15/16 April 2024
Hello friends and Hivers. Yesterday was tax deadline in the States. I did mine quite awhile ago but today I had to mail my payment to the good old Internal Revenue Service. It was hard putting that check in the envelope and placing it in the mail box. Fornately I got refunds back from two other states I filed with which lessoned it some. Anyways not my topic today as it will be more about somethings I did recently.
Last week I signed up for a membership at the Council Bluffs Fish and Game Club. A membership I have renewed several times over the last 15 years. I did not renew my membership last year though but have all the other years. Above is the club house which sits off of Lake front property.
Initially entering the club you can either go in the screened in porch area or enter inside where there is a lounge area. The screened in porch area is nice to get out of the sun and still feel the outdoors. The lounge area is used for dining when the kitchen is open. Other than dinning time it's a place where you will see members playing cards, watching television or just carrying on conversations.The decor of course has a lot of wildlife and fish taxidermy. There are several quotes and signage related to this theme. I just took a picture of two which would be something I would definitely hang in my man cave.
Other things included on the first floor include restrooms, club office and two shower rooms. I can't tell you how convenient it is fishing here when your body has a nature call. I have never used the showers but they are nice and some use them if they spend a day or night on the club property. The office when open sells shirts, hats, club raffles, memberships and other club events that are going on.
Up the stairs we go to the second floor. Off to the right is a room for the kiddos. There are plenty of toys for both girls and boys. The cool thing is a fiberglass boat. I'm sure more kids than I can count have jumped in it and pretended to drive it, haha.
There is a small kitchen upstairs for members to use. It includes a stove, microwave, refrigerator and plenty of counter space. I simply forgot to take pictures. The main area of the upstairs contains many more tables, chairs and includes a bit of a shrine about the history of the place & some vintage hunting and fishing equipment. Not known for sure but the club was established around 1854 as a branch off another club. The upstairs is used primarily for club meetings and parties. I personally will be using it at the end of May for my son's graduation party.
Here's some close ups of the vintage fishing and hunting gear. Everything in the cases is either donated or loaned from current and past club members. I love looking at fishing equipment from the past, some of these things are over 100 years old. I personally appreciate the wooden tackle box,net,poles and reals. The lures were mostly from the 1950's and they are a bit different from the ones used today. The duck decoys are cool to look at along with the old taxidermy of a fish.
The upstairs also has another screen in area to relax and feel the outdoors. There's some elk and deer mounts which I'm sure will be hung shortly. This area also provides a great overlook of the lake and some of the clubs outdoor amenities.
This club offers many outside amenities. It has a rather large fishing dock which also includes places for boats to dock. If you catch some fish and need to clean them a cleaning station is available for use.
On the one side of the clubhouse is a covered area with picnic tables and grills. The club does many barbecues and of course the annual fish fry. Also a small playground area for the kids to burn their energies away.
There's a small fishing pier in front of the care taker's house. Yes there is one individual who lives permanently at the club. This person gets free home and board and gets paid a salary as well. They take care of the grounds and repairs when needed. The lake is low this year but normally this is an excellent place to fish. There are benches to sit at up there and there are holes drilled through the deck floor for holding your fishing poles.
The club also has a boat ramp to launch your watercraft. This is a private club so only members have access to it. The club has paddle boards, pedal boats, canoes, and jon boats. These are free to use by club members.
As you can imagine there is quite a bit you can get involved with being a member at this club. They offer many activities throughout the year. A few more to mention include Easter egg hunt, meet and greet with Santa Claus, fishing tournaments, club potlucks on every first Sunday of month and numerous more. It really is a great place to visit especially while fishing because your just a walk away from going indoors to cool off,get a bite to eat or getting fishing tips from the wealth of knowledge from other members.
Well the weather forecast here for Friday thru Monday was spectacular. I went out Saturday to fish and only managed one tiny fish. One thing I have found out about fishing is you often need at least 3 consistent days of weather for the fishing to be good.
Well day 3 was Sunday and let me tell you I had a blast. I caught 4 bass similar to the size in the picture above, all were released back to the water. In all I caught 21 fish. I caught a lot of nice blue gills, crappie and redear sunfish. I caught most at this new pond I tried out for the first time. The water was so clear that you could see to the bottom quite a bit out from the shore. It was pretty cool seeing all the fish sitting and swimming around, it definitely made it easier to target them.
A friend of mine wanted a few fish. Since this post is a bit long I want to test if anybody is reading it all. So I will gift 2 HSBI to the first person who guesses how many fish I kept for my friend. *A few hints: just for one person and I released way more than I kept. I do have proof as I took a cooler shot of the fish a kept. Update, Winner has been determined, closed
Yesterday after getting off work, eating dinner and doing an errand I fished for about 20 minutes at the Fish and Games Club. I caught 3 fish and the picture above shows the largest one I caught. I see a lot of waterfowl at times when I'm fishing. I managed to see this mallard and took a picture of him. It was swimming pretty close to me when I was on the dock fishing. I hope in the coming weeks to get some pictures of some pelicans who migrate here at times. I guess time will tell.
So to wrap this up I'm glad I made the decision to become a member at this club again. It was also nice getting out this weekend and doing fishing. Unfortunately there won't be any fishing the remainder of week as most of the week we will have thunderstorms and cooler weather. I can't believe it but we actually have some forecasted weather below freezing. Seems impossible as it got as warm as 89° F this weekend.
Thanks for getting this far and I really appreciate your time and support. Take care, stay safe and have a great rest of your week. Until next time!