Fish Tale

You've heard of fish tales?  Fish tales are stories from fishermen about fish that got away or some unbelievable experience while fishing.


Here is my fish tale from our Up North Weekend...


The pontoon boat had been in storage for several years.  With the New Land purchase, the pontoon boat was uncovered and the motor tested.  The boat was brought to the New Lake and tied to the dock and there it waited for us.


Dad, Mom, Kidlet Three, Buddy Daniel and I carried our fishing gear to the lake and climbed onto the pontoon for the first fishing expedition ever on the New Lake.  

Dad was the designated driver.  He put the key in the ignition and turned on the motor.

Mom and I untied the ropes from the dock and jumped on board.

Dad backed the boat away from the dock.  We all heard, "uh oh...uh oh...we have no steering".  

As the boat backed away from the dock.

Straight back.

We were going straight away from the dock because the steering wheel was frozen and wouldn't turn.

Dad turned off the motor.

Several of us tried turning the steering wheel but it wouldn't budge.

We were adrift on a lake where only two other houses exist.

And we didn't have a paddle.

Visions of Gilligan's Island started running through my mind.

Then we realized the wind had picked up and we were moving toward land but not aimed at the dock.

Using the wind, Dad would turn on the motor and back up just enough and then cut the motor.

We would drift toward the dock but not quite close enough so he'd back up again and cut the motor.

Back and forth we went as the wind slowly moved us toward the dock.

It wasn't quite a 3-hour tour like Gilligan and Mary Anne, but we made it close enough to the dock for me to jump, with the boat rope, and pull the boat back to the dock.

Where we promptly tied the boat up.

And we fished from the pontoon.

Tied to the dock.

You'd never even know we were tied to the dock from these photos.  Except we took the life jackets off after we realized we'd been docked for 30 minutes...

Mom had the first catch of the afternoon. 
If you squint your eyes you may be able to see the little sunfish she is holding.

Kidlet Three has the next big catch of the day...

It was a memorable boat ride and fishing adventure for us all.

You should've seen the fish that got away...