Gone Fishin'

Actually, I went fishing on Saturday. As with shooting, I am trying to quickly improve my skills in a number of key areas, and one of the important ones is fishing.

I hadn't been fishing on a lake since 1991, on a week-long trip where I literally caught nothing. But I bought myself an inexpensive reel (a Zebco 33 at Wal-Mart) and was determined to try out a few of the local ponds.

I got out bright and early -- six o'clock, when it was still dark. I fished with rubber lures until about nine, when I took a break and got some live bait at a local convenience store. I got a much better response with live bait; manny nibbles and a few bites. I caught two fish before I knocked off about noontime; a small chain pickerel and a crappie, neither whom were big enough to keep, though in a survival situation, they'd have gone into the pot. The pickerel was a fierce little guy, and he showed me his mouth full of sharp little teeth as I removed the hook very carefully.

A good experience; I learned a lot. My casting got better as the day went on, though I was hampered by a lack of real sinkers and the prepackaged hooks in the kit were a little bit week. I've remedied that with a trip to Dick's sporting goods, where I picked up some good old fashioned lead sinkers, a few swivels, and a package of 100 #6 hooks. I'm going to try to get out once or twice more before winter; I'll take the time to set up some good Texas style rigs before I head out. One of the larger local ponds is stocked with trout at the end of September, so hopefully I'll catch something real. Practice mkes perfect.