This is by far one of the rarest sightings - ESPECIALLY this time of the year!

This is a Lake Waco Water Moccasin

My friend Kevin Krumm found this one - he and I use to hunt for snakes and lizards as kids.

He seemed to be the one that found most of the critters... 

Thanks for sending this to me Kev!

            I am pretty sure this is the best time of the year in Texas for almost anything! 

I think my favorite color in Texas is December...

This is one of our favorite "Honey Holes" - we have caught a lot of catfish in this area...

We also see a bunch of great wildlife while waiting on the bites!

Lake Waco is beautiful

The trees are turning colors - my great uncle Bill (Bryant) once said, "Fall is the year's last loveliest smile!" 

There is something about watching a bobber that just makes you forget about "unimportant stuff!"

Catching catfish or not - its great to be on the lake!

THREE CATFISHING TIPS WITH RICK, ROXY, and me.

Here are some BASIC guidelines for catching the three most common Texas Catfish: Blues, Channels, and Flatheads. 

Tip one. Good things come to those who BAIT!!! The following list is a guideline - BUT REMEMBER, we have caught all three types of catfish on Shad, Worms, Perch, Stink baits, and our SSB (super secret bait: HOTDOGS)...  

• Blues love FRESH shad (they will eat previously frozen shad - but, fresh is better).
• Channels will dine on stinky bait and worms all-day
• Flat Heads like perch, shad, crawfish, and even smaller catfish.                                                                
  

It is true that Catfish eat stuff off the bottom - but not always!  They are skilled hunters and have hundreds of thousands of tastebuds all over their bodies - some say they are the equivalent of a swimming tongue!    

Tip two. Some say the very best time to catfish is when the barometric pressure is kinda low (29.70/30.40) this when there may be a chance of rain...

Hot or cold REMEMBER THIS: Every day is a fishing day, but not every day is a catching day!

Tip three. Vary the depths - oxygen in the water is critical... catfish will hang out in oxygen-rich 70-80 degree water (cold water holds more oxygen).  Our average depth in Lake Waco for catching fish is 15-20 feet.  Lake Belton 20-25 feet.

Tip four. Most important: 

PRAY

 It was either my famous almost-uncle Alton Jones (great fisherman) or my Catfishing Buddy, Bob Cervenka that once said, "To me, a catfishing buddy is a much more esteemed relationship than a friend!"

Went out on Bob's Barge Boat to do some jugline catfishing - WOW! What a GREAT TIME!!! 

If you've ever Jugline Catfished before you know half the battle is chasing down the successful jugs as they spread out across the lake! 

We caught two REALLY big Gar and two REALLY big Catfish.  

This Cat weighed in at 22lbs! Caught on Lake Waco with live hand size perch.

 

WE COULD NOT PASS UP THIS AWESOME TEXAS WEATHER!!!

TightLine is back on the water...

Rick and I were so lucky to have our good friend and CATFISH GURU go out on the USSS Sassy with us...

the one and only DALE EVANS!

 

Dale is a tennis and fishing friend from WAY BACK THERE!!!

He and his wife Robin were active members (family) of the Charlie McCleary Tennis Center and helped me host MANY tournaments over the years. 

MANY YEARS AGO, Dale took me out on a catfishing trip and taught me the importance of the almighty drain plug - 

somewhere in my excitement of going fishing with the GREAT Dale Evans

I forgot to handle the ONLY job he gave me - "Put in the Drain Plug...!"

A VERY short time into catfishing, he said and I quote,  "Kevin, why are my feet wet...?"

    

Now, I wear a new hat...

Some might say, "Water under the bridge..."

Here are co-captains Rick and Dale waiting on the Catching to begin...

So we baited and baited and baited... 

and then we went to the Higher Power we came up short on the catfishing poles on this day - but, pulled in a bunch on the trotlines.  We will return with lessons learned...

So, this is the way I remember it...

 I have NOT been out fishing lately - so, as many of you fisherman know when you head out for the first time after a long break, you can hear weird things while on the water... this is a weird "hearing."  

"Pick me up," i heard, "Pick me up!" I thought I was dreaming.  I heard it again, "Pick me up!" I looked down and saw a frog.  I said in amazement, "are you talking to me?" "YES," she said, "Pick me up give me a kiss and I will turn into a beautiful fishing partner and give you two years of incredible tennis line calls AND no frustration will fall upon any of your Texas Officials in 2020-21!!!  I quickly picked up this frog and put it in my front pocket.  I clearly heard the frog say, "what are you doing? I said I will turn into a beautiful fishing partner and give you two years of incredible tennis line calls and no frustration will fall on any of your Texas Officials!!!" I said, "No thanks, at my age, I'd rather have a talking frog."

The experienced fisherman noticed the 4/0 circle hook....!

INTERGRITY 

Allow your integrity to be the referee in your personal and on-court decision-making process

Integrity as a Tennis Referee

Integrity is not what we do so much as who we are. And who we are, in turn, determines what we do for ourselves, family, and our customers. Our system of values is so much a part of us we cannot separate it from ourselves. It becomes the navigating system that guides us through every match every day. Our Integrity establishes our priorities and judges what actions we will accept or reject.

Integrity establishes the ground rules for resolving tensions on and off the court. It determines who we are and how we will respond before conflicts appear. Integrity welds what we say, think and do into a whole person so that we are not out of sync.

Integrity binds our person together and fosters a spirit of contentment within us. It will not allow our lips to violate what we know is right in our hearts. When integrity is the Referee, we will be consistent; our beliefs will be mirrored by our conduct. There will be no discrepancy between what we appear to be and what our fellow Officials know we are, whether your shift/match is calm or there’s adversity.

Integrity is not only the Referee between conflicting desires. It is the pivotal point between a happy, strong Official and a divided spirit. It frees us to be whole persons no matter what comes our way.

Jo-Ann Blackwell and Julie Taylor - a couple of Houston's finest!

Sherri-Ann Carroll is Houston's  Official of the Year!  

Here is Claire McFerran doing some social distancing! 

I know this is THE TIGHTLINE CATFISHING BLOG... 

but, every so often I throw in Texas Tennis Stuff...

During this CRAZY COVID time, we are PLAYING TENNIS!!!! 

Here are a few of our "ESSENTIAL WORKERS" 

This picture was taken during the FIRST USTA TX Tournament after we were allowed back on the courts! Arlington SC Major Zone in July. 

The GREAT Stephanie Burnam (High School Coach, one of Texas best Pro and Grassroots Officials -also a member of the Texas Officials Committee), Rick Wooten (Fisherman Friend, a member of the USTA's Officials Mentorship Program for new Officials and serves as Ref for many DFW tournaments) and Jerry Prohaska (Jerry does a lot of USTA events and is another outstanding Texas Official - AND I bet many people did not know that Jerry played PRO FOOTBALL for the Houston Oilers during the AFL period!).

Our Waco Tournament Director Claire McFarren had her hands full with new COVID measures and having to deal with me and four Crazy Masked Men! But, she was on top of EVERYTHING during the SC Major Zone in Waco this weekend. As usual, she ran a FANTASTIC event.  

Officials for the Waco event included: Bob Cervenka -brand new fantastic Official and my "Let's get the story straight" Fishing Buddies.  That's me next and then Alan Jones -one of Texas's Star Officials and long time "super cool" friend... we have to get him working more!!!  The Honorable Ed Price (not in pic). Ed is a GREAT teacher, mentor, cranky (but excellent) tennis player, and family-friend. And My favorite Official of ALL TIME - Harry Foster -Harry serves as Ref for many TX tournaments, Coaches, and works Adaptive Events all over Texas. 

Please send your Tennis AND FISHING pictures!!!! I love to post "SHOUT OUTS" to all of our TIGHTLINE readers!!!

KevTennis@aol.com / 254 709 3058

ROCKPORT! LOVE IT!

Like many families, our family went to Rockport every Summer for YEARS!  

We loved it.

My Son-in-law and Grandkids got to go this past month and had a blast!

Here is Harper, Wilder and their Dad Wil

This is a mess of Red Snappers! 

Caught by Wil and his Stepdad Carl. 

These delicious fish were caught 70 miles out of Rockport.

REALLY COOL PIC of Harpy and Wil - 

It's kinda hard to notice but the windswept Oaks these trees are another great reason to visit Rockport!

One of the coolest things ever is getting pictures from Fishing Friends!

This is Tom and his son Brandon on the Egegik River in Alaska! 

They caught these Coho in July... these Salmon average 2 feet and can weigh up to 18 lbs!!!   

It is said that these are the BEST tasting Salmon - EVER!

This is Rick Wooten's son Gunner they caught this stringer of Bream in Nevada Texas. 

These are BIG!!! And GREAT to eat!!!

I've learned that Bream are SunFish but, not all SunFish are Bream!  

Here is Rick Wooten (one of our GREAT TENNIS OFFICIALS from the DFW area) with an 18 inch Large mouth Bass from the stock pond in Nevada Texas!!!

This is a COVID TEA Party hosted by my grandkids: Harper and Wilder

Their Mama (my daughter Alex) tested positive last week.  She is much better because of prayers and the fact that her husband Wil and the kids were EXCELLENT caregivers.

Thanks for the prayers from everyone and I am so happy she (KK) is better!  

This told us that our Fishing Time on Lake Belton was OVER for the day!!! 

PLEASE SEND ME YOUR FISHING PHOTOS!!!! 

I love to SHOUT OUT OUR FISHING FRIENDS...

KevTennis@aol.com

RANDOM Pic's... 

Owen and Wilder - these two are so much fun.  This was break in the action to feed the ducks.

While hiking we found this huge Spider... anyone know the name of this big guy?  

By the way, Spiders are the only web developers that are happy to find bugs! 

This is our friend Jacob... he caught this prehistoric Spotted Gar at the spillway below the Lake Waco dam. 

Notice the gars snout, it was intentionally caught with a frayed piece of nylon!   

This is one of the GREAT FISHING pictures EVER!!!!

This is my grandson Owen with his dad on Inks Lake... 

(note the Memorial Day Weekend Shorts!) 

Little Tennis added in...

So, this is a Catfishing Blog with a little Tennis added in for more fun! My sister (from another mom and dad) Cindy Benzon, asked me and Harry to help out with a VIRTUAL Tennis Challenge/Training Video for our Adaptive Texas Tennis Players... so, Harry and I decided to have fun.... while in home quarantine.

Any of the National Players that have been on a trip with us know - this is one of my favorite workouts...This is a tough training exercise... Jumping Rope... I LOVE this because of the many benefits... Harry is awesome at jumping rope!

This one gets us in trouble with Leni... here we are working on keeping our toss out front and meeting the ball with the racquet against the wall (house) as the toss reaches its peak. 

This helps with timing and getting the house repainted sooner! 

Here Harry is working on moving his feet and watching the ball... looks simple, but, I make it harder and harder as I pull him side to side and toss faster and faster... notice that he is in GREAT shape and i am gaining some Covid Weight!  

Here Harry is finishing up the virtual video challenge and I am mastering the jump-rope.

This has been a GREAT learning experience for all of us and we will all be stronger when we meet up this next year for tennis on the courts!!!

NOW SOME FISHING STUFF!!!

Sometimes when I am not "finding the Catfish" Roxy takes on the job herself! 

SHE LOVES TO SWIM!

We decided to "tackle" Lake Belton again... we had some luck, but, it seems like EVERYONE is out there fishing - so we just rode around doing our part as Social Distancers

QUEEN ROXY...

Grandson: Owen James Sager!

Incredible Bass caught on Inks Lake... 

AND just to prove he is a future CHAMPION FISHERMAN - 

For MOTHERS DAY - he decided to catch this one on his outfit matching ... 

Eureka-Deep-Diver- Hooten-Nanny lure

 Here's my daughter Crash (Ashley Foster-Sager) making her dad prouder everyday!!! She and Nick (my son-in law) took Addelyn and Owen (my grandkids) out on Inks Lake for a combo get-a-way and some social distancing... and of course Crash ad Family did some fishing...

Channel Cat - I am thinking it is a 2+ pounder - caught on a worm.

AND a LARGE MOUTH BASS! That is a beautiful fish and bigger than any Bass I have every caught!

Its true: a daughter may outgrow your lap, but she will never outgrow your heart!

WOW FACTOR

Cool morning - no wind and AWESOME sunrise!

We thought today - we'd reveal the locations of some of our favorite spots...

For instance - this is Deep YellowCat Hollows, Lake Waco...

Your looking at the deck of the TightLine Fishing Yacht.

Just over to the right near the park is Shad-City, Lake Waco

Little fog back in BlueCat Corner, Lake Waco...

That my friends is the middle of ChannelCat Shallows, Lake Waco... 

Your TightLine co-captain sporting the Little Caesars cap and 2lb BlueCat

This was the start of the days catch... totaled out with 15 keepers at 29 lbs.

For the month of April TightLine brought in 130 Keepers at 172 lbs

If the reveal of our favorite locations was not specific enough - 

you'll have to go out with us!