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After a couple of relatively quiet years, the committee that reviews applications for state record freshwater fish has had a busy couple of weeks.

Not only are they considering the 102-pound blue catfish caught by Tim Wilson of Natural Bridge Station (with help from his bubby Danny Ayers), but they also have an application from Christiansburg angler Robby Rakes, who pulled this awesome hybrid striped bass from the New River below Claytor Dam on May 13.

I actually wrote a story about Rakes' fish that I hoped to package with my story in today's Roanoke Times on the big catfish. But we had room on the outdoors page for just one tale, so the catfish got the spot and the story behind this catch will run in my column Sunday.

This fish was 28 inches long and had a girth of a whopping 20 inches. Rakes was using a Rapala Super Shad Rap on a spinning gear.

Proud mom Angela Davis of Radford sent in this awesome shot of her 8-year-old son, B (just B, no period) with his first gobbler.

B was hunting with his cousin, Lew Davis, on family property near the Little River when he got his bird on the final day of the spring season. The gobbler weighed 17 pounds, had a 10-inch beard and 1-inch spurs.

The star of this photo isn't the bird, though. Just look at that grin on B's face.

I would guess this is how most us feel after a great hunt, but I think sometimes we are a little hesitant to show our true emotions in our hero shots.

Neil Brooks and brother-in-law Terry Dameron teamed up for another gobbler on a wet day in early May.

The bird crossed a river to come to their set-up, which they had sweetened with a Primo B-Mobile decoy.

The bird weighed a bit over 17 pounds, had 1-inch spurs and a 10.75-inch beard. Brooks said it came in with a second 2-year-old but things happened so fast they weren't able to pull off the double.

A proud Sherry Burke of Christiansburg sent in this shot of her husband, Allan, with a great gobbler he killed on the final day of the season.

The gobbler weighed 22 pounds and had a 10-inch-long beard.

Jason Nicholson sent in this shot of a great gobbler he killed on May 13 in Floyd County.

When Nicholson started working this bird, he got an answer from a hen. He actually thought the hen was another hunter. That was until the hen came in, pulling this guy behind her.

The gobbler weighed 20 pounds and had a 10.5-inch beard. One spur was an inch long; the other 1.25 inches long.

My wife has been pushing a Disney World trip for a couple of years, wanting to do it while the kids are still at a "good age." Well, we finally did it, yanking them from school for a week and heading down in mid-May when the crowds are lighter than normal the weather is usually great.

Ah, the weather...

Many parts of Florida had been experiencing a terrible drought in early 2009. The end of the drought pretty much coincided with our visit.

It started raining the second evening we were there, and it never stopped. I think Orlando got something like 14 inches. It could have been worse. One area near Daytona Beach had over 24 inches of rain over a span of a few days.

In rain ponchos from Wal-Mart, we braved the deluge at the parks each day. It was wet, but at least it wasn't cold. And the amazing lack of lines -- you could stay on many rides if you wanted -- was great. In fact, given the choice of rain or long lines, I'll take rain every time.

We also swam in the rain. A lot. Only lightning kept us out of the great pool where we were staying.

I slipped over to the gulf coast for a day of wade fishing around normally sunny St. Pete, which averages sunshine 361 days a year. There was no sunshine on that day. But, despite the horrible weather -- rain, wind and occasional lightning -- we caught some fish, including this pretty spotted sea trout.

A side trip to St. Pete is a great getaway for an angler whose family is at the Orlando resorts. In fact, that's the premise of a story I'll be writing for an upcoming outdoors page in The Roanoke Times.

I have a handful of turkey pictures to catch up on, and will post them over the next few days.

Jim Basham sent this shot to me in late April, when I was spending about 16 hours a day at Smith Mountain Lake during the Bassmaster Elite Series tournament. I missed it then, and just came across it.

Basham was hunting with buddy Mark Mullen in the Roanoke area, and had turkeys all over them on this morning. A big mature gobbler came close but neither could get a shot. Then this gobbling jake came in with another gobbler that stayed out of view. When Basham got a good shot he took it.

One of the most exciting spring turkey hunts I've ever had was one that involved a couple of gobbling, strutting jakes. It's about the experience, after all.

Stacey Roberson (center) sent me this shot way back in March and I've been remiss in getting it posted.

She shot her Texas Dall ram with a .35 Remington, the same caliber Lance McCulloch (left) used on his Dall ram. Brent Harlow (right) used a 30-06 Weatherby to take his Merino ram.

Terry Dameron (right) shot this great gobbler in Franklin County as his brother-in-law Neil Brooks shot video. The turkey was almost a clone of Brooks' bird posted below, weighing 18 pounds and with an 11-inch beard and 1.25-inch spurs. The kill was made between 8 and 8:30 a.m., and the bird covered a lot of ground to investigate the hunters' calls.

Neil Brooks (right) was hunting with his buddy Travis Rivers when this nice gobbler came in from a long way out on a recent hunt in Franklin County. The bird had an 11-inch beard and 1.25-inch spurs, and weighed 18 pounds, which is not unusual for mature toms that have been running hard in the spring.