...is my new hobby. admittedly, i wear hobbies like most women wear handbags, but in this case if time allows it, it just might stick like that coach bag no woman can ever give up.
my first experience with non-tetrapod chordate-catching was with my dad, in my youth, using stinkbait for catfish. i do not remember much about the trip except for the stench in the minivan, catching a hook through my left index finger, and casting my very first cast into a tree on a sandbar (non-rescuable, line was cut, game was over, i was sad). i could not have been more than 10, and the shame and pain of that single failed cast has haunted me until....
well, four days ago, to be exact. that was when we boldly marched into a lodge of a west virginia campground at 8 in the morning, bought our licenses, received somewhat confused instructions on how to reach the closest bait and tackle shop, bought poles and minnows and nightcrawlers, and began our journey to angler-dom.
we didn't get to start until 9:30...admittedly late for fishing, but the most pressing issue when we began was how on earth to drive a sharp metal point through a tiny gasping fish, or how to cut a wriggling, angry nightcrawler into pieces to then be skewered on this point. we were a comical mess, using latex gloves to avoid sliminess and dropping bait and generally looking like citified fools. but then....the first cast!
after a while we were joined by a very old, adorable, west virginia couple. they had been married for 58 years, and i assume for the last 50 years the wife would talk and the husband would nod his head sagely and say, "mmmmmmmmmhm!" occasionally he would laugh, or mention that he had been stationed in texas in the war ("that's dubya dubya two," his wife chimed in) but mostly he sat back and would intone, "mmmmmmmmmmhm!"
"who's the better fisherman?"
"i am....i catch all the big ones."
"mmmmmmmhm!"
"honey, cast over there----i kin see that big black bass jes' lookin' at me. no! not over THERE----here....no, that's too far out, do it agin!"
"mmmmmmmhm!"
"i don't bait my own hooks, ya know, i don't like all them worms. i make him do it fer me."
"mmmmmmmmhm!"
"you two girls should come on down to parkersburg...you'd have fun, we've got like what, honey, 60 restaurants?"
"mmmmmmmhm!"
"well you have fun and good luck, it was nice meetin' ya'll, have a good trip!"
"mmmmmmmmhm!"
a black bass and 4 bluegills later, i'd say it was a good trip.
"mmmmmmmmmmhm!"
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4 comments:
As an animal lover myself I don't think I could do the live bait thing at all... Perhaps you could consider fly-fishing?
I'm glad you had such a good time out fishing. That couple was so cute the way you described them. I bet you had to just smile and giggle at them a time or three. Be thinkin of ya. Ta for now dahling!
West Virginia? What in tarnation are you doing in WV? I realize that compared to the Great State of Texas, all things bleed together, but isn't that a little far away from Cleveland? I'm sooo out of the loop. (Hope you're well; love you!)
Glad Ya had a good time!!
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