This past fall my older brother, after prompting from me to get out and go fishing, was calling me and telling me how the fishing was up in Winnipesaukee. He has a house not from the lake, and he'd get home in time to get an hour of 2 of evening fishing in.
Now he knows how I feel about fishing, and the fun and relaxation that it brings.
Now that I've got another fishaholic in the wings, we can plan on taking our nieces and nephews (his kids included) fishing more regularly.
One of my most personal treasured fishing moments happened a number of years ago, years before my father passed away.
We were fishing down in Brewster, at Flax Pond in Nickerson State Park. My father preferred to fish with a fly rod with sinking line.
He wasn't really a fly fisherman, since he didn't cast flies or lures, but he liked the fight he got on a fly rod. He would fish his 2 lines, and I mine, seated as comforatbly as possible in a 12" pram.
He had just pulled up another 6" perch, of which there were plenty.
As he set his line, I checked his other, and unhooked another perch.
Well, as I was pulling up his other line, a HUGE smallmouth bass appeared from under the boat and inhaled the perch while it was still hooked. I gave the line a tug, hoping to set the hook through the perch and into the bass, but only succeeded in pulling the perch out of it's mouth.
As I explained this to my father (who was a little hard of hearing), he pulls up on his other line, and tells me "I'm snagged on something. I think I hooked the anchor line."
I laughed and said "It can't be the anchor line, because it's behind me, and it's running away from the boat". I lean forward and grab the rod, just long enough to stop him from jigging back and forth, and when I did, I felt the head shake of a really good fish.
(Unfortunately, the pictures do this story better justice than I could ever convey, but picture the following
My father sitting at the stern of the boat with his fly rod doubled over, it's tip is submerged as he proceeds to reel the fish up from the deep. It takes him 10 -15 minutes before we get a glimpse of the fish, and we're both awestruck. He had hooked into a smallmouth in the 4-5 lb. range, that when held at chin level hung down to his lap.
Although we never did hit the saltwater together, our freshwater excursions were quite memorable.
My dad taught me to fish, so I'm just trying to carry on the tradition.
This time I'm getting the kids to the ocean as well as the ponds.
Here's to every kids' father & mother, and every parents' sons & daughters.
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