Musician's Maiden Fishing Voyage

Okay, I'm trying hard to keep this a music blog. Notice the title of this post. (rolls eyes =P ) I can't help but tell you about my first fishing experience. It was a gorgeous day, the fish weren't biting, the water was choppy from the rain we received the day before, I ate way too much junk food, and laughed so hard my sides hurt.

The plan was to meet at the new church at 9:45am. The guys, hauling the boat, took off together in the truck to put gas in the boat, while the girls rode together to Walmart to buy snacks for the day. I won't mention how us girls shop... yes, even if its in a Walmart Supercenter. We took a little too long and had our husbands calling us asking where we were. The first time we told them we were checking out (we were). The next time they called we said we were leaving the parking lot (... and we were). We even got one of our husbands to ask us, "can you see me? I'm waving." He thought we were at the grocery store across from the boarding ramp. We were dying laughing because we were still in another town altogether. Since we were supposed to be there, we simply avoided direct answers and strayed toward the vague yet true ones. LOL Whew! It was too funny when they found out later on.

The day definitely started off with spunk and fun from the girls while our more serious and subdued husbands were intent on "fishing." Well, we were too, but c'mon, let's have fun in the meantime. lol We arrived at the dock 10 minutes later and stored our Walmart "loot" in all the bins on the boat.

We finally backed into the water and started our day on the Guntersville Lake. It was a gorgeous day and had just the right amount of breeze. The waves were rather choppy due to the rainfall the prior day but other than that all was well. The men taught me how to cast my bait out into the water and slowly reel it back it, giving a subtle jerk whenever I felt a tug. We were all doing just fine until I got hungry around 11:30 and put my pole down to start snacking on sour gummy worms. Jeremy took my pole from me and in two minutes had caught a crappie . From then on, he kept steeling my pole whenever I would take a snack break. lol. Well, next, Sis.Holly's pole started arching over and we were hoping it was a really big bass. She was doing really well reeling it in when all of a sudden, up out of the water we see this:

All that work for a twig!!!
Oh well. Sis Holly did manage to get a striped bass later on that day. Those were the only two fish we caught. According to Bro.Jeff's monitor, the fish were staying about 18 feet down due to the choppy surface.

Something really funny that happened while out on the lake: The waves and wind were really starting to pick up towards the evening so we decided to start heading back to the boat ramp. Well, the kind and considerate Bro.Jeff was going to slow down the boat so that the spray wouldn't drench us so bad, but instead of gradually slowing down, he completely released the gas and the whole front of the boat went forward. A GIGANTIC wave washed over the front of the boat SOAKING us. I'm dying laughing as I type this. It was hysterically funny. Thankfully, I was not in the very front at the time. Poor Sis. Holly, Bro.Ken, and Sis.Bridget!!! HAHAHAHA!!! They wore denim and their skirts and his jeans had a really hard time drying out. They also stayed cold for a good while. It was pathetically funny!!! I'm sorry girls... I had to tell it!!

Well, we finally started getting hungry for real food so we decided to call it a day on the water and head back to the boat ramp. I failed to mention there was a fishing competition of some kind going on that day so that's probably another reason why the fish weren't biting. lol jk. No really, when the ramp was within view, we saw that it was swarming with boats and people for the competition and decided to drop off Bro.Ken on one of the banks and have him meet us at the other ramp with the truck. Us and our boat finally made it to the other ramp. Here's Jeremy walking up the dock.

Here's me and Jeremy posing =)

Since we rode in two separate vehicles, having only the truck at this ramp presented a very short term problem which us girls quickly resolved. We decided to ride in the truck bed back over the bridge and through a couple of traffic lights to Sis. Holly's car. Sis.Holly is a character... Let me tell you. She had us dying laughing back there in that truck bed. I haven't laughed so hard in a very long time. lol We were musical convicts escaping Julliard. lol yeah right!

After making it to the car, we then headed to Top of the River, one of the best restaurants in the south where they serve fried pickles, fried catfish, fried onion rings (fried anything), crab legs, greens and cornbread and a big ol' glass of iced tea (lol). It was excellent... let me rephrase, "Clog Your Arteries Excellent." Mmmm MMmmmm Good. (Yes, I'm getting used to this southern home style cookin'. Its rather easy to do. =)

After we ate, we walked out the back door onto the dock and took some couple pictures. Here's Bro.Jeff and Sis.Bridget.

And here is Bro.Ken and Sis.Holly.

What a great way to spend a maiden fishing voyage... with friends, sunshine and some good food to top it off (and a good camera to save the memories. =) )