The Catch of the Day.

For most people every day starts early in the morning when we fight ourselves out of bed knowing that we have a full day of work or school ahead of us.  As we rub our eyes and get dressed, we glare over at our comfortable looking beds and think how awesome it would be if we could crawl back underneath the warm covers and continue dreaming about really awesome shit.  Its amazing how hard it is to start the day when you know that day will be spent doing something you don't want to do.  Monday through Thursday the mental war can be brutal.  Friday mornings are usually a little easier to take knowing that the weekend is right around the corner. The chance to finally sleep in and not get up at the ass crack of dawn, unless you were sleeping at a little camp in Hartland Maine that sat on Moose Pond.

Getting up at 5am on a Saturday morning in Maine was always a lot easier when you looked out the window to see a layer of fog slowly rising off a dead calm lake.  America's day was just beginning and there was no better place in the world to witness it.  The dew was sparkling in the early morning sun, the birds were chirping and downstairs I could hear my Dad and Uncle John filling up the cooler with food and beer for a long day on the lake in a 14 foot aluminum boat.  The only living creatures that were not enjoying themselves were the fish that made their home underneath the surface of the water.  It would not be long before our lures would be hitting that same surface in hopes of rousting a 4lb rouge small mouth bass.  Knowing that my day would be filled with picturesque scenery, a few ice cold beers, some puffs on the god given herb and COUNTLESS fishing stories from my Dad and Uncle John made it a lot easier to jump out of bed to greet the day.

Even if the day itself was not particularly nice it would not stop us.  The best part about fishing in the rain was that you knew you would pretty much have the lake to yourself.  Aside from a select few local hardcore's, all the out of state summer residents were sulking at home because of a little rain, oblivious to the fact that out on the lake there were people reeling in a small mouth bass that could not believe he got caught by people stupid enough to be fishing on a rainy day.  The only thing that would slow us down was if the wind picked up.  Even then we would tuck into a stream or cove, kick back and wash down some puffs of the god given herb with a couple more oat sodas.   

TV would like you to think that the only people that know how to fish are those rich fucks in their $30,000 fishing boats.  

"Don't tell anyone that I told you my penis is really small.."

Underneath all the fancy equipment and 200 horse power motors are idiots that have no idea what they are doing.  As much as they hate to admit it they know that the dudes in the 14 foot boats know where the fish are.  I usually spot these assholes about 100 yards away from my boat doing everything they can to make it look like they are not trying to fish in the same spot I'm in.  I've lost track of how many times I've moved out of an area only to see some prick in a bass boat immediately move into the exact area I was just fishing in.  They may have the flash, but I've got the 4lb bass at the end of my stringer.  Good luck trying to catch a fish that was just caught.           

Whether you're a 3 year old kid with a plastic fisher price pole just learning how to cast a line or a 90 year old man sitting on the edge of his dock dangling a bobber at the end of his line not even giving a flying fuck if he catches a single fish.  

American Dream

The best part about fishing is that anyone can do it.  It could be in a boat, on the shore of a pond or in the middle of winter in a shack on the ice.  Even if you're to tired to fight yourself out of bed at 5am just remember that a hell of a day is out their waiting for you on the lake. Even if  they are not biting it beats the shit out of having to go to work.  As my great uncle Dick use to say "You can't catch'em sittin' on the porch!"