Late Winter

The sun was just peeking over the horizon, turning the sky a pink hue. My boat was in the water, and my partner had just parked the truck. He looked to his left while walking back to the waters edge and saw a crane fishing for shad. I tried to spot the loon that was calling to her mate to come home and tend the kids while she ate. The smell of two cycle oil hung in the air as my boat motor warmed up. There was a comforting fog on the water that was normal for this time of year. What would I throw? Hum...spring, water temp of 48 degrees, no weeds, I need a bluff. Should I throw a jig, a fat free shad, or maybe a craw-worm on a Carolina rig off a grass point?

The water was calm. We were the only ones on it. The peacefulness of the environment was as overpowering as any narcotic. I was ready; it had been a long winter, and the bass were calling me as sure as the world is round. I would do my best not to disappoint them. They knew that I would let them return to their wet water home as soon as I weighed them and maybe snapped a picture or two. I was giddy waiting for my partner to get back to the boat. A days fishing awaited us.

"Hurry up," I called, my voice cutting the silence like a surgeon's knife, "the bass are waiting, and daylight's burning." I nosed the boat to shore as my partner stepped up on the deck. He slipped on his life jacket, sat down, and informed me that he was in a hurry and let's go. I smiled, he knew I had been waiting on him. I had just cleared the buoys, nailed the gas pedal, then I heard, "wake up...WAKE UP... I SAID, WAKE UP!" What was my wife doing here? You were dreaming, she informed me, and you woke me up. I was mad. "What did you wake me up for? I was having a wonderful dream." She informed me that if a woman was in it I was in big trouble. I didn't tell her what I was thinking. God never made a woman as beautiful as the one I was with in that dream. I then realized that the winter had indeed been much too long. I rolled over, closed my eyes, and tried to regain my spot.