To Be, B's, and more Bees

I am determined to fish at least one day a weekend for the entire spring/summer season. I started at the end of April with a fishing trip to Lake Ontario.  This week I visited Balsam Pond for panfish.  It was been nearly 10 years since I last fished this great watershed.  It used to be a pain to launch your boat here because the launch was shallow and you’d have to walk the boat out a long ways until it was free floating.  Now the state has built a real boat launch that drops off quickly.  Launching you boat is super easy now. This will benefit the throngs of bass fisherman that invade this little rural community during the summer months.

Once on the lake the fishing started off slow.  While I was steering the boat and making sure everyone was rigged up and ready to fish, my wife and son were catching the fish.  So I began very slowly.  My son jumped out to a 5-0 fish lead and began running his mouth about it.  That is when the fishing gods spoke up. I then rattled off like 30 fish in a row before he caught another fish.    I wound up beating him 37-10.  I used the same rig as I did during my trip to Lake Ontario.  It was the 6′ 6″ Browning SuperLight spinning combo while fishing with a stick bobble and a piece of nightwalker.

For those who have not visited Balsam Pond, it is a flood swamp watershed.  The old trees still protrude from the water to the right and far end.  Most of the pond is littered with old stumps and cover for the fish to congregate around.  This pond is a mecca in our area for Large Mouth Bass fishing.  People swarm here during bass season from all over.

The pan fishing used to be some of the best in the area as well, but can be difficult considering how many stumps you have to watch out for.  This makes it really difficult when you are jigging.  Be prepared to lose many jigs.  I would suggest casting jigs to trolling.  It is easier to adjust your jig depth when retrieving.

We came home with a small basket for the first fish fry of the year.  We brought 12 fish home to cook up.   They were all Blue Gills or Pumpkinseed, with one oddball perch.  Almost all the gills were in spawn or pre-spawn mode.  The colors on these fish were gorgeous. Look at this Pumpkinseed: .  What a beautiful fish!  Aside from the fish, the lake offers some natural beauty for site seer’s as well.  The water was clear, the birds were abundant, and the natural view is serene.  Here a few pictures of the birds we saw up close.  The first is a goose that made its nest in a hollow log on the lake.  We couldn’t eve see it until it popped its head up to check us out.   That is one camouflaged bird.   We fished there for like ten minutes before any of us actually spotted the bird.

This second picture is of a Great Grey herring that was flying before the boat.  I know these birds are common, but I have always been interested thought that these birds are somewhat majestic especially when they are in flight.

This next picture is my oldest son standing on the boat launch in front of the lake.He is quite the handsome boy, but he definitely needs a haircut.  If you look closely, you can see just how clear the water was.  I didn’t have the depth finder on today or I would post the water temperature.  Look at the water and sky in the background.  You can tell that it was a beautiful day fishing.

Pan total for the year: 175.

Balsam is a must stop for bass anglers in middle upstate New York.

Directions to Balsam Pond from Binghamton:

Take Front St/12 heading north. Stay on 12N until you come the Route 41 intersection just passed Greene.  Take a left on 41 until you come to the Route 220 intersection.  Take a right onto Route 220N and stay on until you pass through McDonough.  After you pass Geneganslet Lake(after McDonough on the left) take the first right.  Then take the first road on the left and follow it until you come to  the sign for Balsam Swamp Pond.

One of my favorite places in all of New York State is FairHaven Beach State Park.  It is a nice family friendly park on Lake Ontario just north west of Syracuse.  My wife and I have been visiting this park every year for nearly 20 years in July during the Harborfest in Oswego.  It is a short 20 minute (with traffic) from Oswego, which makes it very convenient for watching the fireworks on Saturday night.

Recently my family has begun to treat me to a camping trip every year for my birthday.  Normally I am a tent camper, but during the early spring months tenting can be a bit cold. so now we have been renting a cabin on the pond. The following picture is the cabin we have been renting.

As you can see the cabin is not large or luxurious, but it does keep the rain of our heads and cold at bay(with the help of a small space heater).  There is electricity in the cabin with lights and a refrigerator. So there are some small amenities.  The cabin is situated next to restroom and shower facilities, which is important when camping with family members who are not accustomed to camping the wild.  Growing up as a state land camper, my restroom consisted of the backside of a tree and a roll of toilet paper(many times the paper was lacking), so I do not need the restrooms, but my wife would not camp without them.

The best part about the spring camping experience is that I can spend time with my family without the park being overfull.  During the summer months, the beach is full, but during the spring, we can travel throughout the park without feeling overwhelmed by sheer numbers.  I have three children that love to enjoy the outdoors with me.  We are a fishing family.  The following picture is my youngest son holding a nice crappies that we caught in the pond. 

We fished for two full days on the pond.  Usually  we’d fish Lake Ontario but the water temperature was too cold and the fish were not very active.  Conversely the fishing in the pond was wonderful. I caught 99 fish in the two days.  About a third of which I could have kept for a fish fry if I had brought my knife.  I love fishing for panfish, especially when getting my children into it.  They are easy to catch and provide hours of fun for the young and old that beats sitting in front of the TV or computer.  These fish were caught on a new  combo that bought from BassPro-Shop a week or so earlier.  The rod was a 6’6″ Browning  SuperLight rod with IM6 graphite, with a Browning SuperLight light spooled with 4 lb test line, using a size 8 hook and a piece of a nightwalker.  This rod exceeded my expectations.  Hooking a good sized bull Gill ( large Bluegill) with this rod made the fight similar to trying to land a large mouth bass.   It has great action for an ultra-light combo. Fairhaven provides campers with other outdoor experiences besides fishing as well.

Having a cabin on the pond provides a launch and dock if you like to kayak.  My son and I are novice kayakers, but we love it.  FairHaven provides a few different opportunities for kayaking.  The first of course if Lake Ontario.  You can launch form the pond and paddle your way onto the Lake depending on the water conditions. This picture is of my son as we kayaked down the coast to a series of bluffs to the far right of the  park.  The second picture is me Kayaking in the pond.

Kayaking the way out to the bluffs was wonderful.  As you can see the water was calm, the wind was nonexistent, and the temperature was comfortable.  Coming back in was horrible.  The wind blew in our faces at about a 30 mile an hour click.  The waves kicked up and were cresting over my kayak.  The journey back took twice the amount of time it took to get to the bluffs.  Man was I tired.  If you like a quiet kayaking trip in a more rustic setting, there is a marsh behind the campground that runs to the bluffs as well. This is a slow moving canal that is teeming with waterfowl.  During our last trip, we spotted Black Ducks, Mallards, Grey Herrings, Canadian Geese, Wood Ducks, Kingfishers and have in the past seen Bald Eagles.  There are also snakes, beavers, and musk rat that work their way through the marsh.  You always have the opportunity to wet your wildlife whistle when kayaking through the Marsh.

Another outdoor activity that FairHaven presents is hiking.  There are a plethora of hiking trails throughout the park.  You can nature hike, you can walk the beach front, an you walk the piers(all 4 of them on FairHaven’s side of the bay) at any time during the day. The first two pictures are of my family hiking to and up onto the bluff.  The third picture is us hiking back from the end of the biggest pier in the park.  It wraps around the end of the bay in a “L”.

   We read in the media about how our country is struggling with obesity.  What better way to fight that obesity than through outdoor exercises like kayaking and hiking with the most wonderful people in the world?  The hike to the bluffs is a couple of miles in length on either boulders, or on a flattened path.  The pier is a concrete walkway that is wide enough to not have to worry about small children falling off.

If your purpose in planning a camping trip is provide a multitude activities to spend meaningful time with you family, then FairHaven Beach State Park is a great place to consider.  That is why I have been coming back here for the last 20 years.

I had a thought as I read through the latest of installment of Mashashi Kishimoto’s Naruto series, am I being overly critical? I thoroughly enjoy reading the series, but I have been critical of the path that Kishimoto has taken for the las several installments. I have felt as if Kishimoto is either prolonging the series by adding “filler” story-line sub-plots, or he does not know where he wants the series to go.

While reading this latest installment I began to question that logic. I am continually reading the series. I am anticipating every new installment. I am writing about the experience after that reading. I am engrossed in the experience of the manga. So Kishimoto is definitely doing something right. He has created three dimensional characters that the reader becomes invested in their plot-lines.

That being said, I am conflicted about Naruto 620. I feel like the chapter drags and continues the storyline of the 4 Hokages and Sasuke. I felt like Kishimoto created a child-like persona for the 1st hokage and a much more forceful character in the 2nd Hokage. That seemed strange at the time. How could the brother of the first shinobi be stronger than the “god-like” shinobi that defeated Madara?

Fast forward to this installment. Now the first Hokage is strong enough to resist the endo tensei (reanimation jutsu) and the second cannot. This comes after the 2nd Hokage flares his Chakra enough to shock a room full of incredibly powerful shinobi. He tries to leave and cannot. This scene explains how Madara was not controlled by it as well. He absorbed the first hokage’s cells and thus his power. I did like that change. It gave the reader a sense that even though the first hokage was child-like in his caring about the rest of the world, he would have been a force to be reckoned with once roused.

I did like the flashing scenes of the fight between Madara and the 1st Hokage. It was interesting, though kind of repetitive, to see how Madara used the 9 tails and he countered with his Mokuryuu no Jutsu (tree dragon). You get the sense that this battle was at a higher level than any of the shinobi battles we have witnessed thus far.

What I didn’t like was that the last installment ended with the story of the village and shinobi. This installment ended with the story of the village and shinobi. So while this installment seemed to reveal some of the mythology of the Naruto world, does it advance the plot, or simply prolonging the plot? So I continue to question to direction of the series, but still anticipate the next installment… Kudos to Masashi Kishimoto.

But do they say anything?

In the latest installment of the Naruto series, Orochimaru is successful in reanimating the  the four dead Hokages.  Fans of the series finally get to see the personalities of the legendary characters that they have reading about.  While I feel like Masashi Kishimoto wasn’t sure about the direction that the series was going, I was extremely curious to get the background information from the Hokages.

I found it curious that Masashi Kishimoto designed the strongest shinobi to be almost childlike.  As a warrior, he seems to be the weakest and least authoritative of the Hokages.  His younger brother basically tells him to keep his mouth shut because he is talking. He is the one who taught Tsunade how to gamble, and seems to have little faith in her as Hokage.

Tobirama, on the other hand seems strong and arrogant.  He displays some racist-like tendencies about accepting that Sasuke is with the enemy simply because he is an Uchiha.  He believes that the Uchihas are an evil clan and explains that they love too much.   That love drives them mad when they experience loss and that is how they develop their sharingan eye to reflect feelings.  The sharingan eye is symptom of that evil.  The 2nd Hokage seems to be more intelligent than the 1st, but less loving (Something that the Senju claim to cherish above all else.)

We already know the disposition of the 3rd Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.  He is gruff, loving , and always thinking.  I did like how he gave more credit to Itachi for thinking like a Hokage.  So I wonder if the events of the Uchiha clan had not transpired, would he have become the 5th Hokage?  Could Sarutobi have changed the history of the Uchiha’s being the secondary clan of the village?

The 4th Hokage, Minato always seems interested in the preservation of the village.  I am hoping to see more from him in the next installments.

I still don’t see where this storyline is going to connect with present day.  We already know that Itachi was really a hero and not the traitor. Do we need Sarutobi to tell us again?  Now Sasuke is asking what is the point of being a shinobi from the greatest shinobi of them all?  Will Hashirama talk Sasuke into saving the people of the Leaf against the evil Madara and Tobi?  We can already see that the Uchiha’s are unstable when dealing with loss just by witnessing their reactions to the loss in their lives.  So I am not sure where Masashi Kishimoto is going.

Hopefully, I believe, we will get back to the heart of the story and the battle between the allied shinobi army and Madara,Tobi, and the 10 tails in the next installment.  If not, I hope the 4th Hokage storyline is very important to the development of the plot of Naruto.

Review of Silver Linings Playbook

I want to make a declaration first about my intention to see this movie.  The only reason I went to see it was because I really needed to have a night away from the house with my wife.  We love watching movies together and seeing how she makes all the money in the relationship now, I let her pick the movie.  I just wanted to make it clear what my mind set was upon sitting down and watching this film.

That being said, I thought the movie was a delightfully witty and heartfelt movie.  There were moments of laughter and of seriousness.  The director, David O. Russell, mixes the two emotions together perfectly.  There were times when I was the only person in the theatre who was laughing, which I felt had more to do with the audience wondering if it was appropriate to laugh, than whether the scene or line was funny.    Whether or not it was appropriate is something that is lost on me, as Pat, wonderfully played by Bradley Cooper, says in the movie “I have no filter”.  I have often commented on not having a filter and saying things that everyone is thinking, but that they no better than to say.

The actors and actresses provide wonderful performances that endear their characters to the audience.  Bradley Cooper changes gears perfectly from one minute being okay and into the moment with Jennifer Lawrence to out of control.  His struggle with wanting to be ‘normal’ and not wanting to take medications that cloud his mind, comes across very real.

Jennifer Lawrence portrayal of a promiscuous widow trying to cope with the death of her husband started off a little iffy to me.  Not her acting, which I felt was amazing, but the storyline. I didn’t see where it was going at first, nor did it make sense to me that she would act this way after her husband dies.  After the storyline begins to take shape and you hear about how he dies and she explains the events leading up to it, it makes sense.  The problem is that at this point it feels forced.  Still I walked away extremely impressed with Jennifer Lawrence’s acting the movie.  Even though the camera angles seemed to be following her body, which remained clad in skin tight outfits throughout the movie, her eyes were what stood out the most.  She had the most intense look in her eyes that made everything she said or did extremely believable.

Robert DeNiro, Pat’s father, also turned in a great performance as the neurotic sports fanatic whose superstitions controlled the lives of all the people in the film. In a very touching scene, De Niro explains to Pat that his wanting to talk football with him isn’t about the game itself (though in a way it still is), but rather his desire to make up for the time he did not spend with him when he was younger.

This movie has many things going for it.  There is great acting, humor, touching scenes, family, a visually stunning Jennifer Lawrence, and a touching ending.  It brings some mental health issues to light in a serious but not too serious way.  I would see it again and that is saying a lot considering the state of the economy and the outrageous ticket prices.

I give this movie 2 cups of coffee.

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!