If Fish Could Laugh

Well.......where to begin.

It took us roughly 4 1/2 hours to reach the much anticipated vacation, arriving there at around 7:30pm. Once there, life took on a whole new outlook. All the crap that's been going on around this house was quickly forgotten, placed on the backburner, and left to stew.

The cabin was great. Big with 4 bedrooms, a living area and an okay kitchen. Of course as bathrooms go, this one left much to be desired. But hell, it served it's purpose. There was a spectacular view of the lake out an enourmous picture window. The cabin was situated on a hill which made it all the better and on one side there were woods while on the other was more cabins that weren't nearly as large. A nice breeze kicked throughout the entire cabin as well.

Walking down to the lake we discovered that the beach wasn't nearly as large as the photos made it seem. Funny how pictures of things look so much different than the actual thing. We were slightly disappointed with this until the kids went swimming the next day. Moving on towards the end of the dock, we noticed just how large this lake really was, actually, not all that large but it was really, really long. And there were reeds everywhere. Pat and me got terribly excited about the prospect of going fishing. All the reeds and lily pads.....mmmmm, we had fish in our eyes.

It was really strange not having our dogs to tend to the first couple of nights. However, I didn't seem to miss them all that much. I don't think the term "vacation" struck me until about 3 days before it was over. I did enjoy myself quite a bit but that fog that was lingering in my head lingered for many days.

Pat and I got up many mornings at 5:00am to go out and fish and for what? Well, our hopes of catching any fish were soon deflated. With all the heat, schools and schools of perch minnows, and low water levels which was quite warm, the fish were MIA! Oh, we caught MANY perch and some of them were quite large actually. I caught a couple that were about a foot long. Then there were the blue gills. There were a few crappie, northern and rock bass and I even caught a disgusting bull head! ewwwwww. But the biggest mystery of all still lurks at the bottom of that lake. Well, actually two mysteries. The first ate one of my jigs whole and as I pulled it snapped my line. The other was in a spot that we found just a couple days before we were to depart.

Pat and I grew very frustrated with the fishing. Since our last trip to a cabin was all about the fish I guess we just made the dumb assumption that this too would be just as rewarding. We were told about a crappie hole so of course we just had to check it out on our next morning outing. It was about 5:30 in the morning so the water was like glass and a little fog/mist was hovering over the lake that was slowly coming to life. Damn hole was in the middle of the lake next to a big log. NOTHING!

So we moved in closer to shore and just leisurely threw our lines in while daydreaming about the fact that we could be all snuggled up in bed warm and toasty. This area was a new area for us and not only was there a big log in the middle of the lake but 5 or 6 others were poking out as well nearer the shore. They were almost perfectly sitting in the same pattern that one would find on a playing card, like the 5 of clubs or something. For myself, with the fog/mist and the only noise being that of ducks, loons, fish jumping, or the obscene noise the blue heron makes, I was getting a little creeped out. It was eerie. I get spooked easy.

As we drifted we happened upon a little lily pad. Just one lonely little lily pad. Since we hadn't seen gill nor fin of the much desired bass, I made a stupid joke. "Hey, a lily pad, should I try to catch a bass?" As I said this I was dropping my line over the edge of the boat, looking at Pat and him and I were chuckling in a frustrated way. I had a simple hook, worm and bobber on because the jigging and the lures were just bringing me nothing...at least with the worm I would get the occasional perch to make my fishing worth the trip...ahem. So, as I'm saying something else to Pat I glance to make sure I had let out enough line next to this little lonely lily pad and my bobber was under the water about a foot.

I'm thinking, "oh gee, another perch who swallowed the hook". Man, I couldn't have been more wrong. When I went to pull up on the line the resistance I got was WAY more than that of a perch. My rod was bent more than half way down the pole and the jerking was something that gave me great joy. A fish, a large fish!!!! Under the boat it went, my pole bending as I started to stand up. I'm looking at Pat saying, "I think I have a fish" and SNAP. I had just been able to get it to Pat's end of the boat so that we could possibly get a look at the pig and he could grab the line and 'poof' it was gone. Neither of us saw a damn thing. The lunker was probably safely under the boat.

Pat looked at the water, looked at my fishing line wagging in the air and looked at me and asked me why I didn't reel it in! I held my pole up to him and showed him that I had in fact reeled it as far as I could since the bobber was at the tip and hmph'ed at him. And my line was set for about 5 feet of water so I didn't have much further to bring it up.

With that event, I asked if perhaps we should anchor the boat and of course this was the best idea. And that little tiny lily pad proved to be the best spot we could find. Pat too lost a lure to a lunker there, same instance.

Of course, our 'best spot' didn't have much to offer. And what was most irritating is those who would come in with a couple of walleye on a stringer telling us what bait they were using and where exactly they were at. Funny thing about that? Pat and I had either been there for at least and hour and a half, used the same bait and nary a bite, not even from a perch! Perhaps 2 years is far too long to wait to fish. Who knows?

There's much, much more to talk about but I have to stop because AS USUAL my post is worthy of a 200 page book. Sorry.

But before I go, I must add this...if fish could laugh, they would certainly be laughing at us. In my sluggish, animated mind on those mornings that 'the big one got away' I imagined the fish were just below us having one hell of a party. Oh, and lets not forget those that were jumping just a few feet from the boat....the party favors.