Fishing

The column from the Chief Scout Executive in the May-June 2018 issue of Scouting Magazine reminded me of the times I spent fishing with my Dad.  Loved those quiet times, just him & I in the boat in the middle of the lake.  No talking, just casting our lines and an occasional "I got a bite" or "fish on!".  Mr. Surbaugh goes on to explain how fishing is so important to our mental and physical well-being in this fast-paced worlds and I think back to the 1970's when I was with Dad.  Yes, our world wasn't full of technology or as hectic but in a young girl's life, it was just as busy.

The memories of having that one-on-one time with Dad, reminds me of the song from Trace Adkins called Just Fishin' .  I was Dad's little girl.  And we made a lot of memories fishing.

Some of our fishing spots were lakes we hiked into, then pumped up the rubber raft (or boat), rowed to the other end of the lake and just floated back on the currents.  Other times, it was the big boat taken to a local lake in the winter and fished near the dam or at the other end of the lake. Yes, we fished in the winter, in rain and snow as well as in the spring & summer (more rain & sunshine).   Don't think I got off easy, I had to bait my own hook and take my own fish off.  Just didn't have to clean it!

I love the fact that Mr. Dahlquist continued the fishing theme in his column, Commissioners Corner. This reminded me of the first time we fished Whale Lake in British Columbia.  This was a small hike-in lake (about 2-3 miles).  There was a huge group of us (several uncles and cousins).  Fishing was okay but about 2 pm the fish were jumping like crazy but they wouldn't bite no matter what type of bait we used.  Well, one of the uncles decided to try his fly-fishing pole.  Well, guess what?  the fish went crazy!  He was pulling them in from behind!  So, the rest of us switched over to flies (even though we didn't have fly-fishing poles).  This frenzy lasted about an hour.  Since we had plenty of fish, we packed up and headed back to camp.  We spent several summers going to that campground as part of our family camping trip with my Mom's siblings.  Lots of memories.

Fishing was my special time with Dad and spending time in Nature.  Whereas, my brother was into mechanics (another thing my Dad did).  Baking, cooking & sewing were things I did with my Mom.

We tried to instill fishing into our son.  He liked going fishing with his Scoutmasters but he wasn't interested in eating the fish.


Thank you, Scouting Magazine, for triggering these memories.