For the first time in my life I, with my own two hands, have captured the elusive fish. This morning at around six I caught a very modest Largemouth Bass (for the totally uninitiated Largemouth Bass refers to the size of the mouth not the fish). He was about 7" and maybe a pound or two at best. Look don't laugh, I've only been fishing like three weeks and until yesterday I have been using a three-foot Spider-man pole. I have left the Spidey pole for the boy and upgraded to a Wal-Mart special, I bought a low end Ugly Stick by Shakespeare, stock line 6-lb test, a black night crawler lure, and some chartreuse Power Bait. I guess my personality is that I could care less about something for thirty years but if I am going to try it and get into it I really want to learn and understand the activity. So in the last three weeks I have actually done a lot of reading and research, basically learning how to fish.
The funny part is that I was so stunned to actually catch the fish that I was frantically scrambling to grab my little state magazine with pictures to figure out what I had, then I knew I had to let him go (Bass are catch and release until June15 for spawning). Then I was frantically trying to figure out how to get the stupid hook out of the guys mouth, Renee advised me to put a pare of pliers in the tackle box (I love that my wife is brilliant, could you imagine spending the rest of your life with an idiot). In the meantime I essentially used the finger sweep method to pull the hook out of the fish's mouth (thank you Army first aid training). Then I was able to toss him back and my prayers were answered as he swam away safely. I really didn't want to be a criminal the first time I caught a fish. The picture is of a largemouth bass (not mine, same idea but mine was a lot smaller and you know, not flying) the health and safety of our sporting friend was my first priority so I have no photographic evidence of my embarrassing catch (maybe next time).
