10-17-2008, 06:40 PM
Tomorrow is my birthday. I will be 63. I am amazed that I have been here so long. The way I have lived certainly doesn’t insure longevity, but I wouldn’t change if I could go back.
It is my greatest desire to fish. Today I will prepare for the day. I have cleaned and waxed my boat. She is truly beautiful, at least to my eyes. Twenty two foot in length with an eight and a half beam with a center console . She is the culmination of over forty years of boats. Her name is Pez Vela, spanish for sailfish. Named for the great fish I have pursued for 4 decades across tropical waters.
I sold my big whaler as I couldn’t put her on the trailer in the wind without getting wet and started a quest for a bay boat that was shallow enough I could handle on my own.
I found her in San Antonio and made the long trip as after a mail order bride. It was love at first sight. I quickly paid the owner before he realized his mistake and brought her back here to the mountains and began the process of rigging her. She now carries sonar and GPS bow and console. Electric trolling motor on her bow and a 10 HP Mercury trolling motor sits perched on the transom next to its black 150 HP Optimax big brother. She is underpowered at this elevation, but that is why I could buy her for 1/2 of what she is worth. Downriggers, VFH radio, stereo, live wells, baitwells and prodigious rod storage completes her. There is nothing else I could add to her save radar and a T-Top which would distract from her lines.
Six rods have been placed in the holders. Each is a technical thing of beauty. I marvel at graphite with each cast I make. Five are baitcasting rods, the other a spinning rod. Reels are filled with 12 lb braid. Rod action ranges from light to heavy. Reels are Shimano and Tica's
At my desk this morning I prepared the leaders. Short 6” 60 lb fluorocarbon for the jigs, 12 “ steel for the spinner baits and crank baits and 36” coated 7 strand for the trolling rods.
My plan is to launch in the predawn on Yuba and drink black coffee laced with fine Canadian whiskey as I await the coming of morning in the cold and reflect on my plan of action.
I will begin by slow trolling with large bottom bouncers and harnesses made from hyperglow beads and blades.
If that fails the ritual of casting small jigs and equally small perch swimbaits will follow. Big lures will be last morning resort. 2 ounce and heavier lures wear an old man out quickly.
Mid-day I will pull ashore for a celebratory lunch of thick slices of heavy crusted bread, gouda cheese and cold meat finished by sweet pears from my neighbors tree all washed down by a paper cup of ice cold white wine. A fitting birthday meal for an old man, wouldn’t you say?
The afternoon will be spent trolling at speeds faster than a young man can run for any length of time. 4 knots and more, ripping the lures through the water in hopes an opportunistic pike will strike.
If the fish Gods are watching over this old man a giant pike will find its way to my lure and I can bring it to the boat for a measurement and perhaps a picture. I know the giants are there. If they will bite I can only guess, but I will be there, spending this special day doing what I love most. Tight lines
[signature]
It is my greatest desire to fish. Today I will prepare for the day. I have cleaned and waxed my boat. She is truly beautiful, at least to my eyes. Twenty two foot in length with an eight and a half beam with a center console . She is the culmination of over forty years of boats. Her name is Pez Vela, spanish for sailfish. Named for the great fish I have pursued for 4 decades across tropical waters.
I sold my big whaler as I couldn’t put her on the trailer in the wind without getting wet and started a quest for a bay boat that was shallow enough I could handle on my own.
I found her in San Antonio and made the long trip as after a mail order bride. It was love at first sight. I quickly paid the owner before he realized his mistake and brought her back here to the mountains and began the process of rigging her. She now carries sonar and GPS bow and console. Electric trolling motor on her bow and a 10 HP Mercury trolling motor sits perched on the transom next to its black 150 HP Optimax big brother. She is underpowered at this elevation, but that is why I could buy her for 1/2 of what she is worth. Downriggers, VFH radio, stereo, live wells, baitwells and prodigious rod storage completes her. There is nothing else I could add to her save radar and a T-Top which would distract from her lines.
Six rods have been placed in the holders. Each is a technical thing of beauty. I marvel at graphite with each cast I make. Five are baitcasting rods, the other a spinning rod. Reels are filled with 12 lb braid. Rod action ranges from light to heavy. Reels are Shimano and Tica's
At my desk this morning I prepared the leaders. Short 6” 60 lb fluorocarbon for the jigs, 12 “ steel for the spinner baits and crank baits and 36” coated 7 strand for the trolling rods.
My plan is to launch in the predawn on Yuba and drink black coffee laced with fine Canadian whiskey as I await the coming of morning in the cold and reflect on my plan of action.
I will begin by slow trolling with large bottom bouncers and harnesses made from hyperglow beads and blades.
If that fails the ritual of casting small jigs and equally small perch swimbaits will follow. Big lures will be last morning resort. 2 ounce and heavier lures wear an old man out quickly.
Mid-day I will pull ashore for a celebratory lunch of thick slices of heavy crusted bread, gouda cheese and cold meat finished by sweet pears from my neighbors tree all washed down by a paper cup of ice cold white wine. A fitting birthday meal for an old man, wouldn’t you say?
The afternoon will be spent trolling at speeds faster than a young man can run for any length of time. 4 knots and more, ripping the lures through the water in hopes an opportunistic pike will strike.
If the fish Gods are watching over this old man a giant pike will find its way to my lure and I can bring it to the boat for a measurement and perhaps a picture. I know the giants are there. If they will bite I can only guess, but I will be there, spending this special day doing what I love most. Tight lines
[signature]