My birthday was yesterday, and typically, my thoughts go on a bit of a random ramble for this annual post. However, things have gotten kind of weird since my last birthday or two and some of those sorts of rambles can either get a guy in trouble or cause some unnecessary unrest these days. In the words of Queen, one mission of my blog is to provide the occasional “escape from reality” that I figure we all can use.

Therefore, just a few pics and words to celebrate another trip around the sun.

In pondering age 54, it came to mind that 54 = 18 x 3. Thus, I am three times as old as I was in the summer of 1985, just after graduating high school. In terms of blogging, I thought it would be fun to grab a fishing picture from each of those eighteen years to see just how things change as the years roll by.

July 1, 1985

August 6, 2003

July 23, 2021

Enough said. Talk to you later. Troy

Once upon a time, I lived at Lake Bracken, a country club located south of Galesburg, IL. It was quite the luxury to have a 170-ish acre lake literally in my backyard and The Spillway just a few minutes’ drive down the road.

In the case of today’s flashback, I actually took my shot at both the lake and The Spillway on the same day.

July 1996 – Lake Bracken 3-8 bass on Mann’s Baby 1- crankbait

For the lake portion of the trip, Dad brought out the Bass Tracker to chase some bass. This trip took place during that unexplained period where I seem to have failed to keep a log. Therefore, the only documentation from the outing is the picture above. Apparently, we only landed one quality bass worth a picture although I suspect we caught some other fish. I still hold out hope that there is a missing fishing log tucked away somewhere but the odds are slim.

July 1996 – Lake Bracken Spillway 5-12 Carp

The latter portion of the day consisted of a visit to The Spillway, a location that has already appeared in several Friday Flashbacks. Once again, no log means that the only evidence is a pair of carp pics. I cannot recall who I was fishing with that afternoon, but it seems that my photographer got shut out.

July 1996 – Lake Bracken Spillway 6-9 Carp

In terms of the photos, these were taken with the old Minolta Disk camera meaning there were no do overs. An unfortunate aspect in retrospect. For one, the lighting on the carp shots leave much to be desired, certainly worth a re-shoot in today’s world of instant digital feedback. Regarding the bass photo, perhaps I would’ve considered putting on a shirt for a better shot. Much younger and a less self-conscious back in those days, I guess. While I did slim down a couple years ago, I think my topless pics are a thing of the past. Especially after this whole pandemic thing got me rather lazy and as a result, rather large around the mid-section.

Need to work on that. Perhaps an uptick in strip mine walks and canal bike rides could kill two birds with one stone. Talk to you later. Troy

35 Years Ago This Summer – 1986 Float Trip

(Please note that “creek” rhymes with “stick” as you proceed to read today’s post)

It’s tough to beat a creek, no matter how you navigate those flowing waters.

In the case of today’s flashback, however, we are sticking to what was called a “float trip.” A float trip involved floating a stretch of creek via some sort of watercraft. In our case, this was either a canoe or that old, eight-foot johnboat that is still rowing strong. In most cases, the first stage of a float trip was to leave a vehicle at the takeout point and then drive another vehicle and watercraft to a launching spot. From the launch, we’d float downstream to one vehicle, load up and then drive to pick up the other vehicle.

The pictures above and below are from a 1986 float trip on a portion of Henderson Creek located in, oddly enough, Henderson County, IL. Dad, Brent, and I were involved in this float, and it looks like we borrowed my uncle’s truck as the additional vehicle. I guess he was the odd man out on this trip as Dad had two boys who could drive by that point in time. Our haul appears to be some carp, small channel cats and a drum. No trophies, simply icing on the cake for a fishing adventure.

Summer 1986 Float Trip – a creek, a canoe, a catfish and a big chaw of chew (glad I kicked that habit)

Speaking of fishing adventures, the pic below is one of my favorites. Dad and I hit a Warren County, IL spot that we called “Beefy’s Creek” as that was the fellow’s name who provided access. Well, I don’t think that was his real name but it all makes for a better story anyway. On this float trip, we only took one truck as we were able to dump the boat and gear, drive to a takeout spot and walk the cornfield back to our “launch.” I recall having to drag the boat through some sandbars and over a logjam more than I really remember what we caught.

July 3, 2001 – Dad during the Beefy’s Creek monsoon (good times and kind of dumb)

However, the highlight of the trip was a severe storm that hit the area as we were stuck down in that secluded creek bottom. We even pulled the boat ashore at one point and hid under the bank as the storm raged and we wondered what in the heck we were doing out there on the creek. While the picture of Dad looks like we were night fishing, it was probably taken about 8:00am, that’s how ugly the sky got during the storm. Apparently, Dad was somewhat prepared as he is decked out in raingear. In contrast, the photographer, yours truly, was wearing a garbage bag.

Anyway, we weathered the storm, caught some fish, and made it back to the truck. However, the torrential downpour left us wondering if even four-wheel drive was enough to get us back up the saturated, muddy lane to the gravel country road. Dad locked her in, we crossed our fingers and luckily, no problem, we were on our way home.

We no longer have access to these creeks or any others, but we sure made some memories to last a lifetime. Perhaps I should look into some waters to float with my boys one of these days although I wonder at times if I could still hang with such adventures. Then again, Brent and I have pulled off a couple questionable stunts over the last several years so maybe we’re not done quite yet. Talk to you later. Troy