The Good Old Days Might Be Back

At the beginning of spring I had plans to have everything done in order to be ready to fish fish fish this year. As soon as that tax check came in around March it was looking really good. Then it began to change. I bought a new boat. I entered in a couple of bass tournaments. I booked camping. I was spending money here and there. I had always been good at saving my tax money for upcoming adventures before but this year I just needed that boat. I bought it without thinking about tags, taxes, and all of the little items like ski vests I would need for it. I guess I did think about it but didn't think it would tax our savings so fast.

My wife and I's income covers the cost of our bills. We don't have much left over. I had plans to fish and camp every weekend. Now I don't know how that is going to happen, in what I consider the prime fishing time, early spring. I was counting on our extra money in savings to cover the cost. Summer will be easier if I can sell the pontoon. I have been talking to a guy at work about it and he seems pretty interested.

I do know I will make it out quite a bit this year. I have never let money keep me away from fishing. Even when I was eating Ramen Noodles and drinking Old Milwauki in college I scraped enough change together to make it to the lake all the time. They were some of the best trips too.

One time a friend and I went to a lake in Kansas just after walleye spawn. We saw a guy casting out to the waves that were crashing into shore. The wind was blowing hard that day and had a huge mud line built on the north side of the lake. I tied on a jig head with a 3 inch green and brown grub tail and cast it out. It took a little bit to figure out how to catch the fish. I was joking around and pulled as hard and fast on my line as I could and WHAM! my pole dips and the line starts singing out of the reel. When I got the fish in I saw that it was a 3 pound wiper.

We caught a fish almost every cast like that. A few of them went up to 8 pounds. The more we fished the more we realized the fish were at the edge of the mud line and the mudline was getting further and further out. I took off my shoes and waded out to my knees. The water was really cold and the waves would sometimes splash up to my waistline. My friend did the same thing when he saw I was catching more fish. Before long we were wading out to where we could barely keep our heads above water. It was freezing cold but catching fish like that was worth it.

Later in the evening as the sun was about to set the bite turned off. We kept casting. All of a sudden the walleye moved in and we had our limit of walleye in about 30 minutes.

I burned the drag out of my Eagle Claw spinning real that day. It took the whole 45 minute drive back to campus with the heater on high to get the feeling back in our hands and legs but man was it worth it. Especially when we were able to eat fresh fish instead of Ramen!

I look for a really exciting year this year. My oldest son is 3 now and he is really into the thought of fishing. He has his own scooby doo pole and his own tackle box with some lures that I have given him. Every night he brings me a bass pro or a cabela's magazine and wants to look through it with me. My best friend lives with me and we finally have some weekends off together this year. I have a new boat for funnin' and fishin'. I'll just have to go out when I can and with what money I can and make sure I make the most out of every trip.