I woke up first, around 6 a.m. I made coffee, fed the dogs and just walked around outside. How bad did I really want to go anywhere at 6 in the morning. I thought about this for a few minutes and decided that fishing on the Missouri River sounded like a good way to start the day. Tommy was up by then and in a matter of minutes we were ready to go. I opened the back door and it was raining. The thunder boomer lasted about 5 minutes.
Last year we bought me a fishing vest with at least 20 pockets and a fanny pack. This was for the sole purpose of me NOT having to take a purse fishing. The last time I took a purse, I slid down an embankment throwing my purse at Ben Hook. I will never live that down. Both men told me to leave my purse in the truck. I needed my purse. It had my camera, book, notepad, bottled water and animal crackers, and various other things I might need while we were fishing.
I forgot all about the vest and the fanny pack last Wednesday. I did grab 2 bottles of water, coffee, peanut butter crackers and my purse. It has everything I need to survive a day, no matter where I am.
We decide to go fishing at Portland on the Missouri River. To get to our spot we needed to walk down the Katy Trail and once again, climb down an embankment that would have caused a goat trouble.
Each of us were carrying our own chair, thrown over one shoulder. Two fishing rods, a small cooler and of course I had my purse. Tommy went down the cliff first. I use that word "cliff" loosely, at the time it looked like a huge rock drop off into the river.
I started my descent very slowly. I used my fishing poles as walking sticks, grabbed grass, slipped, tripped and slid until I finally hit the rocky sandbar we were fishing. This year I did not throw my purse, because I had no one to throw it at. Tommy was busy getting down the slope too. I was so relieved to have landed without breaking anything. We set our chairs up, bated our hooks and soon were ready to fish. Life is good, I thought.
Tommy looks at me and tells me to build a rock stand for my fishing poles. I thought for a minute and came up with a plan. I was sitting in the midst of 40 million rocks, so this was a piece of cake. I lugged a few over threw them on top of each other and left a hole in the middle for the rods to rest. I was proud of my pile.
Tommy is the first one to get a bite. He reels in a 3 pound catfish! It was beautiful and will make a good meal for the two of us.
In a matter of minutes, I catch a 3 pound drum. We threw it back. If we were starving we would have eaten it, however we weren't starving so I gave it the ole heave ho!
We stayed a little longer, leaving around noon. We still had to climb Mt. Everest to get to the truck. I took pictures of the river on the way back. I have never seen it as low as it is now. I also got a photo of downed trees the river had washed ashore. I didn't see a tree fighting the river and loosing miserably, but I have the results of several battles washed ashore. The river wins every time.
As we were leaving I took a shot of Eagle Creek. It runs into the river, or the river runs into it. When the Missouri River is up or out of its banks, this dribble of water is full.
The last I heard the Gov. Nixon was declaring all counties in the state of Missouri "drought" regions. Sand bars are showing up in areas of the river I have never seen. What is so bad, is that technically summer has just begun.
Regardless of the weather, the heat or the drought, Tommy and I had a good morning. We laughed a lot. Water always calms my soul and restores a balance in my life. It was a good day. Later this week we will eat fried catfish, hush puppies and fried potatoes. We will remember that day and smile.
This one hits it out of the park. Tell Tommy that if he had faced the camera and held his cat at arms length he could have passed his three pound cat off as a five pounder easily. I have done this many times. lol It is an old fisherman's trick.
ReplyDeleteI will do that!!! I was pretty sure mine was a 5 pounder to begin with:)
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