Gone Fishing

Most of you have heard a few of my fishing stories, not fish stories mind you because there is a big difference between the two. Fishing stories are stories about going fishing, and Fish stories are where a fisherman may or may not stretch the truth a little bit about his fishing trips to make them more interesting.

You have heard a few "Whoppers", and also isn't it true that everyone has seen or for some of us even done, the motion of holding his arms spread wide apart showing the size of "the one that got away", or bragging about the stringer full of nice fish he caught, bad thing about this one is that no one ever saw the stringer of fish, and never was invited to the fish fry either.

OK I'll admit that some fishermen can stretch the truth so far as to where you could assume he was lying, but never call a fisherman a liar, we like to say that he is telling a fish story.

A fishing trip always begins with a good old tackle box and a couple of rods and reels. Last week I got a chance to go fishing for the day, I brought out my trusty tackle box that I have used for about 35 years and a couple of my favorite rod and reel setups.

Today could be the day that I could start my post with;

Deep in thought I stood at the waters edge staring into the rolling waves, I was contemplating my approach because the magnificent creature had eluded capture for so long, I could feel it in my bones this would be the day I would outsmart the monster dwelling below the surface.

I used this beginning on you for one of my other fishing trips where I landed the monster, caught a stringer full of fish, ok I actually caught three that day and I have pictures to prove it.

The Super Duper Day I caught three fish.

On that fishing trip I was the man everyone wanted advice from, what lure are you using? Do you think I'd do better with power bait or live worms? Should I use a bobber or fish on the bottom? Do these waders make my butt look big? You know all of the typical fishing questions.

I was the man that day, the one with the correct lure in his tackle box, the master fisherman, and the fact that I only caught three fish just goes to show how good I was, or how bad the fishing was for everyone else.

But to tell you the truth, when I went fishing last week, this fishing trip was one of those empty stringer days for me.

My stringer was empty, but the young oriental man and wife team that continued to march around the lake, pulling fish out left and right all over the place, and once he even casted one right next to where my line had landed, it was like a race reeling them in, my black and yellow spotted Panther Martin with it's gold blade spinning at the speed of sound against his...whatever it was he was fishing with, and whatever it was, it was immediately hidden from view as soon as he pulled it from the water.

This kid had the nerve to step right into my spot while I was busy changing my lure over to a kastmaster, and he actually landed two, I'm telling you this guy stepped right into my spot and cast his line right into the same waters that I was fishing in and on two consecutive casts he pulled in two really nice trout, I asked him what he was fishing with and while he cupped his bait in his hand hiding it from view, all he said was "jig" as he walked away kindly relinquishing my spot back to me.

I had to pull out the big guns now, I had to know what he was using, and since he wasn't sharing this information with anybody, I sent in Zayah, you remember Isaiah don't you? Cindy's Uncle Larry's grandson, the one who had the Accidental Baptism last time we went fishing.

To make a long story short Zayah went down and talked to this young man, and not only did he tell Zayah what he was using, he gave him one and showed him how to use it.

My little spy, Zayah brought back his newly acquired fishing jig back and showed it to me, Look at what he gave me Jimmy, you want to try it? I grinned because with my fully stocked tackle box, in my mind I could see all of my jigs in the bottom tray, left hand side in at least three assorted colors. No problem thanks Buddy he gave it to you, you go ahead and use it. Zayah ran off and I flipped the lid open on my tackle box, guess what was the only thing that wasn't there...

Jimmy "Gone Fishing"

Kicking back for a while on my chair with my heels propped up on top of my 35 year old tackle box really isn't a bad day, I figure that a bad day fishing is better than a good day doing...most anything else.

And folks this was a bad day for fishing, but it was a really good day to be fishing.

And yes when I got home I placed my jigs right back into their proper place, in the lower tray, left hand side...

I wonder whose bright idea was it to remove all of my jigs to make room for those new Kastmasters that I just had to have anyways...