Gone Fishing

Those of you who know me well, know that I love fishing; especially river fishing.   So as my first official act of retirement...I went fishing.  I can't remember the last time I had 5 days off in a row, not to mention being able to fish for 5 days in a row, so this was kind of a major event for me.  And since Brenda wasn't around, I could eat bacon for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  (If you read this Brenda, I only had bacon for breakfast and lunch...we had salmon for dinner....with a side of bacon).

Its not really even the act of fishing that I love.  Its the whole process.  I enjoy the anticipation of going, the shopping for snacks to throw in the boat, even stopping by the fishing store to see what bait and lures are working.  Once we are on the river is when things get even more enjoyable.  The sound of the water under the boat, reading the water, deciding what path to take, and rowing like crazy in big water.  It doesn't matter to me if its raining, snowing, or sunny.  Its all great.  And, it usually means I get to hang out with some good friends.


 I can always count on my good friend Brad to drop everything and go fishing.  He may love fishing more than anything on earth, which makes him a great person to have around when you need a partner in crime to spend a few days on the river chasing salmon and steelhead. So, we loaded up our campers and the drift boat and off we went to the mighty Cowlitz river in search of big fish. 


Brad with a whopper...it put up a good fight!

The thing about fishing with Brad is that he likes to fish hard.  He gets on the river early and stays late.  Its pretty common to be on the river from sun up to sun down and you better bring a headlamp because its pretty likely that you are going to need it.




I'm on a boat!
Our good friend Lief was able to join us for one day.  It was great to have him along as well.  He has been one of my best friends since we were kids and we have worked together for almost 20 years so it was great to spend a little time with him outside of work before Brenda and I take off on our sailing trip.



 


The nice thing about drifting the river is that we are in pretty remote areas which means that  you generally have no cell phone coverage.  Its a great thing.  Peace and quiet.  A little bit of mother nature goes a long way for the soul.  We also get to see some amazing scenery and wildlife that most people never get to experience.  Its not really that important if we even catch anything.  Its just good to get out.




But if you're lucky...you get a fish.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Double Birthday and the Italian Connection

Image
There is an interesting thing that happens on this side of the world. When we left Seattle, we crossed the international date line which puts us one whole day ahead of where we came from. Basically, we lost a day. Because we lost a day, Brenda turned the ripe old age of 40 one day sooner than she would have if we were in Seattle. On September the 12 th in Vanuatu, we got to celebrate her big day. But since she says her home is in Seattle, we also got to celebrate her 40 th birthday when September 12 th happened on that side of the world. Basically, she got the longest birthday known to mankind...2 big days long. There is another interesting thing that happens when you are cruising the world on a sailboat. You run into other cruisers that come from all parts of the world and all backgrounds. Where we are currently moored on Aore Island in Vanuatu, there are 4 boats that are from 4 different countries. It's an international coalition. Our newest neighbors jus...
Read more

The Garnet Ghost Town

Image
For years before we left, I had always told people that we were going to sail around the world. Now that we've been out for a few years, I still tell people the same thing. It's a concept that makes sense to the average Joe – a circle around the globe. A start and an end. One complete lap. When a random stranger we meet on the road asks what we are doing, I still answer with, “we are sailing around the world.” But that explanation is and has always been just a quick way to put into words a concept that still doesn't make sense to most people. Because in reality, we aren't going to sail around the world. One big lap of the globe doesn't really have any appeal to us. Although we aren't realistically going to make a big giant loop – with a beginning and an end – we are doing our best to see the world, and we'll be doing it for as long as it takes. So, I think the proper way to explain what we are doing, is to just say that we are out here to see the ...
Read more

A Crossroads

Image
There comes a time in every sailor's life when some hard decisions have to be made. We are at that point. We are currently in a little town on the Baja called Santa Rosalia. It's amazingly different than any other place we've seen so far in Mexico, and after 9 months in the country, we've seen a lot of places. Santa Rosalia is a mining town. Copper was discovered here in the 1860's, and after a few change of hands and some tax breaks and incentives, a French company took over the mines and the town took off. They imported wood from Oregon and Canada, and with that wood, they did something that we haven't seen anywhere else in Mexico. They built stuff...using wood. Nearly everything in Mexico is built from concrete, steel, and cinder blocks, so, without having to use too much brainpower, it's pretty easy to see that this place is different. No hard math or powers of deduction are needed - it's staring us right in the face in the f...
Read more