Thankful (#2 of 4)

It’s Thanksgiving Week and I’ve got tons of things to be thankful for. My family and I  are very Blessed. I give thanks for that every day. I’ve also got quite a list of things I’m thankful for – present and past – when it comes to the outdoors. I’m sure you do to. This is day two of sharing some of them, in no particular order. I hope you enjoy the list.  You’ll probably recognize many of them. Some I felt the need to put a short explanation behind. Others, you just figure it out.  And HEY — I’d love to hear comments from you on some the things you are most thankful for in the outdoors! Just click the comment button below…

Here goes:

Duck Dynasty * My original hand-made original patent-pending Duck Commander (a gift from Phil Robertson himself) * Swamp People * Alligator hunting on Black Bayou with Robert DeBlieux * 500 duck decoys, fried buffalo ribs and a real commode in the old Wham Brake duck blind (no kidding) * The old Y tree (you had to hunt Wham to know this one) * The Rivers’ Ford Bass Tournament * Fishing with Bill Dance * Watching Bill Dance on TV * The wobblehead * Teal season * Box stands * Padded boat seats * Lake Fork * Just one more cast *  “Dad, can we bream fish now?” (in the midst of catching four pound bass schooling at Lake Fork).

White perch on the Yucatan * Mike Gammil jigs * Long weekend camping trip on an uncharted island in the Atchafalaya Basin * Living through camping trip on an island in the Atchafalaya basin * Spawning crappie * Spawning bass * The big bream bed at Stan’s camp at Toledo Bend * Bank bassin with Gary Cooper (my friend, not the actor) * Fishing with Zametto hair jigs * The Ouachita River * The old floating dock at Jake’s * Black Grape Jelly Wagglers * Cheniere Lake * Crappie longer than the filet knife * Spring crappie in Jack’s cove * Fishing pictures that come out in focus * Mom keeping boxes of my old newspaper columns and magazine articles.

Ollie Hopnoodle’s Haven of Bliss * Finch Lake * Sleeping in the back of the truck in the Caldwell Parish woods the night before squirrel season *  Mr. Cornish (who always had time to take me fishing) * Baer and No-Show * Sunrise on Lake D’Arbonne * Ford Dealers For Bass tournament circuit * My fishing tournament patch collection *  Deer hunting with Don * The Judge spinnerbait * FLW bass tournaments * Cruising the woods with Gary Farley *  Creme and Fliptail plastic worms * Grandpa’s tackle box (simply a metal Burley & Bright tobacco can)  *  Mister Twisters * Clear Blue Stren * Duck hunting the rice fields * Almost being able to shoot before Turner & Laird empty their shotguns (boom, boom, boom, boom… followed by “take ‘em”…) * Toledo Bend crappie guides.

More tomorrow. . .