I hade to write a essay on fishing for my english class, I just thort some of you may like it ( I added a photo but I dont know if its going to work)
Instinct to Hunt
I had been there once or twice in the last few years but idea never caught a thing. For the last few month my favorite lake was a small one called black Burn. It was full of little cutthroat trout and I could usually catch three or four in a few hours and they maked perfect eating. I had started using a new fishing method. I had become armed with the knowledge of power bait! It’s a doughy type substance that you buy at the tackle shop. It smells horrible and it’s hard to get it off your fingers but the fish love it. You cover your hook in it and attach a slip weight and then you can cast it out far into the lake. The weight pulls it to the bottom but the bait its self floats so it makes your hook float about two feet of the bottom making it stay out of the weeds so its more visible to fish. Armed with this highly effective bait I was confident that I could get some lunkers out of St Mary’s before the morning was out. I was driving my electric scooter that seemed to take for ever to get around. The sun was starting to come up and I couldn’t wait for its warmth to heat my freezing body. Finally I reached the lake; I drove along side it looking for a good place to fish. I chose I flat stone surface that gave me quite a bit of room to set up. When fishing a new lake a good way to know were the fish are is to find out were the local fishermen go to catch them. The spot I hade chosen had litter and fishing line around it. My logic is the better a spot is the more fishermen will fish there, the more fishermen that fish there the more likely some of them will leave litter. Thus meaning a spot heavily littered with fishing gear is most likely a good one.
I hade brought two rods with me. I moved to Canada when I was 11 and I used to do a lot of fishing in England. I had two or three expensive rods and real’s some costing over $200. But just because I had expensive gear didn’t make me a good fisherman. Even thou I would fish four times a week I would often catch nothing. Now that I am older and have a better knowledge of fishing I am generally fairly successful. But nower days I use a $30 fishing rod and a wooden rod I got because some one was going to chuck it out! Expensive fishing gear makes casting and reeling in a bit more comfortable but it doesn’t do any thing to help you catch fish. The only thing that will make you successful is you’re self and your own ability’s and knowledge not the price tag on your reel. I set up my $30 rod with the power bait and cast it out a good 50 feet. I waited for the weight to sink to the bottom and reeled in the slack line. If any thing touched my bait it would make the tip of my rod twitch thus letting me know when to strike. The water was covered with a thick layer of fog and visibility was poor, I could heir a group of ducks landing on the water but still couldn’t see past 20 feet. I set my second rod up with the power bait as well, this tiny rod cost me 10$ and the handle was held on with duck tape, It was about 3ft long and the real was plastic (it was actually advertised as a pirate fishing rod). I am a great fan of cheap fishing gear but I have to admit that rod was going a bit too far. Later on the sun started to shine through the clouds and the thick fog started retreating back into the sky. As the fog lifted up I could see all the fish coming up from the depths and feeding on insects that had been unlucky enough to land on the water at night. The once still lakes surface irrupted with hundreds of fish jumping and snatching flies of the water. My power bait hadn’t attracted any interest most likely because it was sitting on the bottom as all the fish above it were feasting on flys. I changed methods and reeled in my smaller rod, I hooked up a simple float and worms rig and cast it near some reeds that I had seen a fish jump near early that day. The good thing about float fishing is you can adjust it to hang the bait at any depth of water you choose. In this case I set it up to hang my offering about two feet below the surface. I sat back down in my fold up chair and admired the scenery, now you could see the fog hovering about 30 feet above the water. I watched as three eagles flew silently above the lake looking for unwary fish to snatch. There were many different types of water birds and a blue heron flew right past me, its long thin legs hanging still in the air as it flew.
Now before I tell you what happened next I must explain to any one reading this who hasn’t been fishing a few things before I continue. As you sit next to the lake for usually hours you stare at the float (or rod tip depending on what rig you use) just waiting and hoping the float starts to bob up and down or gets pulled under the surface. You just long to see some form of indication that lets you know weather sitting there for hours was worth it or if you should of just stayed in bed and had a nice coffee like a normal person. That first indication that you might of just caught some thing is enough to make my hands start shaking and my heart rate go through the roof. And suppose, just suppose you did hook some thing now you have to reel it in, landing a fish is always the part of the story were the big one gets away. There’s a hole number of things that could go wrong and make your line snap. You will be standing there with a still rod and line tangles every were in just a few seconds, and after the original shock of failure you start to realize that you might of just lost your one chance to make that trip worth it. And then after that faze you start to imagine how big the fish you almost caught could have been, for all you know it could have been a world record that you would of been proud of for the rest of your life, before you know it your thoughts plummets into despair and disappointment and you give up on any hope of living a happy life ever again. Well it’s not quite that bad but you get the picture. From the moment your float bobs you know that if you don’t get every thing right you will lose the fish.
My eyes kept switching between the rod tip on my power bait rig and the red and white float. I looked at the float, then the rod tip, then the float again, and then the rod tip again, then…. Wait where’s the float gone! I dropped the cup of coffee and grabbed the pirate fishing rod. The fish realized that the worm it just ate was pulling it to wards the shore line and it panicked and made a hard run. The line on my real started to be pulled out at an alarming rate and I struggled to keep the pressure on the fish. The little trout I’d been catching at Black Burn felt only a bit stronger that a rabbit. The fish on my line felt like holding the leash on a German shepherd that was chasing a rabbit. The tiny rod with its week plastic reel bended almost 90 degrees in my hand as I started to hall in the line. Slowly but surly the monster started to accept its fate as I pulled it to the shore. After a few minutes I could see its shiny body reflected the sun as it got closer and closer to its capturer. I pulled it on the shore line and quickly dispersed it by clubbing it on the head with the handle of my knife. My heart beet felt like it was going to make my arteries pop. I admired my trophy and couldn’t wait to take it home to show every one. It was a beautifully colored rainbow trout. With trout any thing over a foot is considered a good fish, this one measured in at 19inches and weighed over two pounds. I put another worm on my rig and cast out again. I was delighted with my catch but I knew I would be even more delighted with a second one. The sun was fully up now and the fog was gone. Light reflecting off the clear water started to hurt my eyes and I wished I’d brought sun glasses. I picked up my coffee mug and pored my self some warm coffee from my flask. I sat back in my chair and enjoyed the suns warmth and my drink. I was warm, I had a coffee and I’d caught a fish, life couldn’t be better. I looked at the tip of my power bait rod and stared blankly at it. Wham! The tip jolted violently towards the lake and I pulled the rod up hard to set the hook. This fish wasn’t strong enough to make a run but it still put up a good fight. After a few minutes of reeling in I pulled the Bass onto the shore line. It was a medium sized small mouth bass. I carefully picked it up (small mouths have very sharp prickles on there dorsal fins that can puncture your skin if your not careful.) Soon it joined the trout and I put them in a bag and started to pack up. It was around 11am now and it was time for me to be getting home. I loaded up my scooter and I started my journey back home. Before I prepared the fish I went over to my Girl friends house (she lives next door). I stormed into her bed room and she woke up to her boy friend holding a dead trout over her bed. For some reason she wasn’t as chuffed about it as I was.
