NUMB SKULL
It was a good day to head out since it had not rained for 5 days. The sun has been shinning and the wind blew hard for three of the days. A lot of places dried out and I decided that I could probably get into a few ponds with the canoe.
It is the early part of July, about 1/3gone, but I will be in the canoe for the first time. No worries about trees eating my flies. I will be able to cast into any part of the pond that I want to. Things are looking good and the adrenaline is flowing from thinking about what might happen.
I get out to the pond, and have no trouble going through the low spot. There was only a very little mud showing on the one edge. I get the canoe unloaded and the rods put in it. I get the anchor ropes out and thread them so I have the anchors at the front and the back. The fish bag and the net go into the canoe. The lifejacket, vest, sunglasses and hat are put on and the canoe taken to the edge of the water.
This is when the NUMB SKULL part comes in. If you paid attention to the list of things above you are probably already laughing. I did not have a paddle with me, and there is too much wind to try to use anything else to move the canoe.
So I loaded the canoe back on the truck and put most of the things back. I grabbed two rods and headed to the edge of the pond. I might not be in the canoe, but I was going to see what I might find in the pond. I was pretty sure that the fish might be fairly shallow in the water column over the mid-depth areas of the pond.
Long casts into the pond and slow movement of the fly resulted in fish wanting to take it. I lost about half the fish as it was too far to try to retrieve them without them coming onto the top of the water. It is easier for them to flip the hook out when they are the surface then when they are underwater.
Moved a few times around the pond and did get a fair number of fish. Headed home to take care of the fish and get some fillets to folks in time to eat them while very fresh.
My better half got a real belly laugh when I explained why I did not use the canoe. She wanted to know if she should print up a checklist that I could use. The idea is getting more consideration than I probably should give to it.
Not quite as much fun as if the canoe had been in the water, but still a fun time.
Hope you can get out on the water soon.
Numb skull