Yesterday---
And to think I opted out of going on a pleasant drive to the 45th parallel in exchange for a relaxing couple of hours fishing. All because I thought catching a 3 inch minnow was a good omen, promising better things to come.
!!!HUMPHF!!!
I had on all the gear needed to keep the bugs off me. Long pants, water shoes, 2 shirts (one being long sleeved), a straw hat with a net over it to protect my face and enough bug spray on me to give Chernobyl a run for its money as to who's the most toxic. I looked like the entire population of the worlds worst fashion designers came together to vomit all over me. But I was determined to find a way to out smart the blasted bugs and fashion dictates be d... well, you know what they can be.
Let me see if I can remember this adventure in the proper sequence...
To the river.
I grabbed a chair, dragged it over to the rivers edge, cast my line into the water, and sat down. Immediately the chairs front legs sank into the mud so fast and so deep it took all I had not to be pitched headlong into the water. I readjusted the chair, sat down a little more gingerly this time, looked for my fishing pole. Where'd it go? I caught sight of the handle just as it was disappearing into the water!! I managed to land the pole without getting too wet, but I didn't land the fish that tried to steal it.
Humphf.
Once the hook was re-baited, which requires leaving the shore, trekking over hill and dale to the picnic table where bait and tackle await, I cast, once again, into the crystal clear waters of the river. I sat down, carefully, and proceeded to watch, with growing exasperation, as these big, beautiful fish leisurely swam by my poor drowning bait, giving it a sniff, but not so much as a nibble.
Humphf
That's it, over hill and dale to the pond.
I cast my line and caught a sizable fish!! YES!! I knew this was gonna be a good day to fish!... Well, I celebrated a bit too soon. My reel decides to go haywire. There's a nest of tangled line bunched around the bottom of my pole. I lost track of how long I spent trying to untangle that mess. All the while, my bobber is racing around the pond surface, occasionally disappearing under the water. Patience, which was wearing very thin, paid off. I got the line rewound on the reel and proceeded to bring in my prize. It looked big, whatever it was. Just as I got it to shore, that rotten fish spit the hook out into the debris at the edge of the water. Debris that proved too strong for my line. First lost hook.
Humphf.
I go up hill and over dale, again, to the picnic table and rig up a new line. I notice I'm getting low on tackle. Back over hill and dale, yet again, and into the pond you go, worm. Caught something! Reeling reeling reeling! This one's a tough one. Hang on... it's not acting like a fish on my line anymore. What happened? Oh. That's what happened. I traded a big fish for a grass fish.
At least this particular grass fish was interesting to look at.
While untangling this grass beauty, I notice something was missing. Where the h... is my hook!? Once again, over hill and dale...
Running low on tackle now. Making do with what I have is testing my imagination to it's limits. I somehow manage to rig up a make shift leader, bait my hook, cast my line in the direction of the last successful strike and caught... a tree limb above my head.
We have discussed tree fishing before, so I'll just say that another year older and wiser has done nothing to diminish the rage factor involved with this particular activity. If anything, it's worse. And this time, the tree decided to keep my tackle. Tackle that never even made it into the water.
!HUMPHF!
Okay, slim pickings in the box, but I still managed to rig a line. I cast into the pond after glaring at the tree limb, which is not an object of beauty in my eyes at the moment, and YES!
I caught a lil'bitty guy!
He was so cute! Back into the water with ya, lil' guy.
With renewed determination, I cast again. At that precise moment something managed to sting me thru BOTH shirts!! Right side belly! OWIE OWIE OWIE!!!! That's it, I'm DONE! With something furiously flying around my head I made a beeline for the picnic table, grabbed the worms, abandoned all fishing gear and shot up to the cabin. And guess what we have in the cabin buzzing around in the great room?!?
!!HUMPHF!!
Shoulda gone to the 45th parallel.
