I love fishing

Happy Tuesday everyone!

So I must say that I am really proud of myself.  So far this summer, I’ve taught myself to fillet salmon, smoke salmon on the BBQ and now I can add preparing my own fishing rod to the list. 

You see, growing up and in more recent days, I’d rely on friends and family to attach my hooks, spool my fishing rod, attach a worm (yuck) or other bait or lures to my line and even kill and gut the fish.  I’ve never had to tie a fishing knot because it was always done for me. 

So Sunday night, I took the initiative to teach myself something new once again.  I like learning new things and if it brings me pleasure, even better.  I had to change my line on my rod to a much lighter and kink-free fishing line.  So once again Google and YouTube were my friends.  And I did it.  I bought a 12lb line and spooled it all by my lonesome, without any kinks or knots or tangles.  Then came time to attaching the weight and the fishing hook.  I practiced a couple of knots on the old line that I removed and it worked after a few tries.  Yeah me !  The whole process took me about an hour, but I can finally announce that I successfully prepared my OWN fishing rod.  I was just praying that the knots were tight enough so that I don’t lose any fish.

Monday morning, the girls and I headed to our local lake for an afternoon of fishing.  We packed some snacks, our gear, chairs and off we went.  After a brief pit stop at the gas station and the local tackle store to buy extra hooks and a fish bonker (just in case), off we went.  The sun was shining and we were ready for some relaxation and hopefully fish action.  The only thing we forgot was the sunscreen…. my right arm is slightly lobster-coloured.

Not sure why this picture is so blurry, but here is another view of the lake on the way back to the car.  The clouds started coming in and the wind picked up, but we were happy, because we didn’t leave empty handed.  That bonker definitely came in handy this afternoon.

I ended up catching and landing 3 cut throat trout, but only kept this one because the other 2 were too small.  I had to throw one back with the hook as it completely swallowed it.  I guess it was off to find the fishy dentist.

I even overcame my fear of worms.  I hate worms, how they wiggle, get smaller and larger when trying to put them on the hook.  It grosses me out, but I did it.  After a couple, it wasn’t so bad anymore. Yeah me!

When I got home, I had to gut the fish, something else I’ve never had to do either.  It was pretty gross, but I got over it. 

Mr. Trout is now prepped and wrapped in tin foil in the fridge.  I’m going to BBQ it tonight in the same way I did the last one.  And I think I”m going to eat with with a nice vegetable risotto this time.  What do you think?

Hope everyone is having a great start to their week.  Can you believe it’s already July 19th?  Crazy how time flies when you’re having fun.

Bea

xoxo