The return to employment is looming and I am sure that the next three weeks are going to speed by because of it.
I just heard on the news that it is like - 40 with the wind chill.
Both Owen and Ella are at school and Kim just took Avery for a visit at her mothers just because they haven't been out of the house for 4 days.lol
How to beat the winter blues...???
Well, today I blew the dust off my old fishing albums and took a walk down memory lane. I did this with the hopes of throwing together a top ten fish list that I could post on here. I have always been a bit of a shutter bug but leaning heavily toward sentiment and nostalgia rather then art.
As a matter of fact I am a terrible photographer...some of my greatest moments can only be confirmed now by badly framed blurry pics..some with fish scales on the lens..
That is probably as it should be.
A fisherman's memory should never be too vivid and to quote John Gierach..."You should never let the truth interfere with a good fish story"
This is something that I have never done...to my credit...
After a quick skim of my pics I realized something that surprised me a bit.
The more memorable fish weren't necessarily the biggest..
Freud be damned.
I suppose the list reflects more of a top ten fishy moments...which is really what it is all about anyway.
There are some pics I'd run across of big beautiful fish that I am holding with the obligatory idiots grin and for the life of me I cannot recall catching them...
They are probably Morins..lol
Some fish have significance and some are cool because they represent a triumph over adversity...usually the weather...or my incompetence.
:o)
I was surprised also that I started fishing for these fish right about the time I got married...which was....sigh....10 years ago. Getting married was by far the best decision I have ever made. I love my wife as much now as then and my kids are a blessing...but judging by the way I have changed in the pictures....these years have been hard on me.
lol
Any hoo...with out further adoooo....
#10.
This isn't my first Steelie....but it might as well be. I know that I had caught a couple of wee dinks before this but this was my first real fish and I will never forget the show. The right fin clip I believe at the time signified a Michigan stray. The fact that this one obviously came home with me could be the reason that the Michigan fish are so mean to me now.
;o)
This fish found its way up the Sauble river to Sauble falls where it was bested by this RUBE before you and his 11 ft bright yellow fibreglass Eagleclaw.
God... I am smiling as I type this...what a POS...
I can still picture us fumbling with the LANDING NET...probably purchased at Canadian Tire...The River Sages on the other side probably laughed themselves silly that day.
I missed the take because the sun was in my eyes and I had lost sight of my float. I lifted up on the rod at the end of my drift and the drag on my Abu Garcia spinning reel just started singing.
I had never had a fish take drag on me before.lol
I turned to Jason as this fished headed downstream and said "Now what?"
I have mentioned before that I miss that innocence.
A good friend of mine introduced me to Steelhead fishing shortly after I was married...so doing the math.. I suppose I have been at this shit for right around a decade. That seems like a long time but with the sickness comes the full knowledge that there are a finite amount of fall seasons ahead of us and we need to savour each of them.
Jason and I used to drive up to Sauble Falls every chance that we'd get.
I didn't know Brian then.
We'd probably drive by him on our way past the 9 Mile.
I can just picture him down there in full combat mode with those guys standing on each others shoulders..."Fish coming down...."
lol
I can't even remember the kind of freedom that I used to have ...must've had back then.
Maybe we become better fishermen because we have less time.
...anyway... in my mind I always consider this my first real Steelhead.
There is number ten
The fish that started it all....
...complete with rubber Canadian Tire brand waders..which probably leaked like a sieve.
Too much....
:o)
9 comments:
G.I. Joe with out his beard? It is amazing how we look back of picks even in our 20's and we look like children. so fresh faced and young before we have weathered ourselves with experience and time.
LOL!!!!
You rube POS.
Nice read! Can't wait for #9.
I can remember wading in the 9 mile at the wise old age of 16 with only my "sneakers" and blue jeans in the spring. Freaked the friggin rubes right the F*ck out!
Oh ya baby...let's not forget our roots. ;0) "Fish...Comin down...!"
P.S. I should start a thread of the top 10 fish I have blown...Let me see there are so many...
I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then...lol
I remember those first trips ...fishing in the snow for giant silver "trout" that seemed at the time impossible to catch.
It was like they required a little bit of magic...and I was searching for the right magic.
That first fish was my first glimpse into a hole other world...
...and now I am fucked.
lol
A Fish Dork indeed!!! That is a sweet chromer though dude.
I quite often go through my old pictures and have a good laugh at my own expense. And I agree with you - the stories behind the pictures are usually more memorable than the fish themselves.
Looking forward to seeing the rest of your top 10.
Harv
You probably won't have too long to wait Harv as I am going out of my mind with boredom..
That picture should accompany the word "rube" or "loogan" in any dictionary ;-)
I'll have to scan some of my early pics - there's a classic one of me wearing an old ski coat and holding up a Bronte Salmon which is as black as night (and was probably lined) LOL!
Ah Bronte boots...lol
I remember the first salmon I got...
It almost made the list but I have decided to keep the Kings out of it.
Maybe I will do an entry specifically for those poor maligned(sp)(def).. creatures.
We used to line the government docks down here at night and cast to thousands of rolling fish with Lymans, Bombers and Glow in the dark Cleos.
The fish of a million casts...
The really cool guys used to use the flash from a camera to light their glowing spoons to make them last longer and glow brighter...
Pitch black down there except for these flying glowing pieces of steel.lol
I fished for weeks every night without even a strike until one night in the north slip I hooked 3 in an hour!!
I lost the first 2 because they got wrapped around the dock I was standing on but the 3rd fish made it to the net boy...!!!
Yeehaa!!!
Me and my good old trusty Berklee gorilla stick...
It was about 11:30 at night and I whipped over to my Bro in laws house and woke him up to show him this stinky old boot of a fish...
Fun stuff
It has been a long time since anybody has caught a Salmon down there ..and back then a 15 lber in the fall was a runt..
Yeah man, I've done that same program with the camera flash and Cleos for Kings many times...both at the mouth of the Humber (when I lived in T.O.) and in Kincardine. I was armed with some POS reel and fibreglass rod from Can. Tire...the few Lake O monsters that I did land was a pure miracle! Ah good times...back when I was allowed to leave the house!
I hear ya...
This daddy gig is wearing me out today..
I hate babies...WTF was I thinking.
I just got done cleaning vomit up off the carpet in the living room.
Nothing like curdled breast milk first thing in the morning...
GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!!
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