Woods and Water SC

Lake Murray... #6 on the Top Ten "Best Bass Lakes" list!

Lake Murray Country Bassmaster

Been working on a little shooting project…and I think it turned out pretty good!

57” long, 15” wide at the seats, 48” wide at the other end and 35” tall. Top is Trex (interior cut to be flat, outside with the factory edge to keep stuff from rolling off the top.)

Better than the spool shooting bench I first thought about building!!

Got to hand it to the National Park Service…
😆

I like hats and I will wear them until they fall apart…but that’s not the case here though!

The middle hat is probably 13 years old, and it didn’t fall apart. Nope, it got knocked off by a limb, sucked in, then chewed up and spit out by my John Deere riding mower. Devastated to lose one of my favorites!!

Fast forward a year and I mentioned the accident to my friend Anthony Gagliardi and wondered if he had any leftovers. Well, now I have 2 (remember when you like something be sure to buy 2 of them before they quit making them)!

So not only do I have my own for the next 15 years or so, but I have one for my special fishing buddy too!

Yay….another exciting ffs fishing tournament.

Don’t get me wrong, the Pro’s are doing what they have to do to catch them, but this on the screen for 4 days is not going to attract new viewers…and I bet there aren’t as many old viewers watching it like they used to either.

Told you I had more of both "Sentimental Journey" and "Maid in the Mist".

If you get a chance to see some of these old warriors fly, you need to make it happen!

Miss that chance and you miss the smell of burnt rubber and aviation fuel, the sound of the throttle ups and downs with magneto checks, the roar of old engines coming to full power as they pull the old airframes down the runway, and the purring of those same engines as they throttle back and ride the air on final...then the silence as they either disappear into the distance or shut it all down on the ramp.

The day I don't get excited about any of this is probably the day of my funeral...because just like the outdoors, airplanes are just part of who I am.

1 week for the short stuff, 3 weeks for the taller stuff…just need to keep a weekly afternoon thunderstorms or two rolling through for the next couple of months.

Is that too much to ask??

I have more...but wanted to get a couple up because I just saw that yesterday, June 9th, was the 80th birthday of the CAF Airbase Arizona B-25 "Maid in the Shade"!

Anyone else see these beauties flying around Rock Hill, Clover, McConnells, Lowrys, Chester, Richburg, Fort Lawn, Catawba and Waxhaw this past weekend? Sure hope they come back again next year, love to see them still flying after 80 years!

The outdoors is always “out there”…and sometimes just a little goes a long way.

Hope you have a blessed Sunday!

SpaceX Falcon 9…iPhone 15Pro!

As we go about our day, we remember their day...D-Day.

I said I was going to “need” a few of them, so here’s the skinny!

They cast a mile, have great action, and even I can catch fish on them!!

The new D.O.T. Minnow from Greenfish Tackle.

Shrimp burger, shrimp and grits, shrimp etouffee, shrimp scampi, fried shrimp, shrimp tacos...

South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
South Carolina Shrimpers Association

Same OG LEVEL rods from Anthony Gagliardi but thanks to some good friends in the industry, finished switching over to all Lew's fishing reels.

Smoooooth operators!

Finish work…

Anyone else decide to ditch the bedroom, set up a cot and an air mattress on the porch and sleep outside last night?

I’m a sucker for cool temps where I can go to sleep looking up at a clear sky full of stars…but it was a bit CHILLY outside this morning!!

Who else likes throwing a Greenfish Tackle Toad Toter, designed by Brandon Cobb Fishing, and watching them INHALE it…along with the Zoom Bait H***y Toad. One of many on a very windy afternoon.

This is a rhetorical question…but it’s worthy of some Amens!!

A couple more hours of this next week and I’ll be ready to seed it, roll it with the cultipacker, and then sit back and enjoy watching it all grow!

Yes…I’m late again this year!!

As you wake up this Saturday morning before Memorial Day, take 5 minutes while you get ready to at least listen to this…then find 77 minutes this weekend to watch the movie Taking Chance.

I promise you it will put a renewed meaning into Monday’s holiday.

Taking Chance. A Memorial Day Tribute A Tribute. Scenes taken from the film Taking Chance.

As you look forward to this 3 day weekend…just be sure to remember and reflect on why you have it.

My “Official Taste Tester” asked for more than just the customary forkful…that’s always a good thing!!

Lost a freezer…luckily it wasn’t to the point of using a roll of duck tape to tape it shut and then off to the dump with it!!

Actually a lot of stuff was still frozen, but for some reason these things had a couple of soft edges. So, I’m watching 40 pounds of Boston Butts for the next 8 hours or so.

No, I don’t use a lot of rub, mainly relying on good meat, brown sugar and apple juice brine, and then some John Henry’s South Carolina Butt Rub…along with some more apple juice and brown sugar basting!

Know your snakes!

Copperheads are another venomous snake resident here in South Carolina. Many people mistake the Corn Snake or the Milk Snake for a Copperhead, but if you look at the skin patterns, it’s easy to identify the “Hershey Kiss” of the Copperhead.

These guys like to live near water, but they like to hide in overgrown shrubs, vines and old brush and limb piles.

I’ve come close to being bit by a Copperhead, actually struck at me several times…but I can DANCE when I have too 😆!!

The man who knew how to wear a P-51 Mustang to work has passed away…

Brigadier General Clarence Emil “Bud” Anderson, age 102.

Triple Ace during WW2…
Promoted to Major in 1944 at the age of 22…
Fighter Plane Test pilot…
Wing Commander during the Vietnam War…

“High Flight”

“Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .​
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.​“
— John Gillespie Magee, Jr

A few of my favorite Mustang pics in his memory.