Chores first....fishing later

  Pop always used to say that there was never a bad fishing day rather there were days that you just did not catch any fish.  It was his belief that if you had the good fortune to be able to go fishing, it was a grand day indeed.  He told stories of how he and his brothers would skip out on chores to go fishing when they were youngsters.  My grandpa depended upon his boys' help in running the farm and did not tolerate slacking on the job.  Instead of telling Grandpa that they fished, they would tie the fish to a post and retrieve them "after" they did their field work.  It did not take Grandpa long to realize what was happening and he remedied that problem real quick!  Chores first...fishing later.  The love of fishing stayed with Pop and, in his later years, he went most every day.  Usually he caught a good many but even if he did not, he still enjoyed being on the water.  I am much the same. Any day spent fishing is a good day.

  No, I did not spend the day fishing.  I did my chores.  Grandpa would have been proud of me! Actually, I did more than I intended to do when I got up this morning.  It was late afternoon when I finally made my way down to the pier for the final hike of the day.  On a whim, I caught a few minnows and tossed out a line.  Whip!  That line never stopped!  Some fish had definitely wanted that bait!  Second bait and the same thing happened.  This time, a nice trout was landed.  Third bait...another trout.  Well, this was good!  Supper would be fine tonight!  It did not stop there.  Two more trout and a small redfish were hauled onto the pier.  Since the red was a mite small, he got a reprieve and was tossed back into the water.  Then....wham!  Whoa!  This was no trout!  A good five minutes later saw a beauty of a redfish in the scoop net!  My goodness!  This is my kind of fishing!  There was one minnow left in the bucket so the line went out again.  Since there were plenty of fish for two meals now, I set to work cleaning the fish.  The cleaning table on the pier allowed me to clean fish while watching that last line.  Right as I was filleting the big redfish, I noticed the line zipping out from the reel.  The struggle to land this fish was much like the other.  Another twenty-two inch redfish was scooped in the net.  Whew!  I was glad I was out of bait!  I cleaned the last redfish and thought of how fortunate I had been!  In less than an hour,  I had caught plenty of fish for several meals.  Yep, a good day fishing!