Fishing Comedy Channel


By Allan Olson

So I finally got the boat back in the water on Friday night. It took 15 minutes for me to get the motor started, and Abigail kept saying, “Maybe this is a sign…” I should have listened to her. 
I finally got it started, and off we went, buzzing across the lake to one of the areas that we have had luck at before. We dropped our lines, but Nikolai was using my fishing pole, with the brand new Rapala I had just purchased. I finally said, “Hand it over,” and he secured the hook to the eyelet. Apparently either it was cranked too tight or the eyelet was too weak; either way, it broke. Another sign.
We finally got bored of fishing in that spot, with no results at all. I told Nik to pull up the anchor a bit and let us drift, but we still had no luck after a few minutes of doing that. Then I announced we’re going to move, and I’m pretty sure I told him to pull the anchor all the way up, or at least I thought he understood that if we’re going to move, he needed to pull in the anchor. It still not entirely clear what happened, but I started us moving and Nik was still trying to get the anchor up and he was losing the battle, until I realized what the problem was and stopped the boat so he could hoist the anchor.
Another sign.
As I was slowing down, looking to either troll or find a spot to anchor, the motor died. I didn’t figure it was that big of a deal. I pulled on the recoil, again and again and again, before the kids were like… “Let’s just paddle, it’s not going to work, Dad.” \
Nikolai and Abigail started paddling, while I continued to work on the motor. It turned over a couple times, but I couldn’t keep it running. Eventually I gave up and took over paddling for Abigail, and aimed the boat toward a friend’s cabin, which was closer than the boat landing on the opposite shore. I gave the oar back to Abigail and tried a few more times to get the motor going, to no avail. I phoned the cabin owner, and he said to make yourself at home. We got to shore and started unloading the boat, putting everything from the boat on the ground or a nearby picnic table. Then the three of us pulled the boat ashore and tipped it over.
Nikolai and I borrowed his vehicle to go get mine, while Abigail stayed behind and gave some attention to his dog. Since his space was limited, I didn’t bring the trailer back to the cabin, figuring we could either re-launch from there or I’d get the trailer down there another time. Back at the cabin, the three of us loaded up our vehicle, then picked up the boat trailer on our way home and called it a night.
On Saturday morning, I woke up to a message from a niece asking if we would consider picking her up from We Fest (in Detroit Lakes), because she was tired of the party. I discussed it with my wife, and we decided to take a little road trip to get her. We got there at about 1 p.m., and after a couple geocaching stops on the way home, along with browsing at an antique store and getting a few grocery supplies, we finally made it back home.
On Sunday morning my niece’s boyfriend and their little boy showed up, we all visited a little while, and I went back to bed after they departed. I finally got up a couple hours later and did some reading. It was nice to just sit around, even though there were things that probably could’ve used some attention. That evening, I took Marcus and Alivia to the beach where they played for 90 minutes before we headed back home.
As for our family fishing experience, this weekend was the best opportunity for angling over the next couple of weeks, and since the motor is back in the shop already, it’s hard to say what the rest of the summer will bring. So far this year we have brought exactly zero fish home; I’ve yet to catch one. 
Even though I was crabby about the motor and the broken eyelet on my fishing pole (which I’ve had for over 15 years), it was still fun to be out on the lake with my kids. One of these times, perhaps, we will catch a couple limits to bring home. Perhaps, also, our odds would be better if I were to invest in a fish finder and a trolling motor – to help catch fish and to keep us from having to row back to shore in the event of motor failure. Although, neither of those makes a story nearly as interesting.
  Maybe if I had a Go-Pro camera I could create a feature on how not to catch fish for a YouTube video.
On the next two weekends, at least part of our schedules are reserved for weddings. The rest of the month is currently not booked, but I’m sure that will change.

Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Feel free to drop me a line at cltimes1@arvig.net or stop by the office for a visit.

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