So, how do you celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas of Myra? Simple, load up the rig with a couple of light rods and head out to the mighty Brazos.
Boom. Pretty much every cast a fish, it was like... like the Age of Aquarius. No kidding, I lost count.
Mostly perch but also drum, a couple of cats and curiously, baby striper. Ferocious little fish, all of them, but especially the striper. Big fun to catch when they're big and not bad when they're small. And here's the thing.
My friend Pedro was fishing silver spinners, slabs, the live perch which I gave him, and caught exactly nothing. He was going after big fish and failed.
By contrast, I was pulling the aquarian adversary out of the water every few minutes or so on a worm, small hook, two split-shot rig on a light rod. Big success, "You're rippin' 'em up, man!"
Moral? No libs, fish smart,
LSP
There is a reason that Peter was a fisherman.
ReplyDeleteFor the big fish, you need a boat. Of course, you would be crossing over onto the 'dark side' once you go down that road.
ReplyDeleteYes, a big gnarly Ranger bass boat with two big honkin' Merc outboards on the back, you get to that productive lucrative fishing hole and back before anybody even knows you went fishing. And the balance in your bank account disappears faster than a case of Scotch on the Kennedy Compound. Yes, I've used that line before, but it's apt.
Yes, stick to the fishing off the pier. Words to the wise...
Nice round of fish, and sometimes the old way IS the best way!
ReplyDeleteI love fishing, LL. The treble denial? Different sermon.
ReplyDeleteFredd, I won't lie, I'd like a BOAT, and for all the reasons you cite.Get out there on the lake after the big fish.
ReplyDeleteMind you, I've watched from the bank as I've caught lots and boat people caught nothing, there's a moral in that, to say nothing of "bank"...
NFO, I was amazed at the catch and so simple, a worm, small hook, light rod. Boom. Result. Yes indeed, sometimes the old ways are best. Still, wish I had a boat...
ReplyDeleteI admire fishermen. I lack patience. As a lad we ate a lot of trout in the summer I caught in the 3 miles of the Yampa River that was our western boundary but it was more hunting on my part than any sport.
ReplyDeleteI love trout, WSF, and need to get into "fly." There's a goal for new year...
DeletePadre: you had mentioned passing by a boat with a for sale sign on it, and not looking at the price. Good move. Once you stop, get out and walk around that inexpensive dingy, and then look at the price, you are a goner...
ReplyDeleteThat little 12' aluminum Lund, with a 15 hp outboard, a little dinged up but doesn't leak, will get you out on the lake. And then you haul in a couple of lunkers that otherwise would never have gone anywhere near the pier. You are happy. Then a squall blows in one day you are out in the middle of the lake, and that little 15 hp Johnson just doesn't quite have the gumption it takes to get you back to the dock before you get soaked by the driving rain.
What you need is a 50 horsepower Merc. THAT will keep you out of trouble. Of course, that much power needs to bolt onto the transom of something bigger than that dented old 12' Lund, and off you go looking for your next larger boat.
Rinse and repeat this scenario over the next 10 years, and before you know it, you are screaming down the lake in that big, gnarley Ranger with twin Mercs at 75 mph...and the trailer that hauls this $90,000 rig costs about three times as much as you spent on that old Lund lo these many years ago.
Yes, pass on by that used boat, and avert your eyes from the price on the for sale sign. Take it from somebody who has been down that road: at your age, you will never recover from 'bigger-boat-itis.'
What?!? Fredd, are you saying the dinged up, 15 hp Lund is some kind of... GATEWAY BOAT?Maybe so, and thanks for the warning.
ReplyDeleteI have a few friends with boats. Are they cheap? No, they are not. Perhaps they started with a little 15 hp Johnson...
Hmmm, maybe it's like Democrats. Start off with a little "compassion." Next thing you know, all of Honduras is living Austin.