Fun Monday

Our wonderful hostess with the mostess this week is Olive and this is her assignment:





Hey, we are starting a new month and will be celebrating our Day of Independence soon in the US so let’s make the next FM a fun time. I would like to hear about your *whopper* of a fishing story. Yes, you heard it correctly whether it is fictional or non fictional I want to hear a fishing story from you. An example would be if you catch a minnow and tell it that you caught a swordfish (exaggeration is the operative word here). Did you hear me say show your photo(s)? Of course you did – be creative.

Many years ago, in a life far away (before we had children) we would spend one week out of every year living in a houseboat on Shasta Lake. During this week we would spend our time hiking, playing with our dog, swimming (if is wasn't too cold), reading, other unmentionables, and fishing. I am not what you could call a true fishing aficionado. I cannot bait my own hook with a live worm, they tense up and I am sure I am hurting them. I will not touch a fish, especially if it is alive. I do like sitting in a chair and doing nothing though, and since that is what most of your time spent fishing is like...well, I like that just fine when we are on vacation.

Now, Dave, on the other hand, does take a shine to fishing. He has all the accouterments needed, and desired, for the fishing experience. He will bait his own hook and he will even gut and clean any catch that is made. He is a true fisherman, but unfortunately there is one catch to this....he very rarely actually catches any fish. I, on the other hand, seem to catch fish on a regular basis, much to his chagrin.

Our trips usually start out with Dave chivalrously baiting my hooks, removing caught fish, basically doing all the dirty work. My only contribution is casting my pole and reeling in my catch. It soon becomes apparent that my lovely husband is becoming quite disgruntled. He soon refuses to bait my hook and I am left to torture the poor worm myself. Unfortunately, I am unable to do this so I resort to fishing with a lure.

Now, we are finally coming to the fishing story....are you still with me? The scene is set. We are on a houseboat on Shasta Lake. I am using a lure on my pole. Dave has not caught a fish yet.

I am slowly casting and reeling in my pole. The fisher woman that I am....I am standing up and have the tip of my pole pointed directly at the water and slowly, ever so slowly, I am reeling in. I pick off all the algae and grass from the bottom of the lake off my lure and cast out again....and the process repeats itself. Dave is watching me, shaking his head...."you are never going to catch a fish that way"....I look at him and say "watch me".

My line goes taut. "Ha, you caught a snag", Dave says. This is no ordinary snag. I begin to reel in....I have caught a fish.....a big one. Dave is incredulous. I keep reeling and to both our utter amazement I have caught a huge catfish. I bring it onto the boat and the fish falls off the hook. He was barely hooked and I caught him using a lure. I smugly look at Dave, he is standing there with his mouth agape. Meanwhile the fish is flopping all over the deck of the boat.

Picture....we need a picture of this. Dave insists that I hold my prize for a picture. No way am I touching this huge prehistoric creature...and it smells. I have a wonderful idea. I will lean over and point to it while Dave takes the picture. I calmly lean over, with a huge smile on my face, and point to the creature while Dave readies the camera. I need to get a bit closer, he tells me. Luckily the fish has stopped his break dancing on the deck and I feel safe inching my way towards him. I lean ever closer with my finger pointing. I am inches away when suddenly he decides he is not done dancing and flops and writhes in my direction. I immediately scream and run through the door into the houseboat. There was one problem though. The screen door was not open. I ran into the screen door, plop...it went down....I kept running...totally oblivious. I ran the length of the boat before I stopped and turned around. Dave was bent double in laughter on the deck...the fish...he was done dancing.

The fish I named Herbert and he made a nice dinner the following night....running through the screen door is something Dave will never let me forget!!!!

The following pictures were taken last year. We rented a houseboat with our friends and had a great time. The fish Michael is holding he caught at 3:00 in the morning. That was the first and last night I allowed poles to be left in the water all night!!! Herbert was much bigger that Michael's fish!!

Now head on over to Olive's for more fish stories....