Olive is this week's host for Fun Monday. She writes ... "The next assignment is: I would like to hear about your *whopper* of a fishing story. Yes, you heard it correctly whether it is fictional or non fictional I want to hear a fishing story from you. An example would be if you catch a minnow and tell it that you caught a swordfish (exaggeration is the operative word here). Did you hear me say show your photo(s)? Of course you did – be creative."
A bit of background info to set the stage:
Exaggeration has never been my strong suit ... and in truth, I've not THOUGHT about fishing in DECADES (sorry that none of the photos from way back when are readily available to scan to share this morning), but it's something I did often while married to a die-hard fresh-water Bass fisherman for 21 years. We would set out from home in the wee hours of the morning (around 2-3am) to arrive at one of the San Diego County lakes ... ready to be on the water at sunrise.
In the beginning we'd rent a metal boat, but within a year or so we purchased a 10-foot 'flat-bottomed car-topper jon boat' at Sears. It hung suspended above our cars in the garage mid-week ...(seriously folks, sometimes truth is strange than fiction)... and added a rack to the top of the VW Bus. Soon we were driving Friday evenings to the lake and sleeping in the 'bus' ... frequently staying the whole weekend so we could fish TWO days instead of one.
Eventually we purchased a Dodge Van and a 17' Bass Boat with an 85HP Evinrude (that doubled as a ski-boat and looked a bit like this except it was orange & white with orange seats) ... bought some land at Canyon Lake (once known as Railroad Canyon Reservoir) so he could fish and I could water-ski on the same weekend trip.
Let's see ... what 'fish story' shall I share here?
The most memorable might be the day at Lake Henshaw where we found a 'honey-hole' ... catching our limit in less than 10 minutes early in the day. The bass hit our lines the minute the lure found the water ... giving us each a good 'fight' to land and add them to the stringer before casting again & repeating the process. My 'ex' used a 'sounding device' known as a Lokator to 'map' the bottom of many of the San Diego County lakes, but we never found this particular spot again because someone snagged his maps that day on the dock ... putting a damper on his day.
Another time on Bass Lake south of Yosemite National Park (when the bass weren't biting) we used some live worms to fish for Crappie ... caught our limit and headed back to camp to share with his parents (who were camping with us in their motor home). Unfortunately, he neglected to put the stringer inside the boat before 'hitting it' ... so by the time we arrived to share our catch, the only thing remaining on the stringer were a few fish mouths.
It's strange that I can't seem to recall fishing stories with happy endings today, though I do recall that fresh water bass taste delicious ... but more often than not (being the sportsman he was) the fish were 'photographed & released' because he subscribed to the theory that one day he'd catch 'the BIG ONE' he'd keep and frame.
Our scariest experience happened on one of the lakes in the June Lake Loop north of Yosemite. We fished our way to the far end of the lake on a cold & windy day without noticing how quickly the clouds were gathering overhead ... so that when the skies opened and the rain fell we had a LONG TRIP back across the very choppy water in our little John boat powered by a 5HP engine that didn't go very fast in the best of conditions). It took us more than a half hour to make our way back across the lake (into the wind gusting against us) to the launch area. We were both drenched, but relieved to be on land again ... and paid more attention to weather conditions ever after.
Thought for Today
"It has always been my private conviction that any man who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses it has it coming." John Steinbeck
Exaggeration has never been my strong suit ... and in truth, I've not THOUGHT about fishing in DECADES (sorry that none of the photos from way back when are readily available to scan to share this morning), but it's something I did often while married to a die-hard fresh-water Bass fisherman for 21 years. We would set out from home in the wee hours of the morning (around 2-3am) to arrive at one of the San Diego County lakes ... ready to be on the water at sunrise.
In the beginning we'd rent a metal boat, but within a year or so we purchased a 10-foot 'flat-bottomed car-topper jon boat' at Sears. It hung suspended above our cars in the garage mid-week ...(seriously folks, sometimes truth is strange than fiction)... and added a rack to the top of the VW Bus. Soon we were driving Friday evenings to the lake and sleeping in the 'bus' ... frequently staying the whole weekend so we could fish TWO days instead of one.
Let's see ... what 'fish story' shall I share here?
Another time on Bass Lake south of Yosemite National Park (when the bass weren't biting) we used some live worms to fish for Crappie ... caught our limit and headed back to camp to share with his parents (who were camping with us in their motor home). Unfortunately, he neglected to put the stringer inside the boat before 'hitting it' ... so by the time we arrived to share our catch, the only thing remaining on the stringer were a few fish mouths.
It's strange that I can't seem to recall fishing stories with happy endings today, though I do recall that fresh water bass taste delicious ... but more often than not (being the sportsman he was) the fish were 'photographed & released' because he subscribed to the theory that one day he'd catch 'the BIG ONE' he'd keep and frame.
Our scariest experience happened on one of the lakes in the June Lake Loop north of Yosemite. We fished our way to the far end of the lake on a cold & windy day without noticing how quickly the clouds were gathering overhead ... so that when the skies opened and the rain fell we had a LONG TRIP back across the very choppy water in our little John boat powered by a 5HP engine that didn't go very fast in the best of conditions). It took us more than a half hour to make our way back across the lake (into the wind gusting against us) to the launch area. We were both drenched, but relieved to be on land again ... and paid more attention to weather conditions ever after.
Thought for Today
"It has always been my private conviction that any man who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses it has it coming." John Steinbeck
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20 comments:
Yeah, it's always good to check the weather before heading out on a fishing trip. I've been caught in bad storms on the ocean and it ain't fun, that's for sure!
I've found (when the weather's nice) that time spent fishing is more time spent reflecting and relaxing. It's always been like therapy for me :)
Hope you have a great week!
Storyteller,
Oh that honey hole sounds perfect. I want to know where it is. LOL I enjoy fishing and so do the boys. We wanted to go yesterday because the province had a free fishing weekend where you didn't need licenses, but that didn't happen. I will get my license soon. They are very reasonably priced and the boys and I have a lot of fun seeing who can catch the most and who can catch the largest.
Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed my visit.
Blessings,
Mary
Thank you for stopping by my blog on Sky Watch Friday. I, too, am married to a man who loves to fish. I retired and stayed that way, he retired and went back to work so hasn't done as much fishing as he plans to when he's done earning money.
I'll check back to see what you're up to again.
One retired teacher to another....
Hi Storyteller--only visited your blog a couple of times but I'll be back. I appreciate your writing style and what appears to motivate your blogging efforts. This "fishing" piece had a lot of undercurrents (hah!)that I kept hoping you'd explore. Perhaps another time?
Well - funny the memories that come up. I never got inot the whole fishing thing one had to be too still and too quite for my nature and I still don't get why any one want to mount a fish.
Perhaps, you've hit the nail on the head about why I'm not a fisher-woman. I'm an early riser, but getting up to be some where else, before the sun rises, no way.
That little bit of information about the stringer and fish heads is hilarious. But I am sure it wasn't that way when it happened.
Thanks for joining in this FM.
Wow...you certainly were dedicated fishmen...er persons. You were gettting up about the time we end up going to bed in the summer!
I've been caught in a storm on my dad's boat before and it certainly is no fun! Glad it worked out for you!
I guess I'm not that creative.I tried to come up with a fish story and could not.
that's my story and i'm sticking to it. Hugs and Blessings.
SwampAngel65 – That was a one-trial ‘live and learn’ lesson for the two of us. We never did anything quite so foolish again. In retrospect, I enjoyed most of those ‘fishing excursions’ precisely because they WERE relaxing … once we were on the lake anyway ;--) I forgot to mention when I commented at your blog, but I’m hoping Indy’s doing okay with the treatments …
Mary – The ‘honey hole’ came as a delightful surprise to me … and we had a great time while the bass were biting anything and everything we threw at them. We used to take my brother’s boys fishing with us … but they’re in their 40s now so that was a LONG time ago even though it sometimes seems like last week.
Jo – You’re welcome … it was MY pleasure actually. It’s funny how some guys have more trouble with retirement than women I know. Hope he gets to fish lots soon, and I look forward to your next visit.
Faye – I think today was my first visit to yours, but my memory isn’t what it used to be so I could be wrong. I enjoyed what I read today and hope to return to Summit Musings when time permits. I’m so far behind in everything at the moment, I’m not sure when I’ll be caught up … but I’m working at it steadily. Love the ‘undercurrents’ reference and will have to look at my post again to get a sense of what you might be hoping I’d explore … unless you’d care to enlighten me?
IamwhoIam – Being quiet was always a challenge for me and I know I annoyed my ‘ex’ often in that respect. Methinks the ‘mounting’ is a ‘guy thing’ … and I find myself laughing hysterically at how that showed up here, but think I’ll leave it rather than try to say it another way.
Jan – I couldn’t agree with you more … especially these days. I rise early, but I don’t choose to leave the house much before 9:30 or 10am. That said, I’ve managed to leave the house by 7:30am to be on time for my Photoshop classes on Tuesdays & Thursdays for the past 7 weeks … so some ‘old habits’ from my working days are coming back to me. I’m not sure yet whether or not that’s a good thing however.
Olive – Actually, everyone found it hilarious except my ‘ex’ who was pretty upset about the incident for quite some time. The guy had no sense of humor when it came to serious stuph like fishing!
Susan – I’ve always been an early riser … regardless of the time my head hits the pillow, my eyes are open and my feet are on the floor by 4am without an alarm clock … often earlier. It’s just who I am.
Ipost – One day I’ll write about the night I spent stranded in that 17’ bass boat with my two nephews at Lake Powell after getting separated from our House Boat. Now THAT was a scary experience for the 3 of us … and for the rest of the family who spent the night wondering where we were and if they’d find us alive.
Mike – Some folks STRETCHED the fishy theme to write about slightly different topics … so don’t give up. Perhaps something will come to you if you keep visiting Fun Monday participants? Ya never know! Stranger things have happened ;--)
To all - It’s fun finding all your comments here. Methinks I’ve visited most (if not all) of you already today, but if I missed ya … perhaps I’ll wander by later on. At the moment, I’m trying to respond to comments and then I’m taking Molly for a walk because we both need the exercise. Hope you’re having a marvelous Monday!
Hugs and blessings,
Weather has an interesting way of changing directions and intensity. I am glad that you survived to tell us about your fishing trips.
I don't think I would have enjoyed that trip in a small boat in a storm! Now water-skiing sounds much more fun :)
Wow, I bet the water skiing was great. You were so lucky to live close to the water.
Oh that last bit does sound scary!
We have a "grocery store hole" close to a friend's beach house. That's where my husband goes when he wants a "sure thing".
Ugh. I bet he never forgot to bring in the stringer again!
Molly – Me too ;--)
I did learn pretty quickly that paying attention to weather conditions was useful.
ChrisB – Reflecting upon the experience is more pleasurable than living through it for sure. As for water-skiing … my sister and I taught many friends to ski at Canyon Lake behind that boat during our summer’s off from teaching. The guys at the lake would always tease us … asking me if ‘hubby’ knew I was misusing HIS bass boat, and raze HIM on weekends with ‘stories’ about our raucous mid-week behavior. Those were fun timez indeed!
Jo – The water-skiing was wonderful and we were fortunate to have many lakes within an hours drive of our 1st home in Orange County. We also took it to Lake Havasu for weekend trips frequently with extended family members. Fun timez indeed! Good memories actually.
Lisa – I hadn’t thought of that experience in decades, but it was frightening at the time. Funny how the mind blurs those memories after the fact.
Sayre – Haha! I’ve never heard that term … but it’s perfect! Oh you’re right about that … and he got himself one of those collapsible ‘basket things’ to use for crappie in the future even though he took some guff from his Bass fishing buddies for doing so.
To all – Thanks for your visit and comments.
I always enjoy learning more about everyone on Fun Monday. Methinks I’ve been to all of your sites, but when I return from my Photoshop Class this afternoon … I’ll double check. Hope you all have a delightful day!
Hugs and blessings,
Storyteller,
That trip through the storm must have been very scary. I've never caught a fish - never. I did catch an eel once and it put up quite a fight! LOL
Good fish stories!
Hugs,
Tina
The story about not putting the stringer in the boat: ACK! And it sounds like something I'd do. ACK! again. :)
Tina – Thanks. If my ‘ex’ hadn’t been so ‘into fishing’ … I suspect I never would have cast a line into the water nor caught fish either. I’m intrigued at your ‘eel story’ and hope you’ll elaborate sometime … perhaps sharing on your blog?
Rebecca – I love your two ‘ACKs’ here! LOL
I suppose if I’d been thinking more clearly, I might have thought to ask him where the stringer was and saved him the frustration along with our ‘dinner’ … but, alas, that was not to be. Neither of us seemed to be ‘alert’ on that particular afternoon.
Thanks to each of you for visiting and sharing your thoughts.
Hugs and blessings,
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