Up just after dawn yet again this morning. If I'm not careful people are going to start thinking that I am always up that early, but no... today was another day to go fishing and it is always better to be on the water in the cool of the morning.

    We loaded up the boat and headed down to Swansea Reservoir near the town of Trenton Nebraska. Nice cool morning with blue sky and fleecy white clouds. The fields and hills along the river are all so green still, and dotted with cows and wild turkeys. We put on the water by 8:00 and were fishing about 10 mins later. The bite was a little slower today than it was two days ago, but it was pretty steady for most of the morning. We seldom went more than 15 mins between one or the other of us having a fish on. It seemed much slower though because most of the fish ended up not being 'keepers' for one reason or the other. Some were just to small while others were undesirable table fare. We caught a whole lot of what are called 'Drums' around here. A pretty fish, and most were 12-16 inches and 1-2 lbs, but not very tasty evidently. So we threw somewhere around 20 to 40 of those back. I thought I was into a really good walleye at one point as I had one fish on that pulled like a real lunker bulldog. Turns out that it was only a 9-10 lb carp instead. Also a non keeper, but awfully fun to catch. So now I am officially known as the Carp King. (All hail!)

    We ended up with 7 walleye, 11 striped bass, 2 large crappie and a yellow perch for the day. So you can see we weren't exactly skunked for the day. Lots of sun, lots of fun and lots of laughs with my sister and her husband. We probably stayed out in the sun a little to long, but we stopped in the town of Wauneta on the way back to Imperial and had a late lunch of a cheeseburger and fries. After that it was home to put the boat and gear away and then time for a nap on the couch. Life is just really, really good at times.

    Going to sleep in a bit tomorrow if I can and then to a few odds and ends around the trailer, getting it ready to get back on the road again on Thursday. Will head on up to the Chadron area then, and spend some time there hanging out with my nephews, seeing some plays and maybe doing some stream and pond fishing.