Family Reunion

This past weekend was awesome in many ways.

First, got to spend all of Friday night catfishing with a good friend.

On Saturday, spent some time working on my boat and hanging out with my wife later in the day.

Then, of course, got to spend Sunday morning at church with some of the most awesome volunteers and friends at Meadow Spring. Sunday mornings at Meadow are the best!

And then...to wrap up the day, spent some time on Sunday afternoon with some cousins I haven't seen in over thirty years...Debbie Jones and her husband Jess, and Linda Garrett and her husband Robert.

They were up from Texas for a graduation party and other family stuff. It was great to be able to see them and catch up on life. Linda's husband is a "rocker" and musician...so he and I spent a good chunk of time talkin' guitars, bands, favorite concerts, etc. It was a lot of fun!

Just hope it isn't another thirty years until we meet again!

Here's a couple of pics to commemorate the day.

Debbie, Uncle George, Dad, Mom Aunt Mary, Linda, Uncle Herb

The whole clan with husbands and kids...that's me in the middle back row.

The Cat Hunter

No...not that kind of cat...I mean catfish.

Got home this morning from an all night catfish tournament on the Minnesota River. The tournament was a fund raiser for the Relay For Life.

My buddy Chad and I launched out of Shakopee at 7PM, motored upstream to look for a spot to camp on the river bank for the night and then set to some serious fishing. We found an awesome campsite by Chaska.

The river level is about 12-15 higher than normal and the current was really swift, so it was tough going...the cats were not in their normal haunts...but hey, that is what makes it a sport.

It was an awesome night...nice spot to set up base camp, found a good amount of firewood, good food and great company!

I got lucky for fishing the river for the first time. Caught two nice channel cats between 2AM and 5AM...the first one was 22" and weighed in at 5 pounds. The second cat was 25" long and weighed in at 6 pounds. (Chad, unfortunately got skunked).

The tournament was catch, photograph, measure, release. When you caught a cat, you snapped a pic with you, the fish and a tournament flyer (to prove you caught it that night), then measure the fish and release. About 30 guys participated. My 6 pounder was good enough for second place in the Channel Cat category.

Fishing the river is a lot of fun. Once you launch from the boat ramp and head out, you really have no idea the city is just on the other side of the bank. It really feels like you're out in the deep woods. What a great way to spend Friday night.

Anyway...here's a couple pics of the fish.