SET SET SET!
Posted by Joshua Nathaniel Melville, under JoshuaThis is the story of me and my partners first time fishing together. After meeting Nate through my wife, We sat around had a few beers and talked about how we wish we were fishing. Since i had left all my fishing gear in Florida when i moved up I knew I would have to buy all new equipment. So the next day I went online to research all the species of fish here in Vermont and what are the best ways to catch them. after learning what I needed to get I went to Dicks Sporting Goods And Walmart to purchase 2 fishing rods some simple hooks in a variety of sizes and split shot weights some slip bobbers (Which I never used before) and Some Simple red and white bobbers. with all the basics in hand I went home to prep the lines so we would be good to go.
We set it up on what was a nice weekend with possible light showers, which we weren’t concerned with. We met at Nate’s house since he lives right down the road from were we where going, we filled our coffee cups and Headed out. Now keep in mind this was a point before spring at the tail end of winter. we first looked for a good spot to start fishing. there was a extension of the land that formed a cove to the left and right, perfect! The Sunfish were nibbling and then i pulled out my first perch. “Woo Hoo!” I shouted, so much excitment for a small fish, to be honest I would have woo hoo-ed if i pulled in a minnow. After that we were catching little sunnies here and there, we were having a great time. But all of a sudden the bites died and the sky became gray and It began to lightly snow, That didn’t stop us oh no, we continued to fishing as a few minutes later the sky became clear and the sun was warming us up. But the fish had not started biting again we continued to hunt the fish walking up and down the shore of both coves as the weather made another atempt to stop us by raining on us then turning into snow again then back to sunny then rain,snow, and sun. At this point I looked at Nate and said “This is by far the strangest weather I’ve ever seen in my life.” But it did not stop us from trying to catch a beast of a fish.
We walked back out to the furthest point and made a long distance cast. we sat on a make-shif bench and was talking about our next fishing trip and about exploring the other side of the lake when all of a sudden Nate Flew off the bench jerking back on his pole screaming in excitement “SET!, SET!, SET!” He reeled in as fast as he could When he pulled up a bull pout he did a song and dance that looked like the scarecrow from the wizard of oz. I went to un-hook the fish I realized he had set the hook in the whisker of the fish and not the lip. We laughed and talked about the set!, set!, set! he screamed and the fact that he set the the hook in the fish’s whisker. as we continued to fish the sky had once again turned ugly but this time we were pelted by hail we endured it for a minute before calling it a day.
Didn’t catch much that day like we do now but what a crazy day. I also learned how to use those slip-bobbers that day and I love em. We love telling this story especially over a few cold ones. I hope you enjoy it too.
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Layers upon Layers were definitely necessary that day.
. Remember…your rain gear is what gets the most disgusting. The clothes that you have on under the raingear usually stay dry and clean. Don’t be too concerned about wearing clothes with fish slime on them. If your rain gear is working properly, your clothes should be wearable for at least two to three fishing days at a time, and doing this REALLY saves a lot of weight.
