We spent a few days "up North" with my in-laws a few weeks ago. It was truly a Northern Ontario experience, especially since we made the trek to my brother-in-laws remote cottage on Rufus Lake (about 120 Kms from Kapuskasing, 80 kms of which was on dirt road).
Now, I must say I'm quite a man of the world, experienced in many pastimes, sports and cultural events, from skiing in the Canadian Rockies, to playing cider-drunk darts with more drunken lads from Somerset, skateboarding in 15' deep (empty) pools, eating dim-sum, scuba diving after an hour lesson in Barbados, sea kayaking, driving around Marble Arch in London, negotiating the Tube...but I'd never fished ! Actually, I always add an asterisk to that comment, because I do have faint memory of impaling my finger with a hook (now known as a "lure") when I was a wee lad at the "spinny" in Bedworth.
So, me and my 7 year old daughter (who had already been introduced to fishing by her enthusiastic big cousin a few years ago, and so already was far more experienced than me) accepted the offer from my man-of-the-wild, brother-in-law to go fishing when we were up North. And so, a few weeks ago, I went fishing for the first time in my life.
After a few practice casts off the dock, I actually caught a small perch ! Wow, instant gratification ! Then after dinner, we were out on the boat for a long ride out to one of my brother-in-law's favourite spots. Along with the joy of fishing, I must say I felt truly cut off from the populated world, a real feeling of being remote and in the wild - what a great feeling. My daughter was of course, the "reel" star, catching her limit of four good sized (15" plus) pickerel (walleye). A may not be running out to buy some tackle any time soon, but I definitely began to understand the attraction of fishing. Some good quiet time with family or friends, enjoying the beautiful surroundings, and the challenge of out-smarting a tasty fish (as long as someone else can handle the bait and unhooking the catch - just kidding, I'll do that job next time). Her catch made up most of the fish fry dinner the next night - great stuff !
So, now I'm back in the city with some good fishing tales and what do I see in the paper last week...me and my daughter may now be targets of PETA. Gimme a break, they're stupid fish for crying out loud, what next insects ? put down that fly swatter mister, easy !
And so ends my fishing story, I caught a massive pike you know, about 20", it got away, but I really did, no kiddin...
More links: http://nslog.com/archives/2003/12/18/peta_vs_angling.php http://www.petakillsanimals.com/article_detail.cfm?article=134
[thank you Ninja Bob for the pic of Rufus Lake on flick]
4 comments:
Glad that you're back at the keyboard PJ.
Me and da bruthers used to fish and had enough kit to fill an expanding box thing. I only seem to remember catching 1 fish. Ever. But if my lads want to give it a try, I now know the best place - just 80 clicks from Kampuscasing (sp) right?
Now hair. That of my eldest boy - two and a half.
We've always snipped (sans style) away at his barnet, but it's gotten too thick and long of late, so I took him to the hairdressers at the weekend.
Now, he's a good lad and didn't expect any trouble. But scissors are sharpa nd kids wriggle - so I was a little nervous. But more importantly I wanted this to be an adventure for him, so that he'd want to visit again.
What better than a traditional-ish barber shop with the owners huge open-top cadillac parked proudly out front. The guy had an elvis quiff and tattoos up both arms and an 'Rockers Revival' T-shirt on. Oh, and lovely way with kids. After the cut, it was hard to get him out of the shop.
Copu.
Wood Butcher Here!
Hey Bro, missed the blog, glad your back!
I hear Peta are going after wine makers next based on grape abuse. Fruits that have only fallen naturally from the vine are considered "usable", all others are considered "Murdered"... (ok... so I used a movie reference...shoot me)
Cheers,
Bro
Oh and did you see this web site?
http://www.fishinghurts.com/FishFeelPain.asp
And you are calling fish stupid....lol
You are never too old or too young to fish! My mother in law just started fishing this year at 66 years old, she now goes out on the sailboat everyday and fishes every night.
PS: She gets over the hurting the fish thing, by talking softly to them!!!
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