Trending
The morning sun still touched the treetops Tuesday as I admired the lake in front of me and recalled the exact same view I saw in the distant past.
The lakescape before me was a mirror image from more than 30 years ago. I stood on the dock in 1992 with considerable eagerness to get out there in pursuit of big largemouth bass and experience a day on the water that I shared with readers in a Vindy column that opened with the line, "There's something goofy about fishing in Disney."
Thirty years ago seemed like yesterday as I admired Bay Lake from Disney's Wilderness Lodge last week. A fisherman's life is chock full of great memories that flood back when we let them. My Disney moment inspired other memorable fishing vistas to bubble up from the wellspring.
My fishing experiences go back many, many years. So where do I begin?
I could go with my first Lake Erie walleye on Dad's Starcraft while counting down and swinging an Erie Dearie sweetened with a nightcrawler somewhere off South Bass Island. The walleye fought stubbornly before we scooped it in the net and added it to the cooler.
Or I could go way back to a dark night on Berlin Reservoir with Dad and an uncle aboard an aluminum boat. Dad hung a hissing Coleman lantern off the side so the bright light could attract bugs and baitfish and eventually the crappies that would bite our baits.
They are vivid memories. But no more so than the hot summer day soon after Lake Milton's dam was repaired and the lake flooded the grasses and locust trees that sprouted during the drawdown. Barb and our daughter Betsy enjoyed a fish fest in the shadow of the Interstate 76 bridge, laughing and teasing each other while catching dozens of bluegills and crappies.
In my experience, no fishing trip has started better than that day a decade ago when I idled through the chute from Presque Isle Bay and throttled up across a perfect Erie chop to a GPS waypoint five miles to the east. I positioned the BassCat to drift over a ledge loaded with smallmouth bass and tossed my tube jig. The lure never hit bottom because a 5-pound, 12-ounce smallie could not resist the temptation to eat it.
Lake Okeechobee is a memory-maker for many bass anglers. I had my Okeechobee moment when a 9-pound, 10-ounce largemouth gulped the live shiner and fought to free itself by burrowing into the reeds. I prevailed and still count that bass as the largest I've ever boated.
But the biggest fish I've ever landed is the 30-pound Chinook salmon I battled on spinning tackle during a September afternoon on a pebble beach on Michigan's Little Traverse Bay in 1975. It took 45 minutes to subdue the behemoth, which proved meaty enough to feed a dozen family members several days later back home in Boardman.
Memories abound. I loved those lazy July days when I tromped the Poland Municipal Forest with buddies and stopped at Yellow Creek fishing holes to hook chubs and suckers.
More memories will come to mind, for sure. One good thing you can count on during a life with fishing as a pastime is that memories will bubble up when we seize the moments for reflection.
Jack Wollitz's book, "The Common Angler," is an immersive look at why anglers are passionate about fishing. Send a note to jackbbaass@gmail.com.