Fish tales...

I spent some time the other day working around the pond, trimming the banks and clearing all the weeds out under the dock. Having finished that, I crawled into the hammock and started to think of what my next project should be. Fortunately, a cool breeze overcame me and taking a nap seemed like the most logical thing to do.

When I woke up, I thought about wetting a line because it had been a couple of weeks since I had the fly rod out and I thought the bluegills needed some work.

As I got the rods out, I couldn't help but think about the last time I was over at Lake Loramie with my old friend, Dave. It seems he used to be quite a fisherman (at least according to him), and he and his dad would come up to Loramie and camp and fish. So when I suggested to him we take a break from golfing and try our hand at fishing, he was all for it. Remember, this is the guy who went out and bought several hundred dollars worth of golfing gear before he even played his second round. So when he said he was going to have to buy some fishing gear, I wasn't surprised when he called and said he had spent over $50 on gear so we had better catch some fish.

Well, We got out at 0600 hours and it was an especially beautiful Friday morning. After getting the boat in the water, we started trolling around the lily pads near the docks and shoreline. To my surprise, we were greeted by a beaver who swam out to let us know we were casting a bit too close to his area. I have never seen a real beaver in the wild, and this was a thrill. He made a couple of passes, sizing us up I guess, and then smacked his tail on the water and returned to his part of the shoreline.

We spent the rest of the morning exploring the lake, hitting the best looking areas. We certainly gave it the old college try, but I don't think we would have impressed any real fishermen -- you know, the ones with those fiberglass, speckly-painted bass boats worth several thousand dollars complete with almost as many electronic gadgets as we had in Baghdad.

Anyhow, here are the pictures of our day. Pictures don't lie, so I'll let you decide how we did. Please be kind. The way Dave figures it, he is averaging $26.50 apiece for these two fish he caught. I think he might have been short changed on the little one. But as far as that goes, at least he got two fish in the boat. I couldn't set the hook and had at least three fish on the line, only to have them spit the hook. They could have been crappies, because they have very soft mouths and quite often are lost if you're touch isn't just right.

Of course, the "best catches of the day" can't be measured in money. We really had to fight to land these monsters.












“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.” (Henry David Thoreau)

HOOAH