Ahhh, fishing

In the midst of all the chaos, we have had some moments of down time. And in those moments few and far between we have managed to squeeze in some time to do what has quickly become a nightly thing. Or at least as 'nightly' as it can be.

Fishing.........need I say more? But of course.

It's been quite a year so far. We only just started heading out a couple weeks ago. It's cheap, outdoors, and extremely relaxing. And with the past few months and all the stress that's been circulating around, I beg to go fishing right now.

So, our usual fishing spot is where it all began--the place where we had so much fun last year. We went there with worms the first time and it was so choked with weeds that we became quite discouraged of what may be for the year. We did head out with our friends on their boat one evening before our first venture to the shore and that proved to be a pretty bleak fishing adventure for myself while everyone else around me were pulling in sunnies and of course the northern that got away. And this excursion was on this same lake in the same area that we shore fish from. One would think that if we had an opportunity to head out on a lake in a boat that we would demand to go to timbuktu and back but no, Pat and I raved about our little cove. Silly us.

So, we went out on the shore line and the weeds were so horrible that we stayed away until just about 2 weeks ago. We went back and the weeds were nearly gone. We were pulling in sunnies as usual and then our son hooked into what we thought was a lunker. Guess what...it was a bullhead. And it was the biggest bullhead I've seen in my life. And frankly, bullheads are my least favorite catch of the day.

Well, anyway, Pat and I started catching the bullheads too and they were all good size. I've heard they're good to eat but number one, they don't die and number two, they have stingers--or so I'm told. Not once have I EVER touched a bullhead. I think I hate them so much because my brothers scared me when I was younger...hmm, a story that I'll have to write about.

I decided that enough was enough and moved down the shore to a little less weedy area even though the weeds were still lurking there. I casted way out deep past the weeds and waited. Bloop, bobber gone and I yank and wow. To my great delight I had a whopper on the other end. I thought perhaps it was a northern or something. I was hoping to see it fly out of the water in that graceful way that a bass would but it never did.

I got it to the shore and saw neon green, a black spot inside a yellow circle on either side of it's tail and a head that looked prehistoric. That was how I described it to Pat; prehistoric. I thought perhaps a lake trout of some sort--oh, it was about a foot and a half long and weighed anywhere from 2-4 pounds maybe? But yeah, Pat, our son and myself stood there just staring at this thing trying to figure out what it was as it flapped away with my hook deeply imbedded in it's mouth. It was kinda ugly. And the guess' we were coming up with...at one point I said that maybe it was a dogfish. Never seen one or heard one described but since we were guessing. Oh, it had teeth too. Ugly cuss it was.

So we rush home to find out that it was a 'bowfin' or in other words, a dogfish. Hmmmm, lucky guess.

So, this past weekend, we had nothing to do all weekend. The first time since May that we've had nothing to wake up to or plan for. And my selfish side wouldn't allow anyone to intrude on that because honestly, Pat and I are exhausted from all that's been going on! What did we do? Well of course we spent much of it on the prowl for good shore fishing.

Ultimately we ended up at what we now call, our spot. We fished in our spot for awhile but caught one bullhead and said...no more, lets move. It's a little peninsula and one can walk all the way around the point and fish on the east side or the west side.

We chose to fish on the west side on Saturday. I MADE Pat stop so I could get me some crappie minnows. Worms are icky, leeches, well, they aren't so bad but I think bullhead for some dumb reason but minnows, I think northern, bass, crappie...whoppers! hehe

We fished for awhile, caught some sunnies and crappies and I even caught a baby walley. At around 8:25 that evening my world changed. I was hooking into all kinds of fish earlier then this and had found my new spot for the night. I had Pat on one side of me and our son on the other and neither of them were catching nearly as much. Then wham...I hooked something large and it fought a good fight. I got it up to shore and it was about a 2-3 pound bass. Beautiful although it looked a little albino. Not sure why.

After my excitement of that, I threw on another minnow, casted out and wham, another big one...another bass, this one about 1-2 pounds and again, a little albino...Hubby and my boy were perplexed, they were a mere 5-7 feet from my line and nothing!!! I of course was laughing inside and yes, gloating. How could I not. All year my luck had been strange and lacking. Well, anyway, I threw on another minnow and casted out to my spot and wham...ANOTHER big fish. Holy cow, that was just too much in one night. I got it to shore and lo and behold, another nice size bass. This one about 1-1 1/2 pounds.

I did feel bad for the boys, they were both looking a little mopey and frustrated. It was time for us to leave, sadly. It seems that each night about the same time the fish start hitting and then we have to leave. I hate that.

Last night though it was our son's and Pat's turn. They were dragging in bass like crazy, crappie, and our boy was so excited I could feel his butterflies in my stomach as he dragged in a lunker....another bowfin. He was giggling and grunting and was nearly getting pulled into the lake with this fish. Man, can those things put up a good fight and he got to experience it...but it got to the point where the poor kid couldn't reel in. It was to much for him and he handed the rod to Pat.

Oddly, I felt some relief that they had a great night fishing last night. I was a little saddened that I didn't catch more then some good size crappies and sunfish. The thrill of the fight is something that I ache for when I fish.

But the point of this post isn't really the sport of fishing, it's about something else.

I moved away from the boys after my luck in their spot was proving fishless for me. But not because I was frustrated but because I had an urge.

At around 8:30 at night is when the sun turns into that deep orange-red color and you can nearly look at it with the naked eye. Last night there were long clouds streaking through the sky. My urge was to watch the sun set. Questions about what my favorite would be between sunrise and sunset would be hard for me to answer.

The joy of fising for me is just that...sunrise, sunset, the peacefullness on the still water as the loons chatter back and forth in the wee hours of the morning, and the peacefullness that settles on the lake as darkness approaches. How many sunrises and sunsets have I sat and enjoyed with my husband without really even realizing that I'm doing it? How many times have I thought about it the way I did last night, that fishing offers both of these in such a quiet way, the orange glow on the still water in the morning and the orange glow rippling across the water at night...God, there is just nothing more beautiful to me.

I looked over the water and as I did so I said to Pat, "gee honey, it's kind of nice that we get to see the sunset nearly everytime we go fishing". I don't think either one of us looked at it in that perspective before. And add to that that we have our children with us, mostly our son and thinking about what sort of memories these moments might create...life can suck but it's those natural little things that make it so worth it.