2012 all wrapped up

So 2012 isnt quite officially in the books yet....still got one more Herman Christmas to attend this afternoon, a couple football games to be played, gotta stay up till midnight one last time and BAM the year is OVER....

Has it ever been a year to remember....or forget....I guess it depends on if your a glass all the way full or glass overfull and spilling over type of guy....The main theme to sum up this year 2012 is that I am simply tired cause my glass was always spilling over...

From Jan 1 2012 to Dec 29 2012 I put in 2,352 hrs at work, spent 1358 hrs working on my house and other similar family projects, I slept for 2190 hrs, I spent 49 hrs watching TV, 104 hrs blogging, 207 hrs on facebook and the pond boss forum, 263 hrs fishing, 42 hrs hunting and the remaining 2000 hrs in the year I spent playing with my kids at the lake, or on vacation!! We worked hard, but we also played hard..... every minute of 2012 was productive.....

So for those who dont know, I work at Herman Brothers Lake and Land Management. That there is perhaps one of the most exciting companies on the planet. 2013 is shaping up to be incredible already, we got alot of unbelievable opportunities that lie ahead for the upcoming year that pretty much leave me shaking my head in Awe of how God is using a small disfunctional fish company!

Oh yeah, and it wasnt just me who put in the extra time....Jared, Allen, Justin, and Andi all put in the hours (somewhat behind the scenes) to make it all happen....they are the glue that holds it all together and gets it all done....also Phil and Tate this summer were absolutely invaluable!

So now Ice Fishing season is upon us and I am pretty much giddy with excitement....I will spend all night on New Years Eve dusting off the cobwebs from all my ice fishing gear and organizing everything......Every reel will get new line (22 of them)....all the vexilars will be gettin tuned up and charged up (12 of them).....the rusty jigs will be discarded, the augers tuned up, the sleds cleaned out, the heaters propaned up, the ice scoopers will get a pep talk, and the wax worms will all get wound up and ready to wiggle.....

So anyhow this is probably the longest post of 2012 that doesnt have a picture in it....I got just a couple I would like to share to finish off the year....

This is Drake...He is a little man after my own heart...when he got this gift on Christmas morning he was in heaven for the first 2 hours of the morning....there was nothing else going on in the world once he got his little toolbelt taped on....


He has the best work ethic out of any kid I have ever seen... period. While building our house this year the other kids were off playin, but he was right by my side every night building our house....I can say this literally for hours day in and day out he would just follow me around and copy as much as he possibly could.....he was always in the way, but not only did I tolerate it, I encouraged it and nurtured it.....his eyes would light up when he could put his hand on the real drill, or help pull the trigger on the real nail gun, or climb up the real ladder....and Brook got to fill in lots of extra holes and scratches when he would pound on the real wall or floors with the real hammer or screw driver......

So not only is Drake gonna be the best lil worker on the planet, his passion for fish and deer is way stronger than my other 2 kids as well......he will carry live (semi live) fish around for hours and he talks about and pretends to be deer or deer hunting every single day.....every night at the dinner table we always say the best and worst of our day....Drakes does alot of rambling and mumbling, but his last word is always DEER!!!!

Also one more thing about Drake that stands out is he is just downright TOUGH...he gets hurt alot more than the others, but he cries from pain waaaay less....he will fight back tears at all costs and say repeatedly "I TUFF, I TUFF".....I am often amazed at how tough that little boy is. He takes pride in not crying when he has every right too!!

Oh yeah I have two other kids....just kidding all you moms still reading....While Drake is clearly my favorite, I love the other two kids more than words on a fishing blog can describe.....what were their names again?......

Lets start with Noah....He has grown up leaps and bounds this his 5th year of life....


Noah also strongly displays many of his fathers attributes...just differently than Drake. Noah's emotions and thoughts are right out on the forefront for the whole word to see...However he is VERY confident and his ego is as large as any 5 year old you will ever meet....He is the fastest, strongest, smartest, and best at everything he does.....(in his own mind at least).....

My whole childhood I would always here my parents telling other adults how I am a "Legend in my own Mind"....I probably heard that 1000 times and never ever knew what they were talking about or what that meant until I started raising Noah and heard that blast from the past just recently...It all makes sense.....The boy is a legend in his own mind just like his Dad.....

He has a passion for fishing like me, but his attention span or determination isnt borderline obsessive like Drake's and mine....basically he is more normal.....Noahs work ethic is absolutely pathetic....where did I go wrong? He just is as lazy as can be and simply not capable of picking up after himself or doing chores.....

Just yesterday he had to get socks on, put on his shoes, and get a coat...all in a timely manner as we were leaving...he counted that was 3 things he had to do...ughhh....then when his Grandma asked him to shut the door going out to the garage as she headed out he said in a loud whiny voice....."No, that means I would have 4 things to do and that is waay to much"....... I was mad, but did laugh on the inside.....

So I only say these things to remember em...Noah really is a kindhearted, amazing 5 year old...He is smart, too smart for his own good, or let me rephrase too smart for what his 5 year old emotions can handle...He knows too much, but yet that makes it harder for him to comprehend certain things....he doesnt just say the darndest things, he flat out says things that will truly amaze you and leave you in awe of his little mind....He is a ladies man through and through and will always complement Brook out of the blue how nice she looks etc etc....

While Noah is into hunting and fishing, I can see his true outdoor passion is leaning more towards dirt bikes and 4 wheelers.....He lives to ride....Im ok with letting him follow his dreams as long as they dont involve skate boards, soccer, video games, musical instruments other than the guitar, or computer stuff....everything else like hunting, fishing, camping, basketball, football, 4 wheelers, etc and he has my blessing to pursue and live his dream.....

So now its time to talk about Mae.....she is 7....she is in charge and in control since the moment she was born....She will be the perfect wife for a man out there who wants to hand over the reins....She is in control at all times and she looks just like her mother (drop dead gorgeous). However unlike her mother, she is scarily similar to her father's strong will, stubborness, and manipulativeness....



Most of you dont know, but I was a terrible child...I got literally more spankings than all my brothers, sisters, neighbors, and cousins all combined.....I was stubborn, mischevious, and my rear end was numb....the hardest spankins just didnt phase me or change the course I had in my mind...As a child I was determined to do what I wanted, when I wanted and a spankin was just a little speed bump in my road....My parents did eventually beat the tar out of me and broke me into submission, I was 15 years old when I finally got my last whoopin and started changin my ways.....

......now dont get me wrong, Mae is completely Daddy's little girl, but she is fighting a battle within on a daily basis.....a battle I am all too familiar with.....Mae and I get along great! We are wired almost identically! She is actually leaning over my shoulder right now trying to read and getting oh so close to being able to read as fast as I can type......she just hit me in the back cause she saw her name and I wouldnt tell her about what Im writing....

She was born to be a mother! She loves babies and already dreams of the day when she will be a real live mother with her own child....


She is smart. A different kind of smart than Noah, the kind of smart that does alot better in school than Noah will....She will go to great lengths to please her teachers and pretty much everyone else in the world....


Ok so exactly 10 years ago Brook and I got married at the age of 19....The best catch of my entire life....our marriage is kind of like a cane pole bluegill fisherman realing in the world record largemouth bass....People to this day are still amazed at how I married so good and how she settled being so young....

Behind every great man is an even greater woman, well in my case only half of the old saying is true: there is simply just an amazing, patient, great woman stuck with raising 4 children on her own.


So 2012 is just about over and I am really excited for 2013! We are now all moved into our house and are absolutely lovin it! We actually had guests over last night, 2012 was definitely not the year for entertaining or social activities......it was the year of nonstop working, but that nonstop working is already paying off!!!! Here are just a couple fun pics of my favorite child....hehe....to finish off the year...

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Hope everyone finishes off the year great by celebrating the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ!

The wise men from the East traveled from afar and asked: “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. Matthew chapter 2...

Lake House and Pavilion Projects

So we are currently working on a couple very cool projects. The first project is to convert this outdoor pavilion into a huge climate controlled super awesome great room with lake view....


Here is the view looking out:


Spray foam on the ceilings and canned foam in all the nooks n crannies:



So when the weather is bad we work inside on the pavilion project, but when the weather is good we are working on building this, the perfect 1800 square foot lake house with walkout basement:


We built the lake earlier this year and stocked it with Blue Catfish and Smallmouth Bass....now doesnt that sound fun....

Oh yeah, we are still finishing up this awesome floating double decker dock and deck combo out in Fulton County:


Now with the new hope of actually ice fishing this winter, I am getting very excited!! On the 19th I just had to get out one more time to check on where the fish are still holding....I still got em located, come on ice!!




So anyhow now comes Christmas! My kids are super excited and I would be lying if I didnt admit I wasnt super excited either!! For some reason all the things I absolutely loved as a child still are the same things that get me excited today- snow days, storms, Christmas, power outages, etc....even though all those things mean alot of extra work, stress, and cost extra money, I still cant help myself in anticipation.....

Cold Water Stripers and Trout

Actually had a few minutes this weekend not accounted for and told Tyden to quick get as much clothes on as possible, we were gonna run down to the lake and see if we could get a fish to bite!!

I thought it a long shot to maybe catch a trout, but when I got down to the beach and saw a couple trout rise before getting to the end of the dock I know we were gonna hit the jackpot! It took Tyden all of 3 minutes before he had this trout dockside on a small shallow diving crankbait:



Then it took him all of 2 more minutes before this one was at the dock:


Then a switch to a 1/8 ounce jighead with little blue shad tube plastic and BAMMM, big fish on!




So after we landed the big one and a couple more on the jig we decided to go to a dock over deeper water and see what lurked below in the 25 ft depths....Again all it took was to drop the jig to the bottom and he was hooked up!!




He caught 3 more stripers and after about 45 minutes of fishing we had to get goin, but sure were glad we made the effort to get out!!! I am so excited for ice fishing season, I just hope we get some ice soon! What do you think, we gonna get ice this year and if so when???

Family Fun at Gulf Shores, Alabama!

Mae gets up early with me every morning, and stays up late with me every evening....if you know me, I usually am fishing early in the morning and late into the evening. Here are some pics from underneath Perdido Pass Bridge one evening early December while we were shark and redfish fishing:


The kids fish with me alot, but I always make sure they dont get bored while fishing. We make sure to find crabs, play tag, tell scary stories about gargoyles under the bridge, catch small fish to feed the birds, and just stay entertained with the focal point of outdoor entertainment and not actual boring fishing....



This has been an awesome week to be down in Gulf Shores, Alabama! We have been working on replacing the cabinets at my grandmas beachfront condo at Lana Kai and working on fixing up and redecorating our new condo across the street at Lands End II.

It hasnt been all work and no play though....every day we do some swimming and fishing. Here are a bunch of pictures of me and the kids having fun fishing, exploring, shell picking and just having fun down at Gulf Shores on or near the beach:

Mae is a fishing Machine!




Noah is not scared of nothin: (at least when dad is around)




The new Gulf State Pier is just awesome!! They are putting in a HUGE zipline course across the street which should be open for springtime!! Fishing is great on the pier and the kids always have some sort of animal to look at or get close to. We fed this pelican a couple shrimp and always feed em small pinfish when we catch them....the kids want to catch small fish to feed the birds.... Noah caught a shark this night off the pier, but we kept it down in the water and didnt get a good pic....


Places that you must visit while down in Gulf Shores is the old Hazels off highway 180 near walmart! Best breakfast on the planet:



The kids ate good so they got gumballs:


Also you gotta stop at Souvenir City and at least get a pic with the shark entrance:




So Noah ended up getting his real shark picture after all!!! He reeled in this shark mostly by himself, but had a little help from Uncle Justin:


On Sunday after we ate a feast at local favorite place Desoto's the kids held a surprise 30th birthday party for Brook!! No pics of the party, but did get a pic of our feast:


I mean how can you not take a pic of this picture perfect blackened grouper drizzled in special Desotos Fish Sauce:


My parents meal last night from Ribs and Reds was about as good as it gets anywhere on the planet! They have a meal for two special which once they brought home the leftovers actually fed 4 of us:


So anyhow I have never been in Gulf Shores during December before and was doing tons of research online about whats biting where and I came across this guy- David Thornton. He has a guide service down in Gulf Shores! Only his guide service is totally unique and exactly my kind of outside the box thinking!..... He teaches people how to catch fish from the beach right in front of the condo where they are staying or from the state pier or from one of his secret spots....your choice!

As I researched him more and more online I just had to meet him! Late one night I shot him an email and he replied back we got to get together this week, but his only day was Tuesday....Tuesday it was and let me say when you come down to Gulf Shores you would be a fool not to hire him for an afternoon to gain his 30 years of Gulf Shores Beach fishing knowledge....Here he is rigging up some poles....Dad, Allen, and Justin are in the background:


This is what we were after and is a prize fish to catch off the beach: Super easy to clean and Very Tasty!!! We caught 20 of them last night and cant wait to fry em up! Here is our male model Allen holding up a picture perfect whiting:


David with another big whiting:


This guy wasnt so lucky, but i guess he was gonna die either way, so really we were the ones not so lucky he got bit while being reeled in:



So I got just one more day down here in Gulf Shores and got alot to get accomplished before heading home.....