Today I took the family on a fishing trip to Warsaw, Missouri. We fished below Truman Lake on the Osage Arm of Lake of the Ozarks.
The weather was a bit on the hot side, but in my book that is perfect fishing weather. The sky was mostly sunny with a easterly wind of five to ten miles per hour. The barometric pressure was 30.10 and holding steady.
A beautiful day at Lake of the Ozarks
We fished with minnows the entire time we were out there and caught enough fish that I lost count of the total. I did however catch the biggest fish I've ever caught in my life.
Huge Spoonbill
The spoonbill pictured above was about four feet long and a very conservative guess on the weight is about 50 - 60 pounds. It was an old fish and I didn't remove it from the water to release it. I simply knelt down on the dock and let it go. I didn't want to injure it as it looked like this thing had lived a rough life. There were scars on it's body (probably from having been snagged at some point in the past) and it's paddle was broken. No sense in taking a chance on adding any more wounds.
Cody having a blast
A tiny bass
A little crappie
Cody and the rest of the family had a ball catching and releasing fish all day!
Blue Catfish
Channel Catfish
Tiny Channel Catfish
Above are some pictures of a few of the catfish we had the privilege of catching on this outing.
One of several crappie
Another Crappie
A small crappie
Above are a few pictures of some of the crappie we caught throughout the day.
We even had the opportunity to observe some deer while fishing. Below is a video of them running back into the woods after being spooked by a passing car.
Overall we had a great day of fishing as a family. This post is a little late being posted as we didn't arrive back home until a bit after midnight. Needless to say I was a bit too tired to write a post....But it was worth it!
If you own a gun, chances are you enjoy shooting it as often as you can. Having a target holder enables you to hang your targets at the desired height and change them out as often as you want. The following explains how I built a simple and inexpensive target holder that will last for quite some time. The video shows what the target holder looks like upon completing the build.
For this project you will need:
2 - Treated 4x4x8's
1/2 Sheet of Plywood
2 Bags of concrete mix
8 or 10 screws (the length of screw depends on the thickness of the plywood you choose).
A post hole digger or a shovel
This target holder could also be built with the slats from an old pallet instead of using plywood. This will bring the cost down even more. The purpose of using plywood or pallet slats is so that you can change out the actual piece of material that holds the targets when it is worn out.
The first step in this build is to find the desired location for your target holder and dig two holes approximately two feet deep. I spaced my holes about four feet apart so that the half sheet of plywood would fit right to the outside of each 4x4. (For pallet slats you may want to reduce the distance between the uprights to 36 or 40 inches.
Next place one 4x4 in each hole and pour the concrete mixture in around them. At this point you can use a level to make sure your uprights are straight.
After the concrete dries it is time to attach the plywood or pallet slats to the upright posts. If you are using plywood, placing a cinder block to rest the plywood on while fastening it to the 4x4's will make this part of the build much easier.
Attach a target to the holder and have some fun!
As I told you in the video, I build a "shooting berm" behind my target holder to ensure that the bullets wouldn't travel into a danger zone.
I will probably replace the plywood on mine with pallet slats when the time comes to change out the target holder. This will cost less in the long run since I can get an almost limitless supply of pallets where I work.
