Fishing Articles : The Beginning of My Fishing Adiction, A Mothers Story

Some wives go to the local department store and come home with new shoes, or new clothes, or something along those lines. When I return from shopping, my husband asks me, So, what did you buy in the fishing department today dear? I'm hooked on fishing, and it shows! This became apparent the summer of 2002 when we decided to be seasonal campers at a campground in the Southerntier region of New York. In front of the camper runs a trout stream and behind us is a five-acre pond.

That June, a fly-fisherman camped next to us. I said to David, Are there really fish in this creek? He said that it was a trout stream. I just shrugged and watched this man enter the stream

This was my turning point. I still remember the way my heart beat to see him fish. It was nothing like on tv. He was fishing with gentle casts, and it was very hypnotic. Once, he stopped casting and bent down, looking at the water. I wondered what he was doing. The next cast, he landed a trout. I was so excited that I clapped. My husband just shook his head, I think he knew then. Eventually I spoke to this man about fly-fishing and he encouraged me to try it. So that week, I purchased my first fly rod and assembled it at camp. I didn t even know how to tie knots; my husband had always done it for me. But I learned. With fly rod in hand, I went to the stream. Casting seemed to come natural for me. What drove me insane were the constant snags I got on everything. Just when I d decided enough was enough and fly-fishing must be more than I could do WHAM! A trout hit my fly. I wasn t paying attention, so I lost it. Later that morning, I caught a 14 inch brown trout in that same spot. I ran back to the camper with it; I had to show David. What a way to wake up the first of many fish shoved in his face while he slept! After that, I started catching trout on the fly. So peaceful and serene is it to be standing alone in a creek. I ve spent many mornings thanking God for the beauty of this place. Mornings are my favorite time to be out fishing.

I also started fishing close to home. My daughters, Shauna and Celeste, and I would go to a pond near the house and be gone a few hours. Usually they were done after an hour. Not me, I needed to catch fish. It was like an addiction, I had to get my fix or I thought I was going to die! One night I spotted a fish in the creek at night in front of our campsite and assumed it was a trout. What did I know, I was really new to this whole fishing thing. This weekend, our neighbors had come to camp and we stayed up late around the campfire. Well, O.K., I bounced between the campfire and the creek with my 6-ft. rod with an ultralight reel with old fishing line on it. I had no concept of time at this point, just fish on the brain. I had 3 crawdads to fish with, and was down to only one. At 2:00 in the morning I said to myself Third time s a charm and cast in my last crawdad. With a splash I was screaming that I had a fish on. The dog started barking at the fish and everyone came down to the creek. After a few runs down the creek, the fish started to tire. We didn t have a net, so as soon as I got the fish close enough to shore, David went into the creek, wearing a brand new pair of sneakers, and pulled it out. Bill, my neighbor, started to laugh, David was pulling out a carp. I didn t care, it was the most fun I d ever had fishing. It was 24 inches and weighed about 3 pounds. I had a picture taken with it and released it. Later I asked David why he went into the creek with his new sneakers on, and he said he didn t want to see me lose the fish after all the hard work I d put into fighting it. I have many plans for fishing, but I m also wife and mother. I save my fishing in the summer for the weekends at camp. David says he feels like he camps alone because I fish so much. I wish he d fish too, but it s not his thing. In the future, I want to catch a pike, then a salmon. When husbands hear that I LOVE to fish, they want me to do something magical to help their wives to understand the addiction. I m sorry to say that I m in the same predicament as them. My husband tolerates my hobby, and that's all.