Standing in an Ocean, Waving a Stick*

When G & I first started dating, he did a lot of trout fishing. We started dating in September, and one of his annual traditions was to catch his first fish of the year on the first day of the year.

When I went and stood in a stream (not waving a stick--he was using a spinning rod, and I didn't have a license) that January with him, my mom said she knew it must be love.

Since then, we've been on lots of fishing trips, and I have tons of good fish stories (including one about how he asked me to marry him). For our most recent, we went fly fishing for strippers on Cape Cod on what is now yesterday morning--loads of fun, and I like fishing enough that I have my own waders, boots, and other equipment, but I still haven't quite gotten used to the unreasonable hours.

We left Friday morning at 12:30 a.m.

Drove three hours.

Put the waders on.

And got in the water. At 3:30 a.m. To go fly fishing.

Which we did for six hours.

G was, as usual, more successful than I was, but I managed to catch a reasonable number of fish--eight or nine. For my second-ever fly-fishing trip, I think I did a decent job. My casts certainly got better as the morning wore on.


I even took them off the hook all by myself.

We got back to the car at around 10:30, found some breakfast, and then drove back with the radio on loudly, to keep ourselves awake.

And then we collapsed, having not slept since Thursday (I did nap in the car, but since I wasn't driving, it worked out ok).









G's fish were bigger than mine. Also more numerous. The guide we went with was excellent, which absolutely makes-or-breaks the trip. Knowledgeable, generous with that knowledge, and he worked hard to makes sure we got to catch some fish.


That's me in the background. And the sun rising behind me. Pretty, but very early!


All the fish we caught we released--we didn't catch any keepers, but wouldn't have kept them even if we had. Right now, our freezer is too full of cod for anything else!

And besides, G's heading out for more stripers tomorrow--same guide, but different fishing partner. We're waiting for his buddy right now, which is the reason I'm still up at 12:30 a.m. (That, and the 6 hour nap I took when we got back.) Thank goodness, because there's no way I could manage that two days in a row.


*with apologies to John Geirach