[oldschool]

I don't know if everyone realized that Ouachita retired from his park ranger job at lake Ouachita. Jim has contributed his knowledge on several forums on this board and others. With retirement comes the freedom to do what you have always wanted to do without always having the extra expendable income, time and health to do them. I know Jim would never ask for any special favors and I don't know what his plans are, however if Jim ever needs anything that we may be able to help with, the offer is open.
Jim, if you are ever out my way and want to fish, just let me know where and when.
Tom

 

[Jared]

Same goes for me Jim. If you ever need anything or are ever out in SC way, and wanna go fishing, you know how to find me! :thumbup01:

 

[mary dean]

Congratulations Jim on your retirement. Now you can do what you want when you want! Have fun and start posting pics of the hawgs you catch...
Don't let the wife keep you too busy with all of those "honey-dos"...

 

[Ouachita]

Tom, I appreciate that. We believe once everything gets rolling in May we should start seeing things happen so far only seen on paper. It's official, as of March 31 I was retired. They've already offered me two jobs there. It was SO sweet to tell them I had no interest in that. I'm free to choose my hours, when to wake up, where to go, what to do. Meanwhile I'll assist with my wife's business, help some with daughter and two grand-daughters, fish and get on this board more.

I'd love to gad around fishing with you Tom, and everyone else. I won't touch my retirement income until I actually see it do what we were told. So, I doubt I'll travel at all until I know how much I have to spare for that. I already know I'll probably start up some kind of little business to help occupy my time. I know I won't be able to fish every available day without burning out. I've seen that happen among many of my already retired fishing partners. I've been asked to help run booths at boat and tackle shows, so might include that for variety. I'm a fair salesman, not afraid to impose a product I believe in on people.

I'm here for this gang.

Jim

 

[Ouachita]

Mary, most of the time I fish alone and don't have a good way to photograph myself. I posted somewhere last year about the last attempt. I caught a beautiful LMB, maybe 8 pounds, on a magnum Zara Spook and looked for the digital scale. I found the camera instead, then managed to set the timer and put the camera on a pedestal seat. I barely got the fish in position before the camera flashed right when the seat spun around and slung the camera out of the seat, almost into the lake. In diving for the camera I dropped the bass on the rear deck and he flopped into the lake. The photo? Edge of the boat and some lake. :cussin:

I need to come up with a camera pedestal or get more fishing partners down here. I go fishing partly just to relieve stress. :fishing02:

Jim

 

[Jared]

I hear ya with that Jim. I need to find a partner to fish with down here too. I wont be looking for one to replace my old partner, Ronnie (may he rest in peace) but I'd sure like someone to keep me company when on the water. Someone to have a little friendly competition with is always a good way to make yourself try a little harder and focus a little more.

 

[mary dean]

Oh my gosh Jim! That just made me laugh out loud!!! I pictured it! Dang, I'm sorry!
I don't guess that day relieved too much stress... It would have made me cry... BUT... I'm a girl...

 

[Ouachita]

I'm just not hitting it right lately. Two young partners go off to college and work summers, one went to Iraq. One fairly faithful partner has mega health problems so can't stay on the water as long as I'd like, which worked out while I was working. He would tow his boat each day and wait for me to get off. We'd fish 2 hours and go home, then I'd put his boat in his garage. When I went on nights he'd meet me for 2 hours before going to work. Nice. So now I meet him, take him a short ways out, and return him 2 hours later so I can make a day of it. What I need is someone like you mentioned, a guy that likes a little competition and keeps company well. I'm not convinced I want to resume the bass club scene again. That's a sure way of picking up a long list of riders, not all pleasant to have around.

Jim

 

[Ouachita]

Mary, that was a $450 camera with a $100 memory chip, and it had a bunch of unloaded baby grand-daughter's dedication photos. The fish? It'll happen again. I just wanted one recent photo of something besides a striper for my profile. Yep, the scene is seared into my memory. Lesson learned? Never put a nice camera on a spinning boat seat.

Jim

 

[mary dean]

But you didn't lose the camera did you? The pictures of your Grandbabies are priceless :clap:...
And that fish would have been a great one to share!!!

 

[oldschool]

I rarely fish with anyone when trophy bass fishing because of the distractions, few people have the patients for it and I'm not much company on the water then. This is only during pre spawn and the rest of the year I'm OK with fishing partners, especially night fishing during the summer.
Butch Brown mounted a small computer camera with a mic on his rear light pole and records all his trophy bass fishing trips because he fishes alone. He uses the DC power form the light and a MP3 player to save the days recording on. Down loads the recording to his computer and edits the footage we he gets home. The footage isn't perfect, but if he manages to catch a world record bass, he will have the catch recorded. It's more hassle then I want to deal with. The running light pole is a good idea and maybe a simple camera mount can be clamp onto it.
http://huddlestondeluxe.com see Butch Brown.
Tom

 

[Ouachita]

I sure like that Huddlebug. Very lifelike.

I found a threaded hole on the bottom of the camera, so maybe there's a bracket that screws into it. From there I can probably rig something up to allow picture taking. This camera can store lots of video so maybe that might come in handy. I found a new feature in Photobucket where I could link to a video clip there from here. Well, there's something for me to work on...

I don't think I'd want to record every trip in case of a big something catch. I doubt Arkansas will give up a world record LMB.

Jim

 

[Jared]

Thats awesome watching him catch some of those big bass!! :clap:

http://huddlestondeluxe.com/generic49.html

check out those videos of his! I love it!

Would be cool if we could get him posting on The Bassholes.

 

[Jared]

I sure like that Huddlebug. Very lifelike.

I agree Jim! Very lifelike indeed!

 

[Guest]

Congrats Jim on the promotion err I mean retirement Now I hope you get to fish and relax more and enjoy what time God has blessed you with.

Hey, I rest my camera on a seat when taking pics haha. Some bring along a tripod but I think the seat is plenty good for me. I mostly fish alone myself and would like some company. So if anyone ever wants to come to Florida and do some fishing you are more then welcome to come join me.

Not to hijack this thread but Tom, I been meaning to ask you if you have any fishing reports lately? Would love to hear how your fishing day goes.

 

[bigdaddytowe]

nice job jim,I followed you and tom over from the insider and still enjoyingyour post,maybe when we get established here a little moreWE COULD HAVE AN ANNUAL BASSHOLES TOURNEY SOMEWHERE CENTRAL WHERE WE COULD GET TOGETHER ONCE A YEAR.I thought i would throw that out there to see what comes back. :idea:

 

[Jared]

I think thats a fantastic idea bigdaddy for sure! :clap:

Once get a bit more settled and what not that would be something to shoot. :thumbup01:

 

[Guest]

Congrats Jim. I hope you can do everything you want and if there is anything you need just let us know. :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[Ouachita]

A great idea. I've been to one internet group camp out and it was a barrel of fun, about two years ago. We need to aim for at least one annual get-together with plenty of time for members to plan for it. If'n we held it at Lake Ouachita we could take over a long island with super beaches and be close to campground facilities like shower/restrooms, a restaurant, marina. No charge for island camping. For those wanting more civilization the campground is fine. Just to kick it around....we're centrally located

Jim

 

[hi steel basser]

Congratulations on retiring, Jim! I'm only thirty years away myself. Maybe we can fissh together then. :cheers: If I'm not senile.