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Our drive from Houston to Ashford, AL where the Bass's live in their 'new' farm was of great interest as practically the entire way we witnessed the destruction caused by the recent hurricanes along Interstate 10 and 12 highways. We have never seen such turmoil along the way in the form of downed signs, trees and damaged roofs. It was incredible!

I'm sorry we failed to get pictures of the Bass's farm because it's beautiful! My only excuse is that we were focused on fishing and spent idle time waiting for the weather to break in order to get going. While we were there Cathy served wonderful meals and Bob showed us around the place which included peanut, cotton, and hay fields. His focus is maintaining the rest of the acreage to sustain the 'critters'.

The photo to the right is at their place in Port St. Joe where we tried fishing for grouper off shore. We weren't very successful due to the pollution from Katrina which damage the 'crop'. Here we share a fresh seafood dinner with Capt'n Earl Middleton a renown charter captain in the area.

 

  

We tried fishing Port St. Joe Bay, which is about the most beautiful bay I've ever seen, and did OK, but the weather was not amenable. So, next day we headed inshore to the Chipole river which is a tributary of the Apalachicola river, just below Dead Lake.

Here we are putting in with great expectations of filling the creel with pan fish.

The person on the left instructed us exactly where to catch fish, but 'the boys' knew better.

We pulled up to the bank, baited our hooks with various sorts of worms and fished on the bottom. Bob started catching fish almost immediately! It took me some time to catch on, but I did fairly wall based on his instructions.

 

He made it look easy!
Sam & Mac decided to move on to a better place. When we caught up with them, Sam was distraught with the amount of water his boat had consumed. We managed to extract the water with a bilge pump Bob had on board and things returned to normal. There was no hole in the hull and the problem was attributed to a wake some one placed across the stern earlier in the day.
As the day waned Sam & Mac pose for a final photo. Sorry Mac ducked his head at the last moment.
Bob tried to the last minute to subdue a fine fish. Here he had one on the line, but couldn't quite extract him from the cypress roots. He really tried, though! I watched him.
Bob brings us home.
While waiting for Bob to get the trailer to the ramp. I wanted to capture what I call "Cypress Cove" on film. It's an OK image, but the actual image I recall will always be more impressive than this minimal representation.
Back at the ranch we cleaned the pan fish we had caught. Here Bob starts the process. Bob has local names for the fish that I'll relate in a later release of this posting, but what you see is large mouth bass (small ones), blue gill, Redear Sunfish, Redbreast Sunfish, Warmouth, possibly Spotted Sunfish, and Channel Catfish.
Here Cathy & Carolyne swoon over their men's production of dinner material.
Bob & I continue cleaning, which consisted of scaling the fish, chopping off the heads, and removing what entrails remained.
Champ, a champion squirrel dog appreciated all the activities.
Dinner is prepared with pan fish & fresh shrimp from Pt. St. Joe Bay.
Bob relaxes at his bar with appropriate snacks.
The pan fish are prepared masterfully by Bob and served with great anticipation.....
Everyone, Bob , me, Carolyne, Mac, Sam, and Cathy enjoyed the feast!

Just before we left, Cathy noticed what she was certain was a monarch butterfly. I took this picture to provide verification. I believe she is correct.

 

What a GREAT trip!

 

Thanks Bob & Cathy!