This weekend the loving husband and I will begin our annual quest to catch the elusive crappie. In order to be prepared for a new season of crappie fishing, I decided to reorganize my plastic worms. The first step in the procedure is to purchase new colors of worms. Then it follows that you must clean out some of the old to make room for the new. This year I purchased two-inch worms in Lemon Meringue, Electric Blue, John Deere (green), Bubblegum (pink) and Tomato Core (red). I don’t use Bubble Gum very often, but it makes a lovely addition to the color scheme of the tackle box. I also have Cotton Candy, Watermelon, and Morning Dawn for the same reason. There is nothing more boring than a tackle box full of Motor Oil, Root Beer, and Smoke. In order to properly prepare for reorganization, you must dump all the worms out on a towel and wash the tackle box inside and out. While it air dries, you sort each worm by color, size, and usage patterns. On the top level of the tackle box you put the most-used worms interspersed with a few Bubble Gum and Cotton Candy for aesthetic purposes. On the lower level you put the ones that you never use, but might someday. The leftover worms can be shared with other fisherpersons. You may be wondering how I choose an appropriate worm color for a productive bait presentation, when I have such a wide variety to choose from. Based on decades of fishing with plastics, I am going to release my surefire method: 1) Sit in the boat. 2) Look at the color of your socks. 3) Pick a worm that matches them. 4) Start fishing. If you don’t wear socks or always wear white socks, then select another item of clothing (tee-shirt, swimsuit, underwear) and match it with that. Try to coordinate your wardrobe based on the colors in your worm box. It works for me. We need to address one other aspect of the successful bait presentation, the jig head, which also comes in many colors. But we’ll tackle that another day. Memorial weekend is coming up so don’t forget to stop by the library for some leisurely reading. New on the shelf this week is "The Closers," by Michael Connelly. In Los Angeles in 1988, a 16-year-old girl who had disappeared from her home was later found dead with a single gunshot wound to the chest. The death appeared at first to be a suicide, and although detectives on the case found clues that pointed toward murder, no one was ever charged. Detective Harry Bosch, newly returned to the LAPD with the job of closing unsolved cases, gets the report of the new DNA match that makes the case very much alive. A white supremacist with close ties to the LAPD becomes a suspect, but Bosch can’t take a step without threatening higher-ups in the department. Everywhere he probes, Bosch finds grief, rage, and a bottomless well of treachery and danger. "Heartbreak Hotel," by Jill Landis. A supportive wife and mother, Tracy Potter always played by the rules and maintained a perfect home. But after her husband’s sudden death, she learns the devastating truth: everything she believed in was a lie. Forced to start over, Tracy puts everything into resurrecting the Heartbreak Hotel, an abandoned turn-of-the-century inn overlooking the Pacific Ocean. She’s determined to never again believe in anyone but herself, until the night a mysterious loner, Wade McAllister, checks in. The Heartbreak Hotel is a perfect place for Wade to hide from his notoriety as an author and the shocking events in his past. Drawn to Tracy and her struggle to succeed, he is quickly compelled to risk the anonymity on which his survival depends. By the time Tracy discovers the handsome stranger’s true identity, there’s more than ever at stake. She is not only forced to risk another broken heart and learn to trust again, but she must fight to make Wade believe in their love.
