god bless you brother george troutchaser from calif.
cconnett wrote:Two years ago i had a fishing pal that was a member of the opposite sex. My wife had issues with this but as i explained to her it was kinda lonely to fish alone.
Wife and I would camp and I tried everything I could think of to get her to fish with me but to no avail.
Finally 2 years ago she let her jealousy get the better of her and she decided to join me in the boat, as a passenger only though. To me this was a wonderful victory half the battle won.
After a couple of trips in the boat, one morning she decided that she wanted to try this fishing thing.
I had a rod all set up for her, the fish were really going crazy on poppers, I showed her how to cast and work the lure. Handing the rod over to her, I was very impressed with her casting ability, she pretty much put the lure wherever she wanted to.
On her third cast she caught a 1# bass! I stopped fishing and cheered her on but careful not to offer any advice unless she asked, boy was that hard!
She landed that fish gripped it like a pro and removed the lure. She turned to me smiling holding that fish up proud as could be. I snapped some pictures and she released her catch.
After catching a few more fish while I got skunked ( the best skunking of my life ) we headed in and I fixed breakfast and we chatted about fishing.
We continued to fish whether from shore or the boat for the summer, my biggest thrills were watching this woman catch fish!
That fall we were bank fishing in the snow/rain mix laughing about how foolish we looked but having a great time.
It was just getting dark and we were thinking about stopping to have dinner warm up and head for home.
She finally relinquished and said ok one last cast.
She cast to an area that had been boiling with the chase of bait fish.
Her lure hit the water, she reeled twice, twitched the lure and reeled again when all of a sudden her rod bowed!! I yelled to her to set the hook hard, set my rod down and ran over to her to assist if needed. She fought that fish for about 5 minutes and I was getting tired stressed and more excited the more line she could recover.
Finally she asked me to help her bring in the fish the rest of the way, when it was apparent that her catch was wore out I stepped back and told her the rest was up to her.
She stepped down to the waters edge and lifted her fish out of the water. My heart about quit, although I knew it was a good sized fish I didn't realize how good.
Breathing heavy with eyes as big as saucers and a smile wider than the universe my lovely wife lifted her bass out of the water. We had a hand held scale so i measured the fish it was 21 inches long, we then placed it on the scale and it weighed in at 6#14oz.
I begged her to release this one as it was definitely a breeder and necessary to keep the line of large fish going, but I said it is your fish your decision.
She thought about it for a little bit then said she wanted to take this one home take some pictures since we forgot the camera, and then asked if I would fillet it.
A little saddened at this request I agreed and we sat in the truck had some coffee and warmed up a bit, deciding it was time to go home.
We got home, took pics of her catch and then I filleted the catch.
The next night I cooked up some fried potatoes, fixed a salad and cooked her catch.
Huge fillets they were and I have to admit they were very sweet tender and delicious.
Since this catch we continue to fish together sharing quiet time ideas and methods.
Without a doubt this lady has become my bestest fishing partner.
More trips than not she manages to out fish me and i have no issues with that because I find myself getting more excited when she catches fish than anything else.
troutchaser