So, <pause to spit chaw-juice into an old Genesee can> went fishin’ yesterday. Threw out the old line, ya know. Catch anythin’? Why, we’ll get to that part of the story directly.
I went with my buddy Mike, who is a fishin’ aficionado (the tintinabulation! I’m like Poe all up in this piece), to fish for trout in White Clay Creek. He had rods, reels, tackle, and bait; all I needed was an actual fishing license, since if the Warden appeared he’d throw me in the hole. Er, fine me. (Wrong Warden.) I went to Kmart the other day and picked one up to the tune of $15. A fine deal, I thought, considering I’m bound to catch 2 or 3 large trout, and that much fish would cost me $20 at the store, right?
We arrived at the creekbank and prepared our rods for casting. I hadn’t been fishing in probably 10 years, and I hadn’t EVER done freshwater fishing, so I was surprised at the level of bait technology. Worms? Corn? Small hunks of fish entrails? Nay nay, my friends. Now you fish for trout with “powerbait,” which amounts to glittery playdough smelling strongly of rotten shrimp. Apparently trout like shiny colors in their food, which strikes me as bizarre since it’s not something they would encounter in a natural environment. I didn’t know, however, that most of the trout that you find in Delaware streams and lakes are actually stocked from fisheries, so perhaps they breed them to look for strange colors and get kickbacks from the powerbait companies.
There are many colors of powerbait, and some that are mixes of a variety of hues. The fellow on the opposite creekbank caught a small fish just as we were casting with what he described as “rainbow powerbait.” (Maybe trout are gay. I dunno. I’m just along for the ride here, same as you.)
Mike and I tried 4 or 5 different colors of bait and got nary a bite. The closest we came was when I was reeling my line in to check and see if the bait had fallen off again and two MASSIVE fish swam by, studied my line for a moment, and scurried downstream. Bastards.
So we caught no fish, which should hardly have surprised me; I’ve probably been fishing 10-12 times in my life and only caught any fish on two of those trips. However it did remind me how much fun fishing can be, so I might just have to invest in a rod and some tackle of my own. And some rainbow powerbait.
Tonight: Phillies game with my parents! And we got good seats, too, which means of course I forgot my camera at home. Hm; stop by the house and get it, and have to worry about a $500 camera during the entire game, or say “screw it I can download pictures of Ryan Howard from the Phillies website if I wish to gaze upon him?” These are the questions that occupy the mind of the idiot.
