On Wed I had Shawn Calhoun and his girlfirend Pattie on board. Shawn is in the Army and stationed in Bahgdad and on a 2 week R&R trip. Wed we bait fished and really caught a bunch . Shawn has been doing some bank fishing since our trip and catching a few but not alot. He's a hard core fisherman and never gives up.
Today I had a morning trip cancel but still have an afternoon trip, so I still had to go out this mornng to get bait. I called Shawn and told him to meet me at the dock this morning and I would take him out to go chase some top water fish for a few hours.
Weds fish were mostly box fish but today I showed this Soldier what a real Texoma top water fish was all about
We hit the windblown banks this morning in a different spot and really wacked them until about 8:30. Dont know how many we caught since we released them all but it was probably in the neighborhood of 20-30 all on top. They were jumping 2 feet out of the water chasing our pencil poppers. Most were in the 5-8 lb range !
Our biggest hookup today was about a 220 lbr... Yes I said 220 lbs.. At one point we had 3 fish hooked all at once and all hell breaking loose when a boated fish sinks the big treble right thru my middle finger. In one side and out the other.. ouch.... Luckily Mark was nearby and I had Patti call him and we hit a dock for stability and mark cut the hook and pulled it thru... Even before the surgery I pre-apologized to patti for what was about to come out of my mouth when Mark did his thing Amazingly enough I only yelled "Ouch " twice and nothing more so my Pre-apologies for any foul language were not necessary
after the hook removal we kept fishing and boated a few more before taking Shawn and Patti back to the dock.
So with all that said I just want to say that lately Ive had a few Soldiers in my boat and everytime they make me proud to be an American !
And I cant thank them enough for what they do .
Shawn is stationed out of FT hood and been in Iraq for 8 months.
Be careful guys !! and hurry home

Good man with a big heart!!

To those who don't visit the SOG site, Jeff and Mark are also doing a "guide trip" for soldiers (who contacted them from Iraq) next week.

Making some deserving troops a memorable R&R.

J. D. glad the lady was along. If she was'nt I know the air would have truned blue all the way to Azle.

Are you sure you wasn't showing the middle finger to the fish when it happened? Every time I see a soldier when I out eating I'll buy their lunch/dinner annom.. annomus

Nice, must have been a blast catching those on top water.

We fried up the catch from yesterday, yummy.

Nice, must have been a blast catching those on top water.

We fried up the catch from yesterday, yummy.

wow jd, u are a good man.my next guided trip will be with u, no doubt about it.

Nice report, JD! There are many ways to thank our servicemen, but a fishing trip like you did yesterday has to be one of the best.

Those treble hooks on the redfins are a real weapon when attached to a mad 8 pounder. I'm glad Mark took care of you. I grew up bass fishing with a dentist who was a friend of my dads. I can't tell you how many times he helped someone get a hook removed out on the water. I think he enjoyed listening to the cussing and screaming the most, which is why he did it.

Most excellent, JD. There are many ways we can ALL serve. You just did! I'm sure it was a trip they won't forget.

Thanks from all of us soldiers JD. Now you all know why I keep going with JD!!

D. Weston

I got to meet Shawn and Patti on the dock after fishing around JD and them all morning. Mike & I were running from one hole to another, intent on whacking some more of those fish, when we passed by Jeff's boat. He waved and pointed at the bank so I knew he was on some. Less than a minute later my cell phone rang, and this female voice I've never heard before just said "JD says come over here, he needs your help". I'm thinking he must really be whacking them and means there's plenty to go around, when the voice says "He says he really needs your help". I was still tempted to think he meant the fish were REALLY stacked up in there, but it was a little too insistent for that, so I told Mike to turn it around. By then Jeff was heading toward us, so I knew it wasn't about the fish... The next time he waved at me there was a big Pencil Popper attached to it in a really odd way.

Now I've pulled hooks out of Jeff before. I've even whacked him in the forehead hard enough to draw blood with one of my hooksets. So I know what he sounds like when he's bleedin'...

He must have been really impressed with Patti, because he DID apologize to her for the things he "might" say before I went to work with the pliers. And he REALLY did just yell "OWWWW" a couple of times. Even Bonita never got treated that well.

He held up well...

Besides all that, we had a ball. Mike & I were working them like Redfish! We were literally sight-casting to fish "tailing" in about 6 inches of water. What a hoot.

When the topwater bite quit us we threw Sassys and Cohos up in one of the creeks, and got some real nice fat box fish. I can't give you the count because we threw back all of the big overs, but still cleaned about 16 or so. Biggest one hit a ripped 5 inch Sassy in about three feet of water. It went 8 or 8.5 pounds, and gave himself away by whacking Mike's Chugbug a couple of times without hooking up. I was just poaching his misses with my Sassy.

mark
www.texomasportfishing.com