Fishy Tales – Sense of Humor Required

It was a nice, warm June day. It was the weekend and we had lovely weather. No plans on the agenda, so what better thing to do than go fishing? Fishing is fun and enjoyable and great for family time, right?

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So we loaded up the truck, packed an ice chest, and headed for one of our favorite ponds. It was a tepid 80 degrees and the sun was shining bright. It was a short 20 minute drive. The windows were down so the wind was blowing in our faces. We were all ready to spend a nice day on the bank.

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After unlocking the first of 3 gates, we are all in fish mode. Relaxed and ready for some sun. Now, being prepared as we usually are, I had my Browning 7mm 08 within reach in the truck. You never know what you might come across in the pasture.

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My husband is outside of the truck, about to close the gate behind the truck. The driver of the truck sees something darting about 70 yards in front of us. He screams my name and I quickly look up. There by the cows, are two coyotes. Without hesitation, I grabbed the gun and went for the shot. I was only able to get one, but it was better than nothing. He still ran off into the trees with his friend. That was the first hiccup.

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No big deal. We continue on with our mission. We pull up to the pond and start unloading our gear. We get the chairs out, then the poles, the ice chest, and prepare for some fun. After grabbing the tackle box and my pole, I quickly realized we had forgotten our bait. Hiccup number two. We had plenty of lures, but we really like live worms. No big deal, there are always plenty of worms underneath things on the ground. The men headed back up the drive.

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30 minutes later they return, almost empty handed. They were only able to find 2 earthworms and a grub. It was better than nothing. So half of us rigged up with lures and the other half, with worms.

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Randell decides at this point that he wants to fish on the opposite bank and heads on over. 10 yards into his walk, he jumps and screams. There in the wet grass, was a 4 foot long snake that had struck at him. He runs for the gun and shoots the snake. Luckily, he wasn’t injured and the snake wasn’t poisonous. Hiccup number three.

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It was slow for the next 2 hours. Only a couple of bites. Within the hour, there are 2 more snakes that are killed. That turned out to be the majority of the excitement for the first part of the afternoon. Finally, after about another hour, the fish really start biting! Everyone is paying attention to their poles and bobbers are sinking like rocks. Things start getting exciting.

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I was the last one to really get any bites. I had my bait stolen a time or two, so I was really watching my bobber. Good thing too, because, boy did the fish start biting. I had 2 poles in the water and was helping my son with his. One pole gets a bite. I start reeling it in. its giving me a little bit of a fight, just how I like! I reel it all the way to the bank and my line breaks!! I can see the bass at the edge of the bank, and my line breaks! Great!! Another hiccup. So I start re-rigging it. My other pole gets a bite. So I immediately reel it in. this time, another good fight! My heart was racing after the disappointment of losing the last one. Wouldn’t you know, right at the bank, the line snaps! How does it happen twice in a row?

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My son was getting a little distracted, so I grabbed his pole since both of mine were down. I could still kind of see the bass that I had just lost. I toss the line out about 8 feet. Within 3 seconds, I’ve got a bite! Reel it in, reel it in, snap! No!!

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Needless to say frustration had taken over at this point. I lost 3 fish in 5 minutes. I decided to go ahead and fix all of my poles. The guys had gotten their laughs for the day. The cooler was empty and we were getting hungry. It was time to call it a day. The fish had won…this time.

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Sometimes, you just got to laugh at things that happen. If it were laughter, I might’ve gotten really mad or upset. Hiccups and all, it still turned out to be a great day outdoors with the family.

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Do you ever have an off day of fishing or outdoor activity?