Today I went went fishing for the first time since I was a young kid. To sum up the experience, let's just say it did not go well. Riker and I went down to the Red River across from the ruins at St. Boniface while Jobina and Trinity went over to the Forks. We had a nice little spot on a dock, two new fishing rods, some assorted tackle that I was sure wouldn't take us too long to figure out, and Fishing For Dummies (purchased that morning) for some insurance. After all this is just fishing right? All humans have some sort of instinct at this kind of thing.
Wrong.
The two hours we spent out there were two of the most horrible I've had in long, long time. It took me nearly an hour to figure out how to get everything attached correctly to the two rods. That morning we had gone to Cabela's and I picked up some cool new sinkers and some "guaranteed not to fail" lures. Riker was a real trooper though, he never complained about having to wait for his sad excuse for a father to get everything prepped. After a quick glance at the "casting" sessions in my Dummies book I told Riker to stand back and I let loose a might cast. For a split second I felt like I was part of something grand.
Then reality hit.
The line and sinkers flew (dropped) out a massive six feet (which is about how long my pole is) and with a sad "thunk" noise hit the water. I looked at my reel and what was seconds ago a neat tightly spun roll of 8 pound line was now an exploded tangle of line going everywhere. It was immediately hopeless. When I tried to reel in the jumbled mess it just got worse and then I realized that my brand new lure and sinkers were stuck to the bottom. On my first cast!! The anger and despondency I felt were indescribable. Still, I didn't want to let me new depression wreck Riker's day so I as calmly as possible cut my line, put my rod aside and grabbed Rikers. He wanted me to cast if for him (foolish boy) and when I did the exact thing happened again: the reel became a hopeless mess of twisted line and his lure immediately lodged itself firm into the bottom of the river! Arghh! In three minutes I had destroyed an hours worth of labor, lost 2 new lures, kicked my confidence/self respect in the teeth, and severely disappointed my son. Well, at least he got to have some fun eating twizzlers and throwing rocks in the river:
Yup, not a good fishing day. I may need counseling before I try it again. If I do. After "fishing" we went to the ruins of at St. Boniface to check them out with the kids. Here' s a shot Jobina took looking at this grand old church which burnt down many decades ago:
Trinity wanted to take a picture of us. Here's her best shot:
Church service at Holy Church near Rescue 1
4 weeks ago
4 comments:
Do try it again, Mark! If you want some help I know a good man with alot of fishing experience! On a side note, apparently the first time him and I went fishing, I managed to impress him somewhat! I really didn't know much about how to get the hook attached to my line or anything - and I knew he could do all this stuff in his sleep. He did help me get started but I was determined to put my own minnow on. (In NW Ont you fish with live minnows) Yes, I reached into the old thermos and found the wiggliest, most alive minnow I could find and I slipped my hook through it's gills and straight through the little body of that slimy minnow. Somehow I didn't feel like I could call myself a fisherman without doing at least the minnow on my own. And it paid off! That (nearly) pro fisherman fell in love with me, the novice!
That's quite the pose Riker's striking there!
Well, it was a nasty day for fishing, but it was a good day for family. Let's try again sometime.
That is quite the post Riker's striking. Was his hat backwards too?
Don't give up on the fishing Mark; if at first you don't succeed, try again! Though maybe you should read the book before you head down to the water, might save you some aggravation!
Jay
Thank you SO much for that laugh, even if it came at your expense just a little bit :)
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