THE RETRIEVER IS BORN!!!!!
Dennis FINALLY got the boat fixed and finished, and today she sailed on her maiden voyage! It was a very proud moment for all of us. It might have been more so if Dennis wasn't cranky about the maiden voyage having a few hiccups, but he just lets little things like overheating engines get to him. I mean, a warm boat is a good thing, right?
Just kidding, Dad, Grandpa.
It was fairly cold out there, but everyone had extra layers so it was alright. We (meaning Kim, Claire and I) also brought warm warm brownies and coffee, among other things, most of which didn't get eaten (and my coffee tasted awful because I put too much sugar in). Warm food and clothes combined with the fact that there's a lot of movement involved in fly fishing (which is what I think the term is), we stayed toasty.
The voyage began well enough: Dennis hooked us up with rods and Kim watched the GPS, which tells you how many fish are in the water and how deep they are. When there were lots of little fishy icons, she'd yell, "FISHAPALOOZA! They're everywhere!!" and everyone else would be casting their litte pink minnows furiously in hope we'd land something. I killed my little metal minnow. I kept hitting it against the side of the boat and every time I did Dennis would tell me that I owed him a thousand dollars. Pretty soon I was in dept 11K and my fishy had silver spots where I'd chipped the paint off. Oops.
An hour later no salmon have been caught, though they SHOULD have been--they were everywhere. We saw some jump, but they turned their tails to our pink minnows...Aww...
THEN!!!!!
THEN!!!!!
THEN!!!!!!!
CLAIRE HAS A FISH!!!
ONLY, IT'S not a salmon...
I thought it was a catfish--same kind of head, some kind of body before Dennis says, "There are no catfish here! It's a sculpin!" Whatever it was, it was ugly. The poor guy had a hook in his lip and he was NOT happy about getting a piercing. Claire managed to get him back in the water without touching him too much (I still can't figure out how she did it ). And so our only fish swims away. Ten minutes later some other people (Kim's friends the Chins) have caught the poor sucker. I can imagine he was extremely unhappy about being hooked in twice.
Half an hour later a guy fishing on the beach has fallen in the water. It was funny.
The Chins now have two fish. They got two more later. It was embarrassing because they caught all these fish just off our bow. I couldn't really cast out that direction because they already were, so our lines would have been tangled. Grrrr....
Quite a bit later--it's sunset and everyone's a little fed up--the Chins motor over and give us a salmon. Claire and I are closest so we have the wrestle the thing into the cooler where it will face emminent death by oxygen intake. I grab its tail and the thing FREAKING GOES NUTS, so I scream and let go.
(Everyone who's handled a fish shut up. It was like holding an eel. I did not grow up in Alaska where three-year-olds handle fish or you gut them for a summer job, so Mom stop rolling your eyes.)
Kim finally grabbed the thing by its mouth and threw it in (getting fish blood everywhere) and fifteen minutes later we are going home. We caught no fish but a lot of seaweed. Dennis examined the Chins tackle and he plans to go get whatever they had (a pink squid). We might try again tomorrow, or we might go see the Simpsons movie. It's all up in the air.
Good night,
Dennis FINALLY got the boat fixed and finished, and today she sailed on her maiden voyage! It was a very proud moment for all of us. It might have been more so if Dennis wasn't cranky about the maiden voyage having a few hiccups, but he just lets little things like overheating engines get to him. I mean, a warm boat is a good thing, right?
Just kidding, Dad, Grandpa.
It was fairly cold out there, but everyone had extra layers so it was alright. We (meaning Kim, Claire and I) also brought warm warm brownies and coffee, among other things, most of which didn't get eaten (and my coffee tasted awful because I put too much sugar in). Warm food and clothes combined with the fact that there's a lot of movement involved in fly fishing (which is what I think the term is), we stayed toasty.
The voyage began well enough: Dennis hooked us up with rods and Kim watched the GPS, which tells you how many fish are in the water and how deep they are. When there were lots of little fishy icons, she'd yell, "FISHAPALOOZA! They're everywhere!!" and everyone else would be casting their litte pink minnows furiously in hope we'd land something. I killed my little metal minnow. I kept hitting it against the side of the boat and every time I did Dennis would tell me that I owed him a thousand dollars. Pretty soon I was in dept 11K and my fishy had silver spots where I'd chipped the paint off. Oops.
An hour later no salmon have been caught, though they SHOULD have been--they were everywhere. We saw some jump, but they turned their tails to our pink minnows...Aww...
THEN!!!!!
THEN!!!!!
THEN!!!!!!!
CLAIRE HAS A FISH!!!
ONLY, IT'S not a salmon...
I thought it was a catfish--same kind of head, some kind of body before Dennis says, "There are no catfish here! It's a sculpin!" Whatever it was, it was ugly. The poor guy had a hook in his lip and he was NOT happy about getting a piercing. Claire managed to get him back in the water without touching him too much (I still can't figure out how she did it ). And so our only fish swims away. Ten minutes later some other people (Kim's friends the Chins) have caught the poor sucker. I can imagine he was extremely unhappy about being hooked in twice.
Half an hour later a guy fishing on the beach has fallen in the water. It was funny.
The Chins now have two fish. They got two more later. It was embarrassing because they caught all these fish just off our bow. I couldn't really cast out that direction because they already were, so our lines would have been tangled. Grrrr....
Quite a bit later--it's sunset and everyone's a little fed up--the Chins motor over and give us a salmon. Claire and I are closest so we have the wrestle the thing into the cooler where it will face emminent death by oxygen intake. I grab its tail and the thing FREAKING GOES NUTS, so I scream and let go.
(Everyone who's handled a fish shut up. It was like holding an eel. I did not grow up in Alaska where three-year-olds handle fish or you gut them for a summer job, so Mom stop rolling your eyes.)
Kim finally grabbed the thing by its mouth and threw it in (getting fish blood everywhere) and fifteen minutes later we are going home. We caught no fish but a lot of seaweed. Dennis examined the Chins tackle and he plans to go get whatever they had (a pink squid). We might try again tomorrow, or we might go see the Simpsons movie. It's all up in the air.
Good night,
Sophie
2 comments:
Sophie, did the Chin mercy fish go back in the water? or into the cooler?
Ask Kim and Dennis if you can head a chicken. I didn't do that for a summer job, but I was good at chatching them post-heading.
The neighbors (Corey's folks) gave me a fish yesterday, which we ate today. I didn't handle it very graciously--after all, of all the things I want to be handed at my front door, a dead fish is WAAAAY down the list.
Sleep tight.
Love to you and Claire,
Mum
p.s. I made an unauthorized improvement to your room today.
Dear Kampers,
"FISHAPALOOZA" would mean that there was a plethera of fish and not just one ugly (and apparantly not to inteligent sculpin).
By the way fisherman always blame the lure or the bait. Fish it seems, are into fads and they will only bite the latest greatest just got in the shops hot new lure.
Good luck if you go fishing again. You may want to consider lying (like most fisherman do) about the size and number of fish caught. If you don't bring any home it is because you released them all back into nature. See how this works?
Have fun Kampers
Love, Dad
Post a Comment