Everything happens for a reason.

Apparently I have become a fair weather fisherman.

This spring was lousy for weather. It's only over the last little while that things have improved. The biggest issue for me has been the instability. I just haven't been able to get up the energy to fight the weather, so I am just picking my spots. Besides, its just so easy to avoid working for fish when I can just walk out to my backyard to play with whatever happens to be around.

I did get out to fish some water other than my backyard this last week. The first outing had me come off the water fuming. So pissed off with myself. I hooked and lost a great bass. Losing fish happens. I'm generally okay with it. The exception being when I screw it up. As was the case with this fish. I looked like a rookie with his first big fish. I know, because I have the episode on video. As I watched, re-watched, and then watched some more, this epic little horror story, I got more and more i

rritated. I know better. I know that 2 or three times during the fight, a big bass will make a desperate dive. I know when they do this to give them line. I knew to do this on the first attempt. So why on earth during its second run didn't I let go of the handle???????? Fuuuuuuuuuck.

A couple of days later I was back to the site of the debacle with revenge on my mind. I was still smarting from losing that fish. A storm had just pushed over, but the temps stayed relatively stable, so I figured it was worth a shot. As it turns out, the revenge would not be mine.

Ostensibly, I was out for perch. However, Smallmouths are almost always caught during the pursuit of those. This day was no different. I did really well on perch, going home with the a nice stringer for my effort. The #4 Wooly Bugger I was throwing for them was big enough to keep the smaller specimens off, and I had some decent fish. Picked up some bass too. But that's not the real story of the night. That story was about "Everything happening for a reason."

Mom with Bass.

You see, on this outing I had my ( 73yr old ) mother with me. She had gotten to hear my rantings and ravings about the lost fish. She also was forced to sit and watch the video as I gave a complete breakdown on what I did right, what I did wrong, and all things to do with battling big bass. This paid off. You see, when she hooked into the biggest bass of her life on this night, she knew exactly what to do. She knew to fight it hard. She knew watch for the runs/dives, and bow to the fish when it happened. She knew those dives would likely happen when the fish first saw her/the boat, and when it saw the net. She was prepared, and handled it like a pro. I was so proud of her. The fish I had lost that had been haunting me was forgotten.

Mom's fish.