I like fishing. It’s no secret. Mostly, I like to sit in my boat and relax. Fish may indeed get caught, but the important part is sitting back relaxing.
I like being outdoors, sitting around, sipping my coffee, watching the wildlife. Fishing is almost the excuse, even though I do really enjoy it.
But there is a problem with fishing. The problem is also one of the things I like most about it. There’s no one around.
You are often off by yourself, enjoying nature. But what if something happens that it would really great to have a witness for? Suddenly, all the peace and quiet seems a bit… excessive.
Like this past weekend.
I got up Saturday made coffee and got ready to head out for a few minutes. Since the skies looked a bit dark and there was the threat that rain could happen, I made sure to leave my cell phone and camera home. I usually like to carry them, just in case. But I don’t want to get them wet and ruin them, so I left them home.
I didn’t go far. Just up the lake a bit. Tucked back into a cove where other might not see me, sipping my coffee and relaxing. Fish started jumping. I cast my line out and caught one. Nice.
Then, I cast again and hooked another. Again, nice. But when it jumped, I was truly impressed. It was a pretty decent looking fish I had on my line.
I played it very carefully. Let it run a bit when it felt like it, and finally got it in close enough to get it into a net. For me, it was a personal best. Twenty-one and one quarter inches, which isn’t overly huge. In fact, I’ve caught a couple others about the same size. But this one was fairly heavy. A bit over five pounds. Five pounds, two ounces, according to my scales.
But that’s when I noticed the problem. There was no one to tell about it. I had left my cell phone and camera at home so the didn’t get wet, so I couldn’t take a picture to brag about. There was no one close that I could show it to.
So one of the things I like most about fishing, the fact you can get away from everything and everybody was suddenly one of the things I didn’t like. I caught a fish that was worth bragging about and there was no one around to brag to. And I had no way of proving it had ever happened.
I caught a really big fish. It wasn’t the “one the got away”. I set it free, because I would really like to catch it again some day. But I have no way to prove I ever caught it in the first place.
But I did.
A fisherman wouldn’t lie… would he?
