LASERSIGHTS, GARAGEBAND, TEXAS RAINBOW TROUT AND OTHER RAMBLINGS

LASERLYTE SHOTGUN LASER

This Laserlyte shotgun laser sight that produces nine green dots, with one centered, for use on shotguns and rifles. You can read all about it at THE FIREARM BLOG. For what it is, it's priced right although I won't be running right out and getting one, although I do like the shotgun mag tri-rail mount that is in one of the pics in the post. I've got a smaller and much cheaper, but still bright green, laser to mount on the home shotgun to join the flashlight that is now on there. I need to get one of the tri-rails to mount them both in one spot.

GARAGEBAND

Garageband is available as an app on ipads, and although I'm not sure where you get the storage for the works you create there or for the instruments that you might like to create and store, it's good to know you can hook up with the ipad when traveling or around the home if you're the type to want to record inspirations for new songs.

I myself prefer the laptop version of Garageband on a Macbook. I'm just old fashioned that way, I guess. An interface to hook up virtually any electronic instrument can be had for as little as $25 or so for a cheap guitar interface. A multi-input interface can be had used on ebay for less than a hundred, and nice units are all over the place new for under two hundred.

I haven't tried recording on Garageband with an electronic violin or any exotic instrument, but acoustic guitars with an electronic pickup, fretless and fretted electric bass guitars, six string electric guitars, keyboards and electronic drums have all worked well with the garageband program. For those of us who don't want to spend the time with programs like Protools or even one of the Abletons, Garageband is a great thing.

TEXAS RAINBOW TROUT STOCKING HAS BEGUN

As of November 29th in some locales, the stocking of rainbow trout has begun in various Texas community lakes and state parks.
You can go to the website HERE for the list of dates and times. Of course, it's recommended to call before you go.

I don't know what the weather has been like in West and North Texas, but in lots of the state it was a hot weekend. As I write this, it's in the mid-seventies and humid as heck at my place. Although we had a cold front last week, the past few days have been like summer.

Which is not the most conducive weather to have for stocked rainbow trout fishing. I find the fishing best when colder. In fact, the more cold and miserable it is outside, the better my fishing for rainbows has been over the past 25+ years that I've been chasing them in Texas.

I have not checked any of the fishing forums I like to look at in the past few days, so I'm not up on any reports of how fishing went at the few places that got stocked the past few days. As it hopefully gets colder, the stockings become more frequent, and I'm looking forward to several small trips with El Fisho Jr. and Billy Ray to some perhaps more distant locations where trout are stocked. Like a vacation.

Again, hopefully some very cold weather will occur during the next few months here in Texas, and particularly this month, although it's not looking too like it right now. When it's so cold that you need several coats topped off by a rain jacket, when the rain and sleet hit the surface of the water and it's below thirty degrees,  that's when the stocked Texas rainbows are frisky.

I once had the chance to fish one of the military lakes where the feds stocked Rainbows in the 1980's (Gray Airforce Base lake). The fishing there was fabulous. There was another lake I fished nearby there as well. Both had stocked rainbows. It has snowed that week up there in Killeen, and there was snow on the ground and ice on the edges of the lake.

It was great fishing. I fished both lakes all week. There were a few other anglers out there braving the cold, those who knew that the trout get frisky and feed when it gets cold. But I saw the same dedicated folks all week. If you were dressed right, the weather was no big deal. I wore very warm garments under a weatherproof parka with hood and rainpants, and was nice and toasty while out fishing.

Fishing with dry flies drew the trout for surface strikes, and I also had plenty of action on small spinners fished ultralight. After twenty minutes, it was all catch and release because we had limited out.

I have not had the chance to fish for trout in such snowy conditions in many years, and I wish we would get some snow at some of my favorite fishing spots in Texas. I'll be on the road if that opportunity presents itself.

So that favorite time of year for me is here, when trout are stocked in Texas. For a few months, somewhat like deer season, I get to chase a fish that's fun to catch with ultralight tackle in some fairly cool places. As many of my friends chase deer, my friends and I chase the rainbow. There's several friends who make it just like deer season chasing trout across the state, and I'll pass on their reports when they come in.