Rollin' on the River

We had a beautiful weekend here. It has warmed up, but hasn't gotten too hot yet. It's nice to get out and enjoy it while it's still pleasant. What better way to do that than go fishing!

We have so many rivers, lakes, creeks and streams around here that are great for fishing.

I had never been to this particular lake. It is off the Mobile River, through a thick forest of cypress trees. It was absolutely beautiful riding through these trees.....it was almost magical. It was so calm, and quiet. All you could hear was the birds singing (after you blocked out the sound of the boat motor).

Cypress knees sticking out above the water. No one really knows what purpose these knees serve. Some think it's to help anchor the tree down, or to supply oxygen to the tree.

Each tree is unique, and come in all different shapes. A lot of them are hollow on the inside. 

There were a lot of plants popping up

There is a small path through the trees that leads you from the river into the lake.

Of course when you go up on the river you always see wildlife. I apologize for some of the photos being blurry. I realized after the fact, that I had my camera on the wrong setting. These animals are wild, and will run away as soon as they see you. So you don't always have time to sit and fiddle with your camera.

We drove really slow through this area just in case we crept up on something.

If you look in the pink circle you will see a raccoon. He was feeding on crayfish.

Now let me tell ya'll that I DO NOT like snakes. I know that some snakes are good (or so people tell me), and some are bad (they are all bad to me). I don't like them, and I don't care to see them. I prefer NOT to ever see them! When I go turkey hunting, I always wear snake proof boots and keep my eyes peeled. I wouldn't care if a snake was hot pink with purple polka dots....its still a snake!

Apparently this is a "good" snake. It is a water snake. I'm not sure what makes it "good"....nor do I care to find out.

But this snake (below) is NOT a good snake......

Ugggghhhh!!! This just just sends chills down my spine. Nasty, ugly water moccasin (also know as a cotton mouth). It is the ONLY venomous aquatic snake in North America (lucky us). It is an aggressive snake, and isn't one to shy away from a confrontation. It can burrow down into the mud....which creeps me out even more! There are 42 species of snakes in Alabama, and of those, only 6 are poisonous. I guess we got a good deal on that one.....6 is much better than 25!!! 

So if you see one of these snakes get away from it.

There is always a turtle sunning on a long. Sometimes a few of them on one log. This little guy was about to hit the water when I snapped his picture.

Hopefully he won't run into this guy............

There are alot of alligators through here. Seems like I generally see the smaller ones in the smaller creeks. When you get out on the bigger rivers, you always see the BIG BIG gators sunning on the banks.

There are also a lot of beautiful birds. Birds that do not like to have their pictures taken, and don't like boats. Usually when they hear or see a boat they take off. This makes it very hard to get a picture of a bird. This egret was patiently stalking his soon to be lunch.

There are alot of camp houses along the river. I would looove to have a camp house on the river. I would probably never take my snake boots off though. They would be a staple in my river wardrobe, right along with my shotgun that would probably stay strapped to my back, and an industrial size can of bug spray.  . Most of these camp houses get power from generators and water from a well. If they don't have a well then they have to bring their own water, and that doesn't sound fun.

We finally reached our destination.....

This beautiful lake tucked back in the woods.

The sky was such a bright shade of blue....and now my back is a bright shade of pink :-). I applied sunscreen, but then I fell asleep on the boat and got a little burnt.

There was a slight breeze, and it felt great.

 

In between naps on the boat, sun bathing, eating, looking for snakes, gators, birds and turtles......I fished a little.

Ok....well I fished alot.......

We caught a few bass, white perch and a lot of bream.

77 to be exact! Miss Citizen of the Year (my grandma) was REALLY excited about cleaning them. She used to fish a lot, and apparently enjoys cleaning them. Cleaning them is a slippery job. Granny got her spoon and I got my butter knife and we went to scraping scales off!

We fried a few Sunday night and they were divine!!!! Now we have plenty in the freezer to cook up later. I can't wait until my next trip up the river. Never know what you will see.