Goin' Fishin'.

Time to head back up to Canada again, as I do every year (most years) about this time. Time to get together with my cousin Bob, his son-in-law Scott, and Bob's long time buddy Jim, drink some good booze, eat some good food, smoke some good cigars (maybe even a few Cubans), and see if we can catch the mother pike... Pikezilla.



We're goin' back to the same lake and lodge we always go to... Griffin's Lakeside Lodge on lake Gananoque, near Kingston Ontario. It's a beautiful place, with nice folks runnin' it. We've been goin' there for about five or six years now, so we pretty much know the lake, and where the fish are. It makes it really fun, goin' back year after year.



While the other guys use their high dollar fancy gear, baitcasting reels, with a birds nest for every eighth or tenth cast, I stick with my trusty spinner. Well, Bob's spinner. He provides the gear. I just have to show up, cigars in hand. Pretty good deal if you can get it.



I was really lucky a few years ago (this was maybe 2007 or 8). You're lookin' at the largest Pike of that trip. I went through several years where I really didn't catch much of anything, and then all of a sudden I was catching all the fish and the guys were pissin'. That felt GOOD.



Last year though, I was the only one who didn't catch a big one. It sucked, but I had fun anyway. After all, it's not just about bringin' in the big ones.



Hell, when things get slow I pull out a little ultralight rod and hit the pan fish along the bank. Maybe try dippin' for Croppy. I have just as much fun catchin' them as I do the big ones.



Well, no, that's bullshit. I do have fun with the littluns, and with a few illegal lunkers that hit the little worms I toss for the pan fish (they have a season on Large and Small Mouth Bass up there, and this ain't it). But it does suck when my luck runs dry and I have to see all the other guys bringin' in the nice fish.



One of these days... One of these days I'm gonna hook ol' Pikezilla. That bitch is gonna die and go on my wall. It's gonna be mythic... Homeric... Old Man and the Sea type shit.

But, until then, I'll just enjoy the good times, and great company, and the blessings of my life as it finds me these days. I love my cousin Bob to death. He's like a big brother to me, which is something I always yearned for but never had growin' up. But hell, now I have a hand full of close friends who fit that bill. Have I said that it's really, really good to be me right now?

So, you guys try to have a good week while I play. I'm takin' the laptop with me, so maybe I'll be able to post a few good pictures during the week. We'll see. You guys enjoy yourselves and we'll get together again on the other side of this one. Cheers.