. She started running with me when she was in elementary school. Now, she is almost 23 years old. A few months ago, she got a tattoo because she loves to run and told me that it was all because of me. So, she said that we should consider getting a twin tattoo. 

So I did!

As you can see from this photo, we have twin tattoos. I think it's kind of cool to have twin tattoos. I only wish that I had started her out fishing..........

Paddle over to my studio and check-out my beautiful maps. Add beauty to your lake house! A nice big map of the lake that you live on. Have a large wall, hang a large map! 

Anyway, check-out my lake house lake maps, makes a great gift. Click here, Leolakes.com to see if we have your map. We have many popular lake maps such as the Lake Winnipesaukee, Great Sacandaga Lake, Lewis Smith Lake, Pickwick Lake, Greer's Ferry Lake, Lake Sidney Lanier, Lake Sinclair, Table Rock Lake, and Lake Wallenpaupack for the lake house.  Also, we paint custom maps and have personalized maps for that special someone. 

A few bait cartoons...

Yeah like my title? I do....I'm still doing bobber cartoons, but slowing down. I had no idea that I could come up with so many bobber cartoons. I think that I have over fifty, that's a world record. I'm sure.  Hope you like'm and remember, "Bait can be fun!" Enjoy

Seriously, Paddle over to my website and take a look at my Lake, River, and Bay Maps. I have hundreds of decor maps on my website that can be purchased right from the site, or I can do custom and personalized vintage style lake maps, too. Lake maps will add beauty to your Fish Camp, Lake House or Cabin. The Best lake lover gift of he year.  Find out more interesting facts about my treasured maps by going to LeoLakes.com.