Sunday, June 19, 2005

Hobo Fishing

Up early again on a Saturday morning, I met April up at the Capital Square to promote an upcoming Hoofer Sailing Kickoff. We're running a promotion of $10 off for new members who sign up at the meeting. I didn't mind the short work since it was such a beautiful day for the Farmer's Market. Once we wrapped everything up, I talked to April about going windsurfing. After taking off to get my bike I met her down by the boathouse. Unfortunately, a dead wind day kept most people grounded.

David had called earlier about having lunch at the Union Terrace. We just hung out there for a few lazy hours to eat and then beers. Giving it some thought, we decided to buy fishing licenses and spend the better part of the day catching fish. We picked up Kelly and went out West to Wal-mart. There, it was easy to pickup a license and pole shop. I bought a Shakespeare® Batman™ Rod and Reel Combo kit for the budding fisherman like myself. David went about it in a prepared method and bought the hooks and tackle.

Our first fishing spot was pretty lame. Not one bite, only weeds. In a spot adjacent to ours, a few kids were playing around when one kid yelled at another to "stop fishing like a hobo!" Be it my first fishing trip in a long while, it made us all laugh and put ideas in our head for the rest of the day.

Lake Wingra shares a shore with the Henry Vilas Zoo and a watershed opens up to a few small ponds in the park just outside the zoo. These shallow havens had a wealth of small pan fish and I saw a few turtles and large carp. Although I would catch a few tiny fish here, the boredom started to set in. I would cast out a few but mainly I dangled my line into the water where I could see the fish and then try to snag it--later referred to as the Hobo Method. On one cast my line broke and sent my bobber out into the middle of the pond. I was dared to jump in to retrieve it, and since I could not turn down a dare, I ran into the weed infested murk. I had no trouble recovering the bobber, a total success.

With a few hours until sunset, we took a break for some food before heading over to Lake Mendota. Out at the Hoofers Tech Pier, we plopped down at the end and set up our reels. Since it was a dead wind day, only a few boats were going out. A few casts out into the lake and a bite came instantly. So far, all our catches had been for release. Here, bigger fish found their way to our hooks and we kept the largest of the catch.

After fishing, I went home to shower. I reminded Dad that today was the one year anniversary of moving into our new house. By late night, I picked up David and Matt to go bar hopping. We stopped in at the Plaza Tavern to say hi to Sita before going to Matt's choice, the Pub. There, I ran into my high school buddies Kyle and Jesse. Kyle had just returned from living in Mexico for the last few years. Of course they notice the sailor hat and lay mention to the matching loafers.

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Hobo Fishing

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