Today we woke up very early (5:45am) for a day of fishing. The plan was to attend church every Sunday, but even that is subject to change when traveling. I knew the Lord would provide for us some way some how so as not to miss worship, praise and the Word. Our guides name is Charlie Rumsfield. I found him searching on the internet at: http://www.amistadguideservice.com/. I called him and scheduled our trip. Charlie agreed to pick us up at the Trav-L park and then take us back there after the trip. He came exactly at 6:30am our pick-up time.
When we arrived at the Lake just minutes away, Charlie launched the boat at sunrise.
Charlie’s boat was a dream, no shade but very accommodating for fishing. I really liked the Honda motor. Now he has me thinking of upgrading. We rigged our poles with 14 lb line and plastic worms (senko’s) his favorite fishing bait. I am sure if we were pros, we’d had used a variety of tackle to cause the big bass to strike, but it really was about catching a lot not just the big one. Charlie explained to me that bass are not interested in any particular bait just need something to make them strike from curiosity. He also told me that they were very inactive at this time of year, that the spring is the best. I asked him what active meant. He told me it’s not uncommon to catch 75 bass in 2 hours during active season. Wow!Now a little background on Charlie and Lake Amistad. Charlie is a retired narcotics detective with the federal gov’t. He is now 71 and has been guiding for 13 years. He has been fishing on Lake Amistad for 33 years. His favorite lure is a 5-6” senko plastic worm. He proved that color is not important but a good stiff bait caster is. We did not have bait casters just spinning reels. He proved his ability to sense the fish. Anyone can catch bass on a calm lake but early this morning it was breezy and the lake was somewhat rough and sensing the bass was very difficult.
Lake Amistad as I stated is a favorite among the pros. It has produced more large bass than any other lake on the tour so the books tell me. It has been a desire of mine to fish this lake for a couple of years. The Lake is a reservoir that has no industry polluting it no any water runoff feeding it, therefore it is very clean and clear. You can see at least 15-20 feet down. The state record is 16 pounds and that is close to the biggest bass ever caught at 25+ pounds. Charlie knew the man that caught it and showed us where. How the lake became a great bass fishing spot is unique. Years ago the lakes level was about many feet lower than it is today. Mesquite trees grew along its banks. After some time the lake’s water level returned and all of these trees were covered by water. They became natural feeding grounds for big bass.We proceeded to a channel where there was a damn and submerged mesquite trees. Charlie cast his worm and my wife her favorite bumble bee. With in minutes both caught a bass. Charlie’s was 21 inches, my wifes 18.5 inches. There she goes again, beating me every chance she gets. Charlie pulled out a few more while I went fishless. Shortly after this, my son Isaiah caught his first bass. I think I may had caught 1 or 2 here myself, I was not recording mine unless it was big.
We are off to a good start, about 10 bass in an hour. Then it slowed right down only Charlie caught a few. While at the damn and it was slow, I began to tell Charlie about Jesus and how we were believers. Charlie then told me that he was a born again believer and had accepted Christ years ago, left the Lord for a while and came back. He and his wife attended a local work and loved the Lord. We talked about sanctification and he is a believer in it. We shared for a while, swapping testimonies. I began to reflect and give the Lord praise. Off all the people we could had guided us, we had a born-again believer in Jesus Christ. The Lord truly guides our steps. Well we decided to leave the Damn and go to another of Charlie’s favorite fishing spots. We fished there awhile, I put on a deep diver and hooked a nice bass. Charlie caught a few and my wife did too (18”). 
By this time the sun was out and Ethan was sleeping on the bench seat. Again we moved once again to my favorite spot of the 3. The sun was cranking at this point and the water had almost become like glass. Charlie commented that he had not seen the lake this calm in weeks. Here is where all of the activity really was for the bailey family.
For me this was what I had seen on Television. Tops of trees where big bass linger. Well, all total for the day (about 8 hours) we caught 34 bass. Dad 10 (largest 18.5”), mom 8 (largest 18.5”), Isaiah 1 (14”), Ethan 1 (14”) and Charlie 14 (largest 21”). It was a very good day for an inactive time in the year. By the way no fish was under 14 inches. The kids were very hot at this point and they went swimming off the boat (along with mom and dad). The trip back was fun and we ended the day in a prayer circle with Charlie, Therese, Isaiah, Ethan and me. Charlie prayed for our safety and blessing and we prayer for Charlie and his wife. What a beautiful day.
We all were sun-baked. The boys and I went swimming and Therese took a nap. While swimming I met a man who sails on Amistad. He informed me of some Indian hieroglyphics that are some of Americas oldest and largest, some are 100 feet long. I asked him if he knew Jesus as his personal saviour. He was not a believer. In fact he is a retired cellular biology teacher in one of the local colleges. He is a humanist. I spoke to him about the Holy Spirit and how he could have a changed life. He retorted “I am drinking my spirits” as he puffed on a cigarette. Oh well, I politely left him with a tract and told him I’d pray for him and went back to the trailer. We all got ready to leave for Carlsbad, New Mexico.
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