Oct 4, 2021

The warm sun glowed down on the Okanagan Valley. Summer was an echoing memory as the fall season has settled in. So when the amazing sunhine beamed down upon my back I decided it was a good day to get out on the lake. My fishing gear was ready and calling me. It was time I listened.

At lunchtime, I told my honey to pack up her office, grab her laptop. It was a great day to get out on the lake.

Too bad it takes so long to get our stuff together but by two o’clock we were finally at the boat launch ready to go.

The lake water level has been dropping for the last couple of months and the  Westbank Boat launch has been getting harder to put the boat in at. Normally I launch the boat right onto the dock. This time there was a boat at the dock in my way so I dropped it in the middle of the launch. Honey went to relieve herself before we went on the water so I thought I would get ahead of the game and put the 24-foot pontoon into the lake just enough to drive it off and then get my honey to pull the truck out.

The launch was pretty empty and I backed down the ramp. I undid the straps and then loosely tied the rope to the trailer. Loosely being the thing I would end up regretting.

Instead of waiting for help, I backed the boat into the water.

Too far! Doh!

I put the truck in park as I saw the boat drift off the trailer. I watched as my loose knot let go and the boat continued to drift into the middle of the launch. Running to the back of the truck I climbed onto the rail of the trailer and tried to catch my wayward vessel. 

I shimmied into the water, deeper up to the edge of my shorts, and tried to cross the wheel hub and step onto the back rails. The boat was going further and no one was there to help or stop it.

I took another step forward. And down I went.

Into the lake.

I didn’t plan on going for a swim. 

Just then my wife came to the launch and laughed. So did some random dude. They shared a laugh as I grabbed the bow of the boat and brought it forward. I climbed onto the boat. Wet and embarrassed.

Good thing the sun was so warm.

Honey pulled the truck ahead and I docked the boat. Determined to enjoy the day we parked the truck and drove the boat out onto the lake.

I wrung out my shirt and my shorts and hung them up in the warm sun. For early October it was an amazing afternoon and I couldn’t think of anywhere I would rather be.

It was time to fish.

Honey sat down to work and I set the fishing lines.

The lake glistened with the warm sunshine and I relaxed as we slowly trolled along the Okanagan Lake. 

Within a very short while, I saw one of the rods start to wiggle. I could tell right away this was not the lake lunker I have been looking for.

But it was a fish on the line. 

I reeled in the little rainbow and let him back out with instructions to go get bigger. I always laugh at the thought of what the fish tells his buddies when he returned to the depths. It would turn out to be a good day for fishing and we caught a kokanee and two more trout. The trout were big enough to keep and we had dinner for the night and one more as well. 

We stayed on the lake until the sunset just after 6:00 pm. By this time my shirt and shorts were dry. We smiled and soaked in our vast fortune that was a beautiful day on the lake. 

A day when we were living the dream.