May 2, 2022 Fish On!

“Zing!”

The rod bounced and the fishing line began to spin out. I jumped from my seat and reached for the rod. Fifty yards behind the boat I saw the fish leap from the glassy water. 

Fish on!

My heart began to race and I calmed myself while I held my fishing rod and began to bring in my prize. It’s been a while since I felt the thrill of the jiggle on my line. I began to play with the lake lunker dancing behind the boat.

Don’t reel too fast, don’t pull too hard.

Uh oh, the line went slack. He was swimming toward the boat in hopes of spiting the hook. Reel man, reel. I pulled the rod into the air and spun my knuckle buster toward me.

Was he still there? I kept reeling in the slack. A tug on the line and then it tried to race away. I let it run and cupped my hand on the reel. It stopped and turned again.

“Come to papa,” I thought to myself and began to reel the line in once more. There it was, a flash and then it leaped into the air again. Reel man reel, don’t let it get any slack. 

Where’s the net? There it is. Ok now grab the net and keep the line tight. Man, I wished I had the bigger net. Ok, the rod is too long I need to let it go and set it down. She’s a beauty, don’t run on me now. 

Reaching with the net… damn, I missed. Reach again. The line started to get slack, I must have this baby hooked good. I grabbed the fishing rod and reeled in again. Ok now put the rod down and hold the tip with my left hand and reach with the net. Come on baby don’t let go. With a quick motion, I pulled the net and… yes! It was in my net and with a one-motion, I had my prize in the pontoon boat. 

I could see it was hooked through the eye. Lucky thing too, I might have lost it using the small net. Next time I will have the big net with the long handle at the ready.

Next time.

I was so happy to have this time, I danced across the boat and put my lure back into the lake. It had only been just over an hour since I’d left the dock, it was warm and the lake was calm, how much better could it get?

As if in answer ten minutes later came the sound any fisherman loves to hear – “ZINGGGG” wow this one was bigger than the last. I laughed out loud and began the fight. I watched in awe as the lake lunker did a tail dance behind the boat. I played it out, I didn’t want to hank the hook out of his mouth. I felt the excitement build inside, adrenaline began its wondrous creation in my bloodstream as I reeled in the water monster. 

“Zing!” more line streamed out. In the past, I have waited hours on end for a fish to grab my line, this time it was only fifteen minutes since my last battle. I’d barely had time to finish my celebration when my line spun again.

It took what seemed an eternity, but was only probably ten minutes for the lunker to come close to the boat. He was a beauty, silver and rainbow flashes broke the surface.

But this time I had the bigger net. I had to set the rod down again, and as soon as I did the fish made a run for it.

I scrambled back and grabbed the reel before he swam away too far. I reeled in again, but my prey didn’t want to come. The Rainbow Trout pushed off and swam back around again toward the boat. Pull, pull, pull I found myself yelling out loud. The only ones that could hear me were the fishes and the birds.

I had my prize close to the boat, tip-up, pull don’t let go now. I reached with the net and tried to scoop. Man, it would have been nice to have a fishing buddy for this one. I could see my buddy Keith smiling and laughing at me. It felt like he was there beside me. For the briefest of moments I felt his presence and scooped.

“Woohoo!” I had it in the net. Wow, it was heavy. I dropped the rod and grabbed the net with both hands. My lunker was in the boat, and I was doing a jig. 

I sat and breathed, I could feel my buddy smile and in my mind we high-fived. I shut the engine of the boat off and sat down, relief and excitement flowed through my mind. But now I had my limit of trout, what to do?

I wasn’t ready to quit fishing, it had only been an hour and a half. My wife texted me about dinner, she was at her parent’s place. 

Did they want fresh fish?

I changed my lures and went for Kokanee. An hour later I was ready to head in. Sure enough, as I was pulling in my line I felt a wiggle and a jiggle. Fish on one more time. It was a little Kokanee, big enough to keep so I threw it into the bucket beside my monsters and headed to the launch.

I sent a picture of my prize to my mom in Victoria. I thought of her in hospice and knew she would be happy. Little did I know this would be the last happy text I would share with her.

But that is a story for another day.

For now, I will remember the happy part of my day and celebrate a great afternoon on the water.