My wife is taking care of her mom for a while following heart surgery, so I'm a single dad for the time being. The babysitter came today to give me a little break.

This one hit a popper - it was big enough that I couldn't get the whole fish in the frame while it was sitting on my lap in the tube...caught half a dozen more, a couple close to this size but this was the best. Great way to escape for a few hours!

We all need a little escape now and then. Glad you caught a nice one!

Very nice. You're gonna need a wide angle lens for those.

Just go back to catching smaller fish so that you can get all of the fish in the frame

I thought it was going to be a picture of the teacher/cheerleader coach that got fired. I thought she was watching your kiddos.

Way to go dad! I have that prob with my toon too. Fish are just too big for the lap.

Yeah, the camera phone is great but not exactly wide-angle especially when you're sitting in the tube. It was great to have some topwater action. The bass were chasing a lot of damselflies and dragonflies on top... just hammering the wayward bugs.

I saw a small snake. Wondering if it was a moccasin or some other kind of snake - it was highly buoyant, swam quickly with its head tilted well up out of the water. Whatever it was, it was pretty small, maybe 18" long and fairly skinny. I was back in a creek section that was just bass heaven, and snake heaven too with lots of overhanging limbs and branches, nicely protected from wind and birds of prey.

there is nothing so fine as a place like that to fish.

Amen to that. It was magical.

This part of Texas isn't long on beauty. But when you find spots like that little creek, you really appreciate 'em all the more.

Jack, snakes in the water can easily be identified by the way they swim. A moccasin swims with only his head visible, his body weight is such that it will not float. If you see a snake with it's whole body on the surface giving the big wiggle through the water, you can be assured that it is harmless. Growing up in Louisiana and snake hunting as a kid will do a lot for your general knowledge about useless things.I know nothing about snakes but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night.
Frank

thanks Frank, that is some valuable information. However, in the interest of science and safety I Googled "how moccasins swim" and came up with some apparently contrary data
Is it a water mocassin?
wiki answers, how can you tell a mocassin?
One thing I need to make very clear here is that I am not trying to be a Mr. Know It All. Rather I just want folks to have the complete data in order to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.