Josh DeSmith Art

Website - Josh DeSmit Art

The art of Josh DeSmit.  It's pretty damn awesome.  I'm a huge fan modern, abstract, new age, grungy, Ralph Steadman type art.  It gets my attention very easy.  That's not to say, that I don't like or appreciate other arts.  It's just this style is more, well, my style.  Check 'em out!

Note: All of the pictures below are from Josh DeSmit's website.

We're Huntin' Musky

Friday 7/24, I received a text from my buddy, Mario, informing me that Friday night basketball has been cancelled.  Damn.  Then I received a text from my buddy, Mike, that said, "Open seat if you want to chase some Ski's today.".....Yeah!!!

We put the boat in at 6 PM, and what a perfect time.  There were still a few pleasure boaters out and about, but they were decreasing in numbers as time went on.  The waves in the lakes were starting to go down, and it was a cool sight to see.  I've never seen these lakes without waves.  It was a beautiful thing.

We started out casting inline spinners, and then we began to toss some big top water lures that splash down in the water like a cannonballs.

My new favorite July beer.

As the night progressed, we did not see any fish.  There were a few other musky hunters out, and they were having the same luck that we were having.  

It was getting late, and the time was 11:30 PM, and we were just talking about heading back.  As I was making a few more casts into the darkness of night, one of my casts did not find water.  Instead we could only hear the not so joyful sound of leaves.  I just casted an expensive lure of Mikes into a tree.  No other words can describe how I felt other than "SHIT."

We tried everything from the boat, and then Mike decided to climb the tree...and he did.  Turns out, I cast the lure so far, that it went beyond the tree that was nearest to the water, and into the tree behind it.  Hilarious...but not really.

Motoring to another fishy spot.

There were no fish caught, no follows spotted, but there were a few beers drunk, and a good time had.  

 How's that old saying go - "That's musky fishing."

Big THANKS goes out to Mike for inviting me out.

Winter Issues

One of the things that keeps me entertained on the web other than blogs, are the many free e-Magazines that are out there. There's a plethora of them, and they all offer a ton of informative and entertaining information. Two of my favorites just released their Winter issues. You should definitely check them out. 

a TIGHT LOOP

Fly Fishing the Midwest

Follow the link - Slip Sliding - Winter 2015

Southern Culture on the Fly

Follow the link - The Winter of our discontent. Winter 2015

Got 'em

The rabbit was playing it smart and avoiding the box trap ever since it worked the first time. Who would have thought that would have worked to begin with. Hahaha

MONDAY

I brought 2 of my trout/kayak fishing nets. I wasn't able to join the guys in the lower level to attempt to capture the trapped rabbit, but I was able to watch from above, and help as the "eye in the sky." Unfortunately, my buddy Arik was not sneaky enough to bag this furball.

TUESDAY

We set the box trap up again with hopes the bunny has forgotten about how it works. No luck.

That little rabbit was wise.

We tried coaxing the bunny into the area, but it would simply avoid the box. Heck it seemed it felt safer closer to one of us. Our trapping time was almost up for the day, so, I gave the nets a shot, and came up empty.

After taking down the trap and calling it a day, we were just about to walk away, and the rabbit came out of the bushes again, sort of putting itself in a corner. I quickly grabbed my nets and raced on over, and quickly tried to fool it into running into one of my nets. The rabbit quickly juked left, right, left, right. It began to look a lot like Barry Sanders with it's swift moves, but eventually I became the victor. One wrong move, and I had it.

The rabbit won some parting gifts.

The rabbit was released in a courtyard on the ground level. It's an area I walk past daily on my way to the fitness center at 5 AM. I often see bigger rabbits out eating and hopping around. Hopefully, one of those bigger rabbits is one of it's parents, and it can now teach it the ways of surviving. I just hope we didn't spoil the little bunny, too much, when it was trapped. (Thinking about it, it ate like a king - carrots and apples galore.) As the bunny left my net, it quickly started eating some of the plants in the open areas, and seemed like it was in a familiar area. Which is a good sign.

Hope to see you around little buddy.

The last thing I told the bunny was, "Don't get eaten by a hawk." ..."Keep your eyes on the skies little man." (Don't know if it was a male or female.)

Shhh, we're huntin' wabbits

So, this week I learned that there was a rabbit stuck in the lower level area of one of the buildings at work. I told the guys I would bring one of my fishing nets, so, we could try and catch it, and release it back on the ground level, so, it can be free.

Well, I kept forgetting to bring my net, and one of the other guys had the same forgetfulness issues I was experiencing.

Today one of the guys at work had a grand idea to make an old school box & stick trap. After he set it up, he placed some carrots underneath the box, and waited in the distance holding some fishing line he wrapped around the stick to act as a trigger for the box to drop. Well wouldn't you know it, the rabbit came out, started to eat the carrots, and sat under the box. Well, after he pulled the line and the box fell perfectly over the adolescent/baby rabbit, the box would not contain it, a few hops and it popped it up enough to escape before my buddy was able to get to the box. 

After learning of that story, I became excited, because, I love this sort of thing, and I'm usually the guy they call when there are animal issues, because, of my love for the outdoors. I told the guys I would get some more carrots from the cafeteria, and meet them down there in the afternoon.

When I got there, they were all set up with a heavier plastic recycling box. I placed the carrots underneath, and the 3 of us waited patiently.

After about 15 minutes the rabbit came out from the bushes, and scampered around. The rabbit was going everywhere but near the box. A wise rabbit. Eventually, our time ran out, and the rabbit is still stranded down there. We pushed all of the food under the bush for it to munch on over the weekend.

I'm bringing my net on Monday. I really want to help this little guy out, and get him back to the main level, so, he can go off and survive and thrive. He's a sitting duck down there for hawks and owls.