Pro Bowl Night in Zapata

Our view

This is our view for the week! Heard there are a few rattlesnakes!?!?

Blast off, day 3 Wheeler

SK talking fishing with Rob, fellow Auburn Alum & outdoors writer.

SK partner for the day

BEN! I actually introduced myself to him!?!? Looks different without
the hair!! Hush Al...

Take Off Day One, Wheeler

Steve getting ready to go through boat check

after meeting up with his partner.
The bridge where I tried to get a picture of SK,

but settled for this boat instead. SK was #50 & traffic slowed

me down getting around to this spot!

Got to see fellow Elite fisherman Brad Hallman fish. Just took pictures and left...

Our site for the week...TALL pines.

No the bus isn't touching the tree on the right, but it's close!

Poor Louie

Too cold to prefish with SK...Louie is stuck doing laundry with me.
It's 44 degrees on land, so way colder on water! Going to be a long day!

How Many Quarts in a Gallon...

Steve's big task today: Change the bus oil & oil filter

If you notice...he's using a 66 qt container to catch the old oil.

I think at last guess, 8 gallons are in the sucker.

(Yes, we buy it by the case.)

That's a lot of sludge...

Best was the filter dropping into the huge vat of sludge with a splash.

Steve got a little on himself.

I helped by handing him paper towels!

Kissimmee State Park, our backyard

Steve & Louie climb a tree
Group shot in a terrific huge oak
Not fair for squirrels...Louie was all over their house!

Wrap & Shirt shots for Derek

Looking sharp...

BASS Kissimmee Lake wrap up

Steve finished 17th at Kissimmee!

Very proud of him...last year he didn't do well here.

Nice Fish Day One
Weigh-in Day Two
Take off in the morning day 3, helicopter filming
Steve congratulating our friend Butch Tucker the co-angler winner!

Last for today...

Our neighborhood squirrel that lives in tree

next to our bus.

Deer at the ramp this morning...

saw AFTER dropped Lou & SK in water

Very LARGE squirrel

Steve yesterday went where no boat had gone before...

had to clean off the trolling motor several times!

Louie is checking out how much stuff he picked up!

More Photos from Day 1 Practice

Because this is Florida...have a token gator shot
Woodstork laughing at us...
I was taking a picture of the bird, didn't see rabbit in background!
These small ear rabbits were everywhere.

Even on islands that they HAD to swim too.

Dumb rabbits, alligators are here!

Louie & SK as the sunsets makes one more cast...

___________

(I'm sitting in the Wal-Mart parking lot uploading

these pretty quickly; sorry for any errors.

We have NO signal at the campground, but it's very nice)

Day One Practice, Kissimmee, 3/11/08

Louie pointing the way
Redwing Blackbird with a few things to say
Osprey leaving perch with food
This is my songbird that flew up and landed right next to the boat.

He then, sang to me(or yelled). It was funny to see him double in size

as he sang. He also squatted as he did it.

Cool on the water entertainment!

Turkey Talk

Less than five minutes after setting up our campsite...

flock of turkeys come over.

Pretty cool, watch them for a few minutes.

Scratching around, pecking at the ground.

Then, the males start to gobble and fight!

Doing the turkey dance off first, round and round.

Notice the stand up height, stare down deal.
Then, one pulls Matrix moves and wing slaps the other!
This one we named Big Daddy, because he is...
Here is what they were really trying to do,

stab each other with the big spur thing!

(Turkey's switch-blade...)

Young male...they are really ugly birds.

High Alert

Louie is on point here! This morning walked out again to turkeys in
our backyard. Not to mention the SQUs.

Practice Day 1, Kissimmee

Jumped on the boat with SK & Lou. Figured since short day, this was
the one to go! Nice to kick back & relax.

Home sweet home

Our site...very nice! Already saw turkeys fight! Photos to be posted
soon. We rode bikes around camp while waiting on site to clear. Love
it here!!

Sunrise this morning

Day FOUR take off, Harris Chain

Just happy to be here this morning...

Weigh-in Day 3, Harris Chain

Nice bass, he had the third largest sack for day...

Fish that got him to tomorrow!

16-9 to the scales!
Top 12!!!
SK & Brad at ramp after meeting

Ear/Wind Test

Last mention of how WINDY it is here today. Lou & I went for bike
ride. Down by water both his ears would stand up! (Still loving
cruising around with Toto basket.) Two ears=too much wind.

Wind at Campground

Sample of the winds...x10 for on water feel

Finally...a good nap

Louie has been waiting for days for a sunbeam to get a quality nap.

It didn't last long, more clouds rolled in.

But for a few minutes, it was warm and excellent.

And they are off...

Last of the flight to leave, SK is in there somewhere

Beautiful, but WINDY morning, hazy.