I've been thinking a lot about fishing lately. Mostly because the guys at work do it and then come talk about their catches or the ones that got away. I used to fish a lot with my dad, mostly ocean fishing. He'd take us out on his little motor boat that had a few holes in it. About every hour or so, we'd be out on the middle of the ocean with water above our ankles so he'd pull up the anchor, get the boat going real fast so that it tilted the nose (stern? bow?) up, pull out the stopper plug in the back and drive around until the boat drained. It didn't seem to worry him at all that the boat had holes in it. I was a little suspicious. It was a long way to shore.
In any case, we'd fish out on the ocean in San Diego and often head down to Baja California to fish in the Sea of Cortez. It was always a lot of fun, we ate the fish if they were big enough and toss back the little guys. I don't know a whole lot about fishing, my dad always set up the line for me with whatever he thought would work well. Since he died I haven't done a whole lot of fishing, just the occasional fishing with my uncle in Arizona.
So I've fished enough that you would not expect me to be a beginner, but then, I've also had the location, the tackle and the bait all set up for me by a fisherman much wiser than myself. Although I don't recall catching a whole lot of fish with my Uncle Buddy....hehehe. Sorry Uncle Buddy. There are many avid fishermen on my crew, but one of the things I've learned about myself lately is that I don't like help. With anything really. I'm not sure why that is, but I like to find my own path through whatever new thing I'm trying.
I bought a couple of books on my kindle during this last assignment in Idaho. While reading them, I took a couple notes on what I'd like to buy for my BASIC beginner set-up. They included a 6.5'- 7' medium action rod, with a medium action spinner reel, with 8-10lb test line (one that breaks down for easy travel), a couple hooks, sinkers, swivels, bobbers, a few artificial worms, a couple jigs and a minnow lure. And a fillet knife. And mutli-tool.
We got home from our assignment yesterday and I had a ton of things to do upon getting home: wash and repack my war bags, buy food, sleep, and get up early enough to get back into my marathon training.
I shirked all of that to go shopping for fishing gear.
Let me remind you, I live in the middle of nowhere, and to go to a real sporting goods store, I have to drive an hour. I got off work at 5pm, went directly to Medford (hello Sportsmans Warehouse!) dropped $200 on fishing gear and a couple essentials for work, drove home, washed laundry, setup my tackle box and was in bed 3 hours later than I should've been. The wise words of the author of the first book rang in my head while shopping for gear...I just didn't listen. I wanted to keep it very basic, I didn't need a whole lot of stuff.
After getting the stuff I needed for work, I headed over to the fishing department. Whoa. There was a selection of several hundred rods in front of me. I had to narrow it down. I walked past the spin-casters (or whatever those things are called) and found the spinning rods. Great, now we got it down to 100 choices. Some were made for kids, and others were almost $100 each. Down to around 40 choices. I paced back and forth in the rod aisle while the salesman eyed me warily. I'm sure he's seen my kind before. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him watching me. When I hefted a rod into my hand and reeled it around a bit, he'd walk away, satisfied that I didn't need help. 20 minutes later I was still hefting two rods around. He asked if I needed any help. Nope, I'm good. I stood there another 5 or 10 minutes and decided on one.
I turned around to face the rest of the gear and was overwhelmed. Where the hell was the line? You'd think it would be right next to the rods and reels. I had to ask. He pointed me to the back wall of the fishing section. Got it. Don't got it. Holy cow, there's another 50 selections of line! Argh. I picked a mid-priced clear 10lb and 8lb test. No big deal. That selection only took me about 5 minutes.
Ok, hooks. Oh dear. There's literally thousands of types and sizes of hooks out there. I was faced with a hundred or so. I spent another 10 minutes on hooks while the salesman floated around nearby in case I needed help.
Oh look! Swivels. I need some of those. Ooh, a couple sizes and types of sinkers, don't mind if I do. Bobbers, yep, I'll take two shapes and sizes. On to tackle. Oh wait, are those tackle boxes? The salesman asked me how I was doing. Awesome. I spent another 5 minutes comparing tackle boxes, put one in my cart. Back to tackle. Oh boy. I was standing there staring at a wall full of artificial worms that were all too big for my tackle choices and all promised a steady release of salt. What? Hmm. I moved on. Jigs! Yep, I need a couple of these. I tried to think like a fish, if I were swimming around in a river or lake, what would I want to eat? I'll take a couple of these...and that too...ooh, look at that!
In one of the books I read, there was a saying. "There's two types of tackle. One that's meant to catch fish, and the other that's meant to catch fisherman". As I perused the endless aisles of jigs, spinners and lures, I realized I was probably looking at the latter. But they looked so real! All these things look like they'll catch fish!
And what if my fish don't like the one minnow lure I just chose? Ok, I'll get another. No, put it back, you only get one. You cannot have two nearly identical lures. Ok, this one is a little different, I'll take that. The salesman pretended to be organizing a rack behind me. Maybe it was because I had been in that section for an hour and a half. Maybe it was the completely random way I walked about the aisles. Myabe it was the lost look in my eyes. I don't know. Either way, I didn't want his advice, even if he knew more than I did. I don't know what's wrong with me.
I found a couple of fillet knives, and somehow walked away with a folding, 7" Buck knife that cost $30. And a small multi-tool for $17. Then I came home and organized my tackle box while the laundry was washing.
I have to leave for work in an hour and I have yet to eat breakfast, pack my lunch and pack my war bags (fire bags). And I don't think I'm getting my run in this morning. But my tackle box looks great!
The salmon are running here for maybe only another week (yeah, aren't you guys jealous? The salmon bascially run in my back yard.). I just got my fishing license with a salmon card added. Corey asked me last night if I thought my rod could handle a salmon on the other end of it. I told her if it came to it, I hoped my line would break before my rod did. I wasn't going to intentionally slay a 60 lb salmon. Maybe only the 20 pounders. I looked around at my lures and jigs and realized that even very large fish might find interest in a small lure. Hmmm. Well, if I hook a 60 pounder I might have time to cut my line before the monster runs 200 yards down river with my lure.
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