Fishing With Face

Quote: Ayecarumba

New job? Congratulations Face!

Thanks! Good god, but has this been an experience.

Since 01/01, I've lived off 4wks UI, a tax return, and two odd jobs. $6,800. That's equivalent to a yearly salary of ~$20k, through a brutal winter and the brutal heating bills that result, and being the primary financial supporter of my 6 yr old. As of right now, not only do I have no and haven't had any income, but I am down to $394. That's a truck payment and a pizza.

I said I'd be OK and everything would work out when I quit, but I ain't never cut it this close before. I was about 3 weeks from dumpster diving and giving $20 handies down at the park XD

It's not my dream company. It's unprofitable, in a shrinking market, near collapse, outdated, and is probably the closest thing to an arch enemy I'll ever have. God save me... I am now an employee of the federal government. Jesus wept XD

Quote:

I am now an employee of the federal government

you play it down, but that's an excellent feat sir!

Quote: odiousgambit

you play it down, but that's an excellent feat sir!

Thanks, but I'm reserving my own excitement. I really do believe the branch will fold before my working life ends, and I am currently on in a part time, non-career capacity. It's a foot in the door, and I am excited about the possibility, but I still got work to do. A lot of work.

But, on the purely positive side, every great coup needs a man on the inside. Step 2 in my life's work has just been completed ;)

This thread started 2.5 years ago. One of the first comments was from OG - "Don't wear your son out". LOL! I've created a monster.

Kid is up my ass every single day. Wants to go to the pond, wants to go to the crick, when can we take the boat out? As his previous living arrangement had him tucked in front of a screen with a bowl of snacks all day,... yeah, I'm pretty happy about it =)

But, the little shit is still beating me. Granted, there's a bit of a handicap going on. I obviously tie, bait, and unhook his fish, and at the crick, we do go halvsies. Despite his exceptional casting, he just doesn't have enough to get the light bait far enough to fish the big water. So every other fish I hook there, I hand off to him and let it count. As such, he's currently beating me 16 - 7. The thing is, if I were to erase that halvsie bonus and count it legit, he still has me 13 - 10. Kid kills it at the pond. I even stuffed him into the junk where there's almost no room to cast. It's the kind of stuff I force myself into when I demand to hit the hot spots, and only do it when I'm in a certain mood because it's such a bitch to fish. Kid killed me there 7-0, and only hooked a tree 3 times in god knows how many casts.



At the crick, he's no less a producer. You'd figure he'd get bored, or mess up my fishing throwing rocks. Nope. He's got a net and a bottle and a bucket, and spends all his time either hunting for food for the fish back home, or finding stuff to point out to dad to look at or catch for him. Pouring rain? Don't matter. He tells me it's raining, I ask him if he wants to leave, and he just says "no" without even looking up from the water where he's hunting. Tadpoles, crays, minnows, he just scoops them all, letting me fish while he takes care of the feeding chore.











That catfish above I found while hunting for crays. Ended up seeing a ton, all hiding under various rocks. I ended up nabbing two and decided to put them in the garden pond. One I either handled to much or the pumpkinseed got at it and wasn't doing too well. I brought it in the house before it died and the smallmouth took care of it. The other looked good indeed, and I started wondering... that be something cool for the indoor tank...

Well, I can't put it in mine, the smallmouth would eat it instantly. Wouldn't you know it, a random Facebook check revealed an old friend was unloading his tank, free of charge. The only catch was I had to get it and soon. I tagged Jonny L because he's always looking, then immediately said f#$% it, I'll take it. I'm sure I have enough ideas to make use of it. Two days later I was at his ex's house dumping water and humping gear.

The effing guy said it was a 90gal. Turns out it was bigger than my 125. And it came with 5 fish that "had to live". Alright, whatever. I tote fish all the time, I can keep them alive. If they bother me, I'll just feed them to the smallmouth. Whatever. Well... nope. Two were those freshwater sharks and they've had them for five years. Damn near a foot long, each. The third is a fat parrotfish. Not only too big to eat, but an egg laying female worth $40+. Guess I'll just have to have a pretty tank for now.

That was a whirlwind day. A tank that big with enough water to keep the fish submerged was too big for two guys to hump, so the fish went into a tote and the tank was emptied. And there was a damn lot of gear. Whereas mine is just a tank and pumps with all the rocks and decor made from stuff I found at local creeks, they had gone the "rich guy" route. Massive pumps and filters, store bought rocks and decor, heaters, bubblers, nets, all sorts of water treatments and foods, a stand... he said he's in it for $1,500. I asked him why he dumped it for free, and he just said "so I don't have to come back here (ex's house) anymore". Lucky me =)

Well, in setting it up, I surely earned my keep. My truck was loaded. Back seats and bed where just full of bags and bags of gear. And all the "help" I had was my kid, so.... I got the tank out and cleaned, then "walked it" corner to corner up my drive way and into the house. Once inside, it was easily enough dragged into the fish room. The stand was light enough and the rest was all bags, so that was OK. I had to completely rearranged the room to fit it and do so near an outlet which wasn't a big deal, but remember, I'm on the clock. I got huge fish stressed out in just a bit of water in a plastic tote with no pumps. I gotta move, and move quick.

I humped the tank onto the stand, ran a hose through the window, and began filling. While that went on, I shooed the kid out of the tote so he wouldn't stress them to death and got to cleaning. Cleaning filters, cleaning pumps, cleaning decor, cleaning rocks.... it was like doing dishes for four hours straight. Gods, but my back was on fire. Kitchen a mess, water everywhere, but the tank steadily started coming together. After about two hours, I got enough cleaned, filled, and wired to start running, and I started doing so immediately. These fish were in 83* water. My hose water was 60*, and there was 125gal+ to heat. Tick, tick, tick, clocks running. I ended up boiling about 7gal and a pound of rocks to flash heat it, and surprisingly, it worked. Between that, having the heater cranked, and the 87* ambient temp of the house, I brought it from 60* to 72* within the four hours I was working on the rest.

4 hours going on 5, I had to get those fish out. I bagged a bunch of water and scooped them into individual bags, similar to what they do at the pet store. Of course, I was using stale water and a Walmart bag isn't really big enough for these sized fish, but dumping directly from 85* to 70* was certainly more shock than I thought the already stressed fish could handle. So I bagged them, soaked them in the new tank, and waited. I cleaned up while waiting, adjusted what needed to be adjusted, hid all the wiring, then decided to just let what happens happen.

Flawless victory =) They were shocked a bit, acting sluggish and obviously winded, but within an hour or so they settled down. By evening they seemed back to normal. The next day they were completely chill, the parrotfish started getting its color back, and they all ate ravenously. I decided to chance it and brought the catfish in from the pond and put it in the new tank. You should never do that as you risk contamination and sickness, but whatever. I'd like a big, native catfish to watch. And if they die... then I'll redo the tank the way I want it =p



It was a 6hr turnaround from having a full, functioning tank in his house to a full, functioning tank in mine. That's gotta be some sort of record, especially to do so with no harm or death to the fish involved. But I'm pretty happy with it. Tropical nonsense isn't really my thing at all, but that parrotfish has a way of making you smile. It's pretty social, and c'mon. Look at that face =)



So yeah. There's 2,300lbs of water in my house now. Wonder if I can get a fire insurance discount? ;) This also goes to confirm what we've said about bigger houses. If you have a room you don't need, you'll just fill it with bullshit. This is my bullshit room. My Fish Room. It's got my tanks, my pics of fishing trips, all my poles hang on the wall, I've old rustic fishing traps and themed picture frames and ancient decorative rods every which way. It's bullshit. It's also my favorite room in the house. My Fish Room =)

Well, there is a Side Hustle thread here ... and maybe the little kid would be a perfect side hustle? You take him somewhere, he hauls fish after fish out of the water, on lookers are amazed, you wander up and down the crowd taking bets then you and he split the fish and the book at the end of the day.

Quote: Fleastiff

Well, there is a Side Hustle thread here ... and maybe the little kid would be a perfect side hustle? You take him somewhere, he hauls fish after fish out of the water, on lookers are amazed, you wander up and down the crowd taking bets then you and he split the fish and the book at the end of the day.

If he ever found out he could turn fishing into money for Legos, my life would be over. I would quite literally be living in a van down by the river XD

Very nice Face, the whole bit. Thanks for sharing.

edit: the second I saw the parrot fish, I did smile. I needed that : )

Quote: Face

It's also my favorite room in the house. My Fish Room =)

Still seems to be missing something.

really great to hear somebody doing it right with a kid so he loves the outdoors - that's a childhood that's hard to beat!

Quote: petroglyph

Very nice Face, the whole bit. Thanks for sharing.

edit: the second I saw the parrot fish, I did smile. I needed that : )

You're welcome, glad it helped. That thing is just so goofy, ain't it? And social! Most fish do take notice when you approach as they're trained that it means food. But this thing will follow you everywhere. Every time I try to find the catfish to see if he's doing OK, that damn parrotfish is right in my face. No matter where I move to see around her, here she comes. And then the fat cheeks and goofy smile... it just kills me =)

Quote: rxwine

Still seems to be missing something.

No. I'm not the right kind of hick for that lol. Mounts are next though. I have the perfect place to put them, I just don't have the idea solidified on how I want to do it. I don't like plain mounts of just a fish. It needs... something, even if it's just a piece of driftwood.



I of course would likely go the measurement / pic and have a replica made, as opposed to harvesting just for a decoration. Also of course, at $20 per inch, I better create a passion for minnows and panfish first. Just about everything in the pics on my wall would be over $400 each =/

Quote: odiousgambit

really great to hear somebody doing it right with a kid so he loves the outdoors - that's a childhood that's hard to beat!

Ahhh, it's nice to hear that. Thanks =)

Yeah, he's all about it. It took a bit to break him of some things. Being around the women too much had him scared about every damn thing for a while. I kept trying to tell them it was dangerous. I don't need him on the edge of the crick or edge of the road and going into a panic because a bee buzzed him or a frog hopped out of the weeds. Ugh, they drove me half mad with their nonsense.

I almost got him corrected. He still won't hold a spider, but just about everything else is licked. He'll hold all but the biggest fish, digs grubs and worms out of the ground for the fish, loves frogs, toads, and tadpoles, will at least touch the snakes and snappers I catch. And I got him to stop stomping on things he finds just because they're there. Stuff like pillbugs or ants. I dunno, it has always seemed important to me. Mosquitoes he can mash. Everything else he has an odd sort of gentleness about.

But yes, if it involves the woods, he's all about it. And I just let him go. None of that worrying about poison ivy or bee's nests or *gasp* getting dirty. If he wants his hands covered in slug slime, then have at it. He's a totally different kid after being in the woods, a good different. More attentive, calmer, more focused.

He's already talking about hunting. Dunno where he got it from, but he's been asking all sorts of questions. How do you do it, why do you do it, what do you hunt, why do you hunt this, why can't you hunt that. And the big one, "When can we go hunting?" Guess I need to polish up the ol' 870 ;)