Happy International Working Class Holiday!

That's happy May Day!

But then you folks with public school educations knew that, right?

For me just give me the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and I'll go to work today.

I finally got him.

This is one of the male Rose-breasted Grosbeak that have visited us this spring.  We so far have had two males and a rather drab female.  I had never seen one of these guys and cannot emphasize the colorful markings.  That red is really bright.  They are a little smaller than a robin and seem to love our black oil sunflower.

Last night I had the chance to do a little fishing.  What a shocker huh?  Five ounce fly rod and an olive woolly bugger with a gold head.  And this striper succumbed to my wily ways.

He hit about four feet from shore and immediately took off about sixty feet of fly line.  Almost to the backing before I could stop him.  I can imagine what a twenty pounder might be like on this rod, just a thrill.  These fish are sluggers.  No fancy jumps like a salmon, small mouth bass or tarpon.  They feed voraciously when on, but can be very selective.  They stop feeding when full, unlike bluefish that gorge themselves, throw up and continue killing.  This is the fish of my youth on the Chesapeake Bay and it's nice to see another one, albeit of the land locked type.