A True Fisherman!!
Big Brothers Big Sisters does a fantastic job both organizing and alerting bigs about upcoming events. This one in particular event went off with out a hitch and took so many pieces to go off right. 3M, the scotch tape and post-it note people, also a major company here in Minnesota that has been around for years, has an anglers club that sponsors an exclusive event with @BBBSGTC (Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities on twitter) where big’s and little’s together team up with an experienced fisher and have a day on the lake to learn and show off our skills, or lack there of. Thus the adventure begins.
I usually get to hang out with ‘little’ about once a week but the week before last I was SUPER busy. I had a wedding to go to, friends that were coming into town, and work was really taking off on a few projects. I wasn’t able to see him for almost 2 weeks. I didn’t realize how much I missed hanging out. I called ‘little’ four days before the event and let him know, he was surprisingly upset with me that I hadn’t called in a while . I definitly got the feeling that he was feeling neglected, almost that I had robbed him of our time together. I wasn’t sure if he’d want to go because we had to be at the lake by 7:00 in the morning and it was a little bit outside the cities. That meant I’d have to pick him up by 6:10 in the AM to ensure we get there with plenty of time. He had no problem accepting that. I was up a little longer than I probably should have been the night before and needed a double dose of coffee that morning to get going. When I arrived at his house 5 minutes ahead of time he was sitting on the side of the curb waiting patiently. He didn’t seem fazed at all about the time, and acted as if it was noon. He was super excited. It was such a pleasure to see his enthusiasm. Honestly, I feed off of his energy so much! I guess I don’t realize that most kids his age are probably in bed by 9:30 or 10:00 or so. Maybe he’s not really at that stage where he stays out to all hours hanging out with his friends. I have so much to learn about youth ha ha. I feel like I was never one.
We drove over to beautiful Stillwater, a somewhat historic city right on the Minnesota/Wisconsin boarder and then drove 20 minutes or so north on the St. Croix River. We drove past a couple Marina’s with some REALLY nice boats. The mist was just coming off of the road and the river, it made for an extremely scenic drive. We arrived at the lake, Big Carnilian, and the crew was ready and waiting or us. I’d say there were probably about 12-15 other matches there with us, and about 8-9 boats to accommodate us. The boat we were riding in that day was a Ranger with a 225 horse motor on the back. It was an incredible boat with a ton of power! I don’t know my boats that well but I bet this one was upwards of $100 grand. It was such a smooth ride. To be honest I was a little bummed. I don’t want ‘little’ to get spoiled with these great experiences and then be bummed if the next time he doesn’t have access to these great resources… (WHEN DID I BECOME MY PARRENTS?? ha ha) Of course I’m not complaining by ANY means. As the sun was just cresting we took off on the lake. We really couldn’t have experienced a more pictureque launch than what we saw. I know no one is going to believe me but directly between us and the sun a bald eagle swooped down about 400 feet away and snagged a fish and brought it to a nearby island for an apparent feast. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the eyes of a child get so large. I wish I would have taken a picture. We saw everything from his launch from the tree, snagging the fish, and the massacre that happened on the small rock island right in front of us. It was quintessential nature unfolding right before our eyes… Incredible!
The guide had never been to the lake so he wasn’t a hundred percent sure of where we were to go but he had a depth finder and plopped us right on top of a bed a of hungry sun fish. He immediatly set us up with some fishing poles and worms and leeches for bait. It was almost as if the fish were jumping into the boat at first. I didn’t even use my pole for the first half hour because I was to busy baiting ‘little’s’ hook and removing the fish. He could do the worms, but it was the leeches that gave him the willies. He was a little weary of the fish too. He wasn’t grossed out but he was scared of getting poked and they were flopping around to much for him to get a hold… it was a funny scene! Throughout the day I was working on him/trying to trick him into working with the leeches and removing the fish. I’d casually say, “hey man, quick hold onto this fish. I need to fill up the live well so we can keep them and clean the fish later” or ” hey ‘little’ quick grab me a leach!! I see a big one swimming down there.” Leaches… no chance but he was so intrigued by the idea of cleaning the fish that he almost forgot about his fear. When the fish jumped in his hand though, he was quickly reminded. I finnaly got him to grab the fish but he used his shirt as a buffer zone, ha ha it was so humurous. His shirt reeked by the end of the day but he couldn’t care less. Between the two of us and our guide we ended up catching 50 sunny’s of which ‘little’ and I kept 22 to clean.
22 Fish... all in a days work!!
To be honest, the event definitely tested ‘little’s’ patience. It was really interesting because that was the first time I’d ever seen him amongst the company of others and how comfortable he was at social interaction. There were a few times where I thought he was a little forward with our guide, for example, asking him if he could drive the boat a few times, if he could operate the trolling motor, if he could pull up the anchor. It was great to see him comfortable enough to ask questions that were on his mind but the guide didn’t really know how to respond, so he decided not to. ’little’ didn’t understand his nervousness so kept asking and was a bit put out and when I somewhat sternly told him “no, sit down. Whatever the captain says goes.” He was bit chagrined but got over it pretty quickly. He was also a bit careless of where his hook was when he was casting and I needed to physicaly stop him a few times and let him know about the safety issues at hand. He didn’t understand until he was putting a worm on his hook and stuck himself. When I explained that could happen to others when he was casting he was much more careful. He wasn’t bad by any means, and it was a pleasure to fish with him.
At the end of the outing we gathered up our fish, and hit the road. We went back to my house and cleaned the fish. Cleaning sunny’s is somewhat of an easy task but he was absolutley flabbergasted to see the actual operation. I cut the fish up so he could cut the last piece of meat off of the skin. He was overjoyed to participate and apparently had forgotten all of his squeamishness from earlier that morning. We cleaned the fillets, rolled them up in paper towels and got them ready to bring to his mom as a gift. He loves to bring presents back to mom which I think is fantastic! He has so much love for her. On the ride back to his house he quickly konked out in the car. The 5-6 hour excurision defintily wore him out, but I think it was a true testiment to how great it was. He was sure to thank me before he got out of the car at his house.
Konked Out
One of the greatest parts of my day with ‘little’ is when I drop him off at home, and not for the reason that you may think. He is so innocent, questioning, and curious when he’s with me, but the first thing when his siblings come around is he puts on this tough guy fascade to let them know that, “no, 22 fish caught, removed from the hook, and cleaned in a single morning isn’t that big of a deal”, and “what?? you guys have ever been fishing with your mentor before??” knowing full well that they don’t have a mentor, nor have they been fishing before. He such a tough guy. It’s hilarious.
Mom was happy, and suprised that we were giving here 44 filets. The day was an absolute blast, and I couldn’t thank 3M and Big Brothers Big Sisters enough for the awesome coordination of this great event. The guides were great, and apparently more than happy to be bringing us around. It didn’t sound like they do this for too many other groups but that they held BBBS up as a special organization to be a part of.
Thanks guys!!