Last night was a beautiful night! No wind to speak of and only about 75 degrees out. My hubby sends me a text from work and asks me if I want to go fishing. Mind you, I haven't been fishing in about 40 years, (well once in there but only along in the boat and baited a few hooks). I hesitated about a minute, because even if I didn't really care much about the fishing part, I would be on a boat out in the water, and that was worth everything! So we made a date and I went to run errands so that I could be back in time to go.
As the afternoon wore on and I fought traffic and stupid people everywhere I went, I started to be apprehensive. I really had too much to do than to go sit on a lake for hours and stare at a bobber. I drove home trying to make excuses for how I could get out of this. I had a headache, and was feeling kind of woozy, my health has been a little on the downside lately, so I didn't think I would have to explain much. But, when I walked in the door, my hubbie already had the poles packed and was ready to go. I thought well what would be the harm, so I grabbed my sunhat and headed for the door. My hubbie asked me on the way to the car if I was ok, because I wasn't moving too well, and I told him I just hadn't felt myself today. He insisted that I should stay home if I want, but the lure of the lake had finally kicked back in. I told him I wanted to go, just don't ask me to do much and we would be good.
So off to buy ice and to the lake we went. Knowing I would be in the boat for a while, I elected to use the bathroom before we left the house, and would not drink more than some sips of water if needed while we were out. I remember all to well how long those boat trips were with a full bladder! LOL! We arrive at the "new" lake my hubbie had found, a private little lake, called Mud Lake. Old fashioned in every way. Stop at the farm house and leave your $10 boat rental in the lock box, honor system style, like I thought you would never see nowadays. You can camp there to, just leave the money in the lock box along with the form telling who you were and your emergency contact information, just in case. He grabbed a couple of life jackets and we were off down a dusty farm road between the soybeans and the corn. About a half a mile or so back, and we come upon the little camp ground and then the pretty little lake, ringed in lily pads with blue herons flying overhead.
As promised, several little row boats sat on the beach, waiting to take us out into the cool inviting water. It was early evening yet, so there were some ripples on the lake which weren't too bad, but not knowing the lake, we scoped out the scene wondering where to start. My hubbie realizes he forgot to go to the bathroom, and decides now might be a good time. He takes the path back up to the campground to take care of his business, my words, "I went before we left" ringing in his ears. Once a mother, always a mother I guess, LOL!
Being said mother, I think of our adult daughter who is suffering through her 8th year of band camp, about 40 miles away. High school band camp wasn't enough, she is now in her fourth year at college. I decide to send her a text message, just to let her know I'm thinking about her.
Now as I said before, people just start talking to me, out of the blue. So picture this quiet little lake in the woods, a few rowboats dotting the surface on the far side. No one from the campground down on the beach, just me texting my daughter, standing beside a rowboat with my back to the water. Another couple had selected a boat 5 or 6 away for ours, and had already launched it into the water and were, I thought rowing away. Just a couple of young kids, early twenties at most. As I was finishing my simple text, I heard from the water, "How many fish have you caught on this lake?". I turn to see the couple have rowed up near our yet to be launched boat and are looking at me expectantly. I tell them that this is the first time we have been here, and ask them if they like it and had they caught anything. The young man tells me that they had been all around the lake earlier in the morning, and had caught a big blue gill, and another just as big had gotten away. I asked him where at, and he indicated near the lily pads to the east of us. I wished them good luck, and thanked them for the heads up.
I watched as they rowed out near the center of the lake, and heard my hubbie coming down the path behind me. A hunter, with quiet feet he is not! He came alongside the boat and indicated that I should get in and he would push off. So being a good fish wife, I obeyed. As he took the oars in hand, I indicated that we should stay near the lily pads, and work our way east to west. He asked me why, and I explained that conversation I had with the young couple, pointing to them now at the center of the lake. He asked me why I had talked with them. I looked at him and said, "Really? I didn't start the conversation, they came up to me. Haven't you learned by now that I mind my own business, and they just come to me?". He laughed, although he was giving me one of those sidelong glances that speak of "Yeah right, what did you really do?".
He rowed us to the east, and we fished along the pads for a bit. I heard quite a comotion back near the center of the lake, looking just in time to see the young man pulling in a foot long blue gill. Good for them, maybe it was the one that escaped them this morning. As I turned my head around, I noticed my bobber was gone, so I began to reel in my catch. A little six inch blue gill! Just big enough we could have kept it, but my hubbie suggested I should throw it back, and see if we began to catch any more or any bigger ones.
The lake water turned calm and placid. The evening bugs began to land on the surface, and you could see the fish begin their feeding frenzy. We dropped our lines right into the little swirling pools as they moved along the pads and caught baby after baby, but nothing really substantial enough to take home and clean.
My husband suggested we head out since it was nearly eight in the evening, and because we didn't really have anything to take home to cook, he said he knew of a nice burger joint in one of the little villages on our way home. So we left the quaint little lake, knowing this will become a regular adventure, and headed for that burger waiting for us just up the road.
