Gone Fishin'
I got up at dawn and drove around Baltimore to, you guessed it, go fishing. I managed to dodge most of rush hour and the weather was great, though most the underbrush was soaked. Did it rain up there last night? I mostly just enjoyed the morning until close to noon. I had worked my way back to the bridge (the parking area), having found a great nook where the water was deeper and fallen trees provided shelter. I could even see some rather large fish swimming around, due to the angle of sunlight. Still no luck catching them, though.
Eventually, two old guys came clattering down the brook in a canoe, pausing to fish up the bend. They couldn't see me, hidden behind the trees, until one walked along the bank, cast a line and then apologized in surprise. (It's a mutually accepted territorial thing that you don't horn in on someone's established area). We talked fish for a bit and apparently they'd been having the same luck I'd been. After they left, I moved to the other side of the fallen tree, where fishing was trickier because of the submerged branches. I hung up and lost my terminal tackle on my good pole.
Since it was getting late, I simply switched to the bat-pole. And promptly caught a 3lb, 17" bass. *g* I had to grab the line with my hand, since it exceeded the drag capability on the bat-reel (and garroted my finger a big in the process). From what I can tell, it got away from someone before. There was a pre-snelled hook stuck in the gullet, eye of the tippet still intact. I figure someone tied a poor knot and the fish simply pulled free of the line.
A large mouth bass.
What's that? You don't think it has a large mouth?
How about now?
Here's the funny part: I continued to fish a bit after I caught that one, but only got more nibbles. Since I was beginning to feel icky, from what I suspect is the virus that's going around here (and the same one that set off my heart earlier), I called it a day at 11:30. I turned and reached for my cooler, which had quit bouncing around and practically slapped myself I jerked back so fast. There was a wolf spider, half the size of my hand, sitting on the cooler, watching me with its beady compound eyes. How do I know it was watching me? Because when I poked at it with a stick and said, "Go on, shoo!" it jumped over the stick, over my arm and landed on my knee. I may or may not have screamed like a little girl and almost fallen into the river.
On the way home, I stopped at this super posh grocery store called Wegman's. It was so hoighty toighty I thought I might get kicked out for wearing my dorky fishing clothes. OTOH, I freely admit I could spend hours in there and it's a miracle I walked out with only a lobster. (zomg, cheap!) Sure, I spent most the afternoon with a migraine, but the UPS lady brough the replacement wheel for the ninja, I ate animals that live in water and even got some laundry done. I'm going with: win.
Eventually, two old guys came clattering down the brook in a canoe, pausing to fish up the bend. They couldn't see me, hidden behind the trees, until one walked along the bank, cast a line and then apologized in surprise. (It's a mutually accepted territorial thing that you don't horn in on someone's established area). We talked fish for a bit and apparently they'd been having the same luck I'd been. After they left, I moved to the other side of the fallen tree, where fishing was trickier because of the submerged branches. I hung up and lost my terminal tackle on my good pole.
Since it was getting late, I simply switched to the bat-pole. And promptly caught a 3lb, 17" bass. *g* I had to grab the line with my hand, since it exceeded the drag capability on the bat-reel (and garroted my finger a big in the process). From what I can tell, it got away from someone before. There was a pre-snelled hook stuck in the gullet, eye of the tippet still intact. I figure someone tied a poor knot and the fish simply pulled free of the line.
A large mouth bass.
What's that? You don't think it has a large mouth?
How about now?
Here's the funny part: I continued to fish a bit after I caught that one, but only got more nibbles. Since I was beginning to feel icky, from what I suspect is the virus that's going around here (and the same one that set off my heart earlier), I called it a day at 11:30. I turned and reached for my cooler, which had quit bouncing around and practically slapped myself I jerked back so fast. There was a wolf spider, half the size of my hand, sitting on the cooler, watching me with its beady compound eyes. How do I know it was watching me? Because when I poked at it with a stick and said, "Go on, shoo!" it jumped over the stick, over my arm and landed on my knee. I may or may not have screamed like a little girl and almost fallen into the river.
On the way home, I stopped at this super posh grocery store called Wegman's. It was so hoighty toighty I thought I might get kicked out for wearing my dorky fishing clothes. OTOH, I freely admit I could spend hours in there and it's a miracle I walked out with only a lobster. (zomg, cheap!) Sure, I spent most the afternoon with a migraine, but the UPS lady brough the replacement wheel for the ninja, I ate animals that live in water and even got some laundry done. I'm going with: win.