Fishing...FINALLY!!!

T'was the day before Memorial Day and around 6pm my son Eric and my ex-son-in-law Tim DEMANDED that I go fishing with them. I told them that I was tired and it was late, they reciprocated with references to my age and fishing abilities!

Well I just couldn't let that go unanswered! Why I'll show them 2 young whipper-snapper's a thing or two about fishing!! Especially after Tim said he would "LET" me catch more fish than him!!! The nerve of some people's kids!

Why if he weren't my ex-SIL I would have taken him over my knee. (in my dreams, but don't tell him that, I think I had him worried there for a minute...okay second...Jeeze...HEY!, it was my dream after all)
Anyway I asked them where we were going fishing......"Ugh....we were hoping you had an idea".

Now don't that just tear it! A couple of days earlier I had told them of a few of my old secret spots when they called because they were striking out at their favorite places. And now I have to take them to another. So I took them to "The Old Pike Hole" on the river. Now Eric had been there as a youngster when he wasn't that into fishing, so I told them where the best places were to find "freshwater barracuda" and I settled down to try to catch some Rock Bass, leisure style on the riverbank. Let the young'uns do all the hard casting work, I'll just sit here swatting mosquitoes while watching my bobber.

Then it happened, my son latched on to a monster! In the photo above you can see him with his 30 inch Northern Pike. OK so it wasn't a monster, but it was a very good sized fish for this little river. I have seen and hooked a lot bigger in the river, but never landed them! It was a good catch.

They tried everything in their tackle boxes, but couldn't catch another fish. Rocks and seaweed yes, and a lot of both. Finally as the sun was setting and I was getting low on blood from all of the mosquitoes I was feeding, we decided to pack it in for the night. I started to reel my line in and low and behold there was a fish on it. A lowly "stone-roller", (a small dark Sucker that inhabits the river to feed the pike) it was about a foot long, which seems to be there adult size. Didn't have a clue that it was even there! And it put up no fight at all, but it was a fish, so I tied with my son at one fish apiece and Tim was true to his word and let me catch more fish than him.

Well the word spread throughout the family, and on Memorial Day I ended up back to the same spot with a bigger crew. Wifey, Eric and his wife Andrea (who is carrying my future grandson Owen), Sarah and her boyfriend Jimmy, and even Angie came along for the ride.

Sarah.

Jimmy.

Wifey, Andrea and Eric.


Well, Wifey was the only one to catch a fish, a small Rock Bass. But we all had a good time drown ding worms and feeding mosquitoes. Oh, by the way, do you know what Michiganders call products like OFF and CUTTER insect repellent..... MOSQUITO LURE ! They come running from miles!