Dissociated Thoughts

Gone Fishing

Yesterday, tired and stressed after working so much recently, I decided to go fishing after I got off work. In Texas, if you want to fish in public waters, you must have a fishing license. There are only three places in the town where I live that sell them and one of them was pretty much on the way. I pulled out the brand-new rods that my parents had given my husband and I two Christmases ago, checked my tack, and determined what all I was going to have to buy in order to get a line in the water. No big deal, the fishing tackle store is on the way to the fishing hole at the lake too...

One hundred fifty dollars later (bait, needed tackle, and license) my husband and I arrive at the place we would be fishing. My reel was already strung so all I had to do at that point was attach a weight, tie on a hook, and put on a cork. My husband's name for a cork is a Bobber. I don't know if that's a Canadian thing or just a "him" thing.

Anyway, I was finally ready to put a minnow on my hook and get my line in the water and that's what I did. The minnow I grabbed out of the bucket was a lively little fellow, even with a hook going through his back. He swam my cork all over the place for I don't know how long. As I'm enjoying the peacefulness of the moment, I hear my husband cussing under his breath. I look over and he is still trying to string his reel so he can thread the line onto the rod. Maybe my reel was easier (and already pre-strung) because it is a close-faced reel, who knows. He prefers open-faced reels when he goes fishing. I can't use one of the darned things. I always, always get the line bunched in a bird's nest of knotted string when I use them. We didn't figure out until after we got home that someone had set the reel up for a left-handed person and he had been stringing it as if for a right-handed person and that's why it wasn't working properly. I don't think my husband had such a stress relieving time of it out there yesterday though. He never did get his line in the water.

So, I'm sitting on this boat dock and am dealing with the water disturbances from all the boats that kept motoring by while my minnow swims doggedly in circles while attached to my hook. Finally my cork bobbed up and down a couple of times and then submerged completely. I got a bite! And it was a big one. My rod curved into a rainbow from the weight of the thing fighting me on the other end of the line as I set the hook and began to reel the fish in. I reeled and reeled and brought the fish closer and closer to the dock. Then the reel became hard for me to turn. I look down and I see a bird's nest of hair tangled in the reel handle mechanism. Determined to catch the fish, I kept reeling, which continued to make the tangled mess worse. Right at the dock - underneath the jetski that had been taken out of the water for the winter, I lost the fish. There was a popping sound and then a big splash as the fish popped free of my hook and hit the water. So, my husband and I both sat on that boat dock, unravelling our own bird's nests in our reels, only at least his was his line and not his hair. I was about ready to cut my long hair off just to get it out. I somehow freed my hair from the cogs and handle of the reel, I still don't know how. We left for home shortly after we both had untied our messes but instead of going home, we went to the bar. After all the fun we had undergone, we thought we both needed a drink! A Crown and Coke and a couple of Shiner Bock's later, and it really did turn out to be a relaxing afternoon. We'll attempt fishing again soon - but next time, I'll be sure to wear my hair pulled back in a pony tail or braid.