Thursday, June 05, 2003

I went up to Baudette for the annual DNR large lakes meeting. After a day of talking about fish populations on each of the large lakes, we went fishing on Lake of the Woods.  (http://www.thefishinguide.com/lakewoodsroad_u.htm ) It was too early for bugs up there and just warm enough to wear a sweat shirt after the sun went down. Floating on that lake at sunset refreshed me in a way I have not felt for many years.  Not sure how to write about that.  Lets just say that I met the freakin god of the sky, OK?  Lets just say that he reached down out of those pink clouds and re-arranged stuff in my chest.   I wasn't having much luck fishing at first and I figured that this would be just like every other time I have ever gone fishing (drunk and empty handed). Then one of the fisheries biologists gave me a live minnow to stick on my hook and showed me how to bounce my jig along the bottom and pull up suddenly when I felt something tug at the line.  I did this exactly as told and on the second bounce I found myself pulling on something that made my pole bend nearly in two.  They shouted at me to pull it up slowly and they came over ready to put a net under it.  I kept winding my reel even thought it felt like breaking and this humungous fish comes out of the water thrashing around.  I had to hold it in my hand and pull the hook out while it was jerking around.  I had me a 19 inch walleye.  First one I ever caught in my life.   The fisheries guys were making fun of me for being a computer guy from the city and at one point one of my fish had swallowed the hook and I asked what to do.  One said, "call the help desk" and that turned into the line of the evening.  All I had to do was keep asking, "who caught the biggest fish in the boat?"  I learned how to clean fish that night and my 19 inch walleye is sitting in my freezer in about 19 one-inch pieces. 12:29:09 AM    comment []

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