Days gone by.

It usually happened on a Sunday, and it was warm outside. I would head off with my Dad, brother and Grandfather to a lake near the border of Missouri and Illinois to go fishing for Carp fish. (If you know anything about Carp, they are the big brother and sister of goldfish---yes the kind you win at the carnival type.)

Those were really fun days; there were several reasons I enjoyed them. Probably the first one was spending time with the guy side of my family, but tagging very close behind was the knowledge that if I went, I would be able to miss Sunday school. I do recall a few things about fishing for carp that made it kind of boring however. Carp are very sensitive fish…they know when there is someone on the other side of the pole. So you have to place the pole in a holder, after you have placed some type of sticky bait on the hook, and cast the line in the water. Then you sit and wait.

But, when they take the bait you know you are in for a rush. These are not small fish, they probably weighed over 10 pounds of what I recall. They were not happy biting into some sticky bait and getting hooked by a 4-pronged piece of metal. They let you know about it.

One time I had placed my pole on the ground and was sure it would be fine not being placed in the holder; I mean come on, I could get the pole before anything could possibly happen. I was wrong. That Carp took the bait, hook, and pole for a ride; once it struck, the pole was gone, I mean, it was gone. Something happened to cause the pole to stop moving and I was able to see a white dot (the bottom of the pole) a pretty good distance in the water. It was either my Dad or brother who went in to get it, and as you might guess, the bait was gone. Still a story we laugh about today.

It’s hard to believe these fishing dates were more than 40 years ago. However, I can remember them like they were yesterday.

The photo above was taken in the Lake Tahoe area. This boy and his brother were standing on a rock doing their best to catch something. What brought back the memories was when he yelled to his Dad, “there’s something wrong with this pole, it really is not very good.” Like the days gone by, he used the same excuse I did.

Thanks for stopping by.