A Wet Day

I am so happy to be dry right now! We just started the heater, so I'm looking forward to being warmer, too.

Our fish last night was delicious, and we all ate our fill. After dinner, we played a card game named "Pitch," which evidently involves bids, a trump suit, and some system of counting face cards at the end of each hand. I'm not very good at comprehending this sort of game, but I ended up scoring better than Barry, apparently. Barry and I sipped Blanton's while we played. We went to bed around 10 pm.

We slept this morning until waking up without the assistance of an alarm or hungry doggies. There was no need to get up early - it was raining, as forecast. We had a simple breakfast and then suddenly around 10:30 everyone started getting ready to go out and fish, even though it wasn't supposed to stop raining until 2:00. We were on the lake just before 11, this time heading south through the steady downpour.

I caught the first fish of the day very shortly after we put our lines in. We had decided that today we would only keep fish longer than 15 inches, so we threw mine back. Dad then caught 4-5 in a row, including a Northern. Barry and Larry were also catching some, and keeping them, so they had six in their cooler before we had any that we kept. Soon the fish stopped biting there, so we moved farther down the lake.

Although we tried six or seven more spots throughout the day, we never had so much success again. I did catch a 19 inch walleye - the only one we kept in our boat - and Dad caught one that was 20 inches. He realized we could have kept it (as per our licenses) just after he dropped it back into the water. In the end, we were out for four hours and I caught a total of four fish.

At one point our boats got separated. There may have been some miscommunication between Dad and his brother. They agreed "if we're going to go up there, we won't be any closer than we are now." So off we went. Dad thought they were talking about a bridge; Larry thought they were talking about a certain fishing hole, so off we went in separate directions. Fishing by the highway bridge was a bust, although the rain had nearly stopped by then so it was a fairly pleasant place to be. We didn't stay long and went back to find the others, reuniting just before stopping on a tiny island to eat our packed lunches.

By this point I was soaked clear through, excluding my feet, because my rain gear proved ineffective against the elements. But after lunch we fished a little more, without much luck at all. It finally stopped raining around 2:15, but as we were heading across an open part of the lake in the direction of camp the sky suddenly grew darker, the temperature dropped at least 5 degrees, and we ran into a soaking heavy mist that stung when it hit my face. With this development, we decided to call it a day.

We made it back to camp around 3:00, although Barry and Larry probably stayed out another half an hour. Dad and I went to the cabin and changed into dry clothes while we waited for them to return. I was literally soaked through four layers, but my feet were still dry. Honestly, I cannot endure cold, wet toes; I never would have made it through the day if we hadn't wrapped my boots in plastic bags. It worked!

The rest of the evening was much like last night, except before dinner we learned a new card came called Pass the Ace. After eating too much fish, we played another two games of Pitch, the first of which I won. Maybe I'm not as dense as I thought I was.

Clothes are now hanging near the heater as everyone heads to bed. Before 10. Weatherbug says tomorrow should be drier - and cooler.