19 May 2006 26 views No Comment Print This Post

It wasn’t raining. That was good. But, the wind was making the water pretty choppy. Every minute or so there would be a “good roller”, too.

I caught my first walleye. Not a monster, but a good sized fish to me. I was holding it together and we were catching fish.

It was cold. I had a couple layers under my gore-tex jacket, but I needed to go down below and get my fleece.

Down below, while I was digging through my backpack, the boat was tossing and moving erratically. My stomach started to flip.

I grabbed my fleece jacket and climbed the stairs. I dressed in doorway to the cabin. I felt kind of light headed and my stomach was broadcasting signals that the moment was near. I tried to sit in the wind and look out to the horizon. I just couldn’t hold back.

I actually waited too long. I couldn’t make it to the side of the boat in time and made a mess. Everyone looked at me stunned, confused.

Was there a fish? Was he running for a rod? What happened? Do you get seasick often?

I’ve never been seasick, as far as I can remember. Admittedly, I’m no long-liner who fishes the Gulf of Maine. But, I don’t get sick in the back seat of a car, either.

For the next 5 hours I perched on the gunwale of the boat - an area not made for sitting - trying to pull it together, staring into the horizon and feeling the cold wind. Every once in a while someone would put a rod in my hand. I would reel in a fish, take it off the line, have a photo taken, go get sick over the rail, and sit back down.

After noon, the captain turned the boat and headed closer to shore. I was secretly hoping this was the end of the day, but I knew it couldn’t be. I don’t know anyone who fishes for a half-day. Especially if they’ve gone to the trouble to charter a boat. But it was even better than I hoped.

We moved closer to shore and started fishing for smallmouth. That was fun. I regained my composure in the calmer water and we reeled in bass after bass. Big bass. Big bass for my experience, anyway. What a blast.

All in all, it was a great day of fishing with a great bunch of guys. All the ribbing for getting sick was well deserved and a good laugh for me, too.

Thanks to Kevin for the invitation. Thanks to Capt. Pete Alex for putting us on fish. Thanks to Mark and Shawn for the well deserved ribbing.

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