Tuesday, July 8, 2008

It was this BIG!


This is a REEL fish story! And it only cost me my cell phone!

Yep, we - Andrew and his family of sweet girls decided to go fishing this evening at Quail Res. We got the to the lake about 5:00 pm. It was really windy... hence the city is called Hurricane.

I saw Andrew take his Blackberry out of his pocket and put it on the blanket. I had a thought go through my little brain that I too should take my cell phone and my fishing license out of my pocket. Nah, was my next thought...it's too windy to go in the water then I will be cold.

I cast in first and made about 3 casts. My 3rd cast got caught several feet out into the water but close enough to walk out and release it. Andrew held the line since he was in his shorts and I was in my board shorts. To keep him from getting his clothes wet I said I would walk out and unhook my line from being caught. I reeled in my line and exited the water to partake of the pizza we had brought with us for dinner.

I reached for my pizza and realized at that moment that I hadn't taken my cell phone out of my pocket when I had waded in to release my line. I drew the drenched device from my pocket and dismantled it "gutted it like a fish" in hopes it would dry out. (Does anyone know how to turn the little pink sticker back to white?)
I had to go back in and fish some more to make certain I got my money's worth of fishing since I just ruined my recenlty replaced cell phone!

I cast in 2 more times and caught one. It really was a nice size fish as you can see from the picture. It is the first official fish I have ever caught (in my adult life). What makes it official is the fact that we kept it. The hook was actually in so firm that it took us a while to get it out.

I wish we had a video of the little "city folk" trying to get this fish off the hook, string it on the fish line and decide who was going to gut the fish. Andrew tried to be brave but every time the fish would twitch he would jump in the air. Dawnalyn and I where having a good chuckle at his expense. It was much like the lizard in Hawaii ... but that is a whole "nuther" story!

Andrew "gingerly" but the line through to string the fish, I think it was only 4 attempts. I then held the fish to try to get the hook out. I had to use his pocket scissors as pliers to get the hook out.

As we took the fish to the car Linda looked at it and said, "oh cute sish" (can't quite say her "f's" yet). She even pet the poor dead thing. We put it in a zip lock bag and proceeded to call various friends to see who knew how to gut a fish!

I tried my home teacher Bishop Wilson...no answer, I tried my current bishop...no answer, I tried Randy Trimble...no answer. Andrew said he had found gutting instructions on You Tube and would attempt it using the video instructions. Randy, good friend that he is, called back and said he had gutted fish many times and would "walk Andrew through" the process. As we drove home I said, "Darrell Jim always goes fishing. Let's drive by and see if he is home". I went to one home in his complex and it was the wrong place. They told me which house was Darrell's so we rang the bell.

Darrell Jim you are my HERO! He took the poor dead beast to the sink and proceeded to prepare it for Grandma's dinner. He did say I had to scale the fish before I cooked it - which I fortunately knew how to do.

We took it home…scaled it…then cooked it for Grandma Bette’s dinner. I didn’t taste fishy at all…I hope not for being fresh from the lake!

I think unless it is trout…and a big one…we will just catch and release from now on!

It really was …. THIS BIG!

(I’ll know tomorrow if my cell phone is functional or not…so please don’t think me rude if I don’t answer. And yes, I know I need to change the outgoing message from the 4th of July holiday!)

It really was a nice sized Bass! Aren’t you proud of me…a little validation would be nice Matthew!

2 comments:

Jill said...

Hi Rebecca. I got your blog off Mindy's blog. Welcome to the wonderful world of E-journaling!! You are a great writter and it was fun to read your entry. I laughed.:-) Have a great day! Jill Bearden...(Matthew's Sister)

Mindy said...

Heres some validation...NICE FISH! I would be a litte scared to reel in such a large one. We fish in the kids fishing pond next to our house and they are nice wee little-non-scary fish. Jill posted before me? I just BARLEY added you to my blog and then read and now am commenting...shes a fast one that Jill. Good luck with your cell phone...at least you got a meal out of the deal.