EPILOGUE
Notes from The Last trip!
April 28th-Wed
Ice out a month ago and Winnie Derby cancelled cause of lack
of fish or some other political reasons beyond our knowledge. Lack of fish on this trip was the key
phrase.
Putt (the small boat) put on the dock until we could borrow
a motor from Scotty and arrival of the big boat delayed for lack of parts.
Snow this morning in Melvin
Village 4:30 that John David, Greenfield
The place had been opened that day by Scotty, but the wind
blew a tree branch into and disconnected
the water pipe into the lake. John David
(Abe's son) volunteered to do the honors and in sixty degree weather with fifty
degree water. Thank God for designer
Vodka!
April 29th-Thurs
Abe, Skip, Green, Paul, and JD on the water by 6:45
. Silly puppies, no fish, no hits, Nada,
nothing. Big winds all day steady 50 mph
with gust to sixty something. Damn
another 10 mph and we could have classified as a hurricane. Bill stayed in the house (smart) and
only one other boat on the water. First ever Canada Geese on the lake. Saw an eagle and Mergansers. Putt not running but could not have used it
anyway. Cards and BS played!
.JPG)
April 30th -Fri
No fish. So much
poker being played that Paul said the breasts on the ST. Pauly Girl bottle label
of non-alcoholic beer were beginning to look pretty good. Frey had a good baseball hand that stuffed
Green. He declared four threes when he
had 3 threes, a nine with a ten kicker.
Will he ever learn? Threes and
nines are wild Bill!
Some old memories were dredged up.
The old guy with the red coat and cowboy hat that we saw for
years on the water the same as we. He
seemed to know what he was doing and was just a nice guy.
We were catching fish one year regularly at a place in front
of a house full of guys just like us. Up
for a week of fishing and drinking adult beverages. I guess they weren't catching as much and we
were. As we went by they shouted in the New
England dialect......"Save some for the Naaa-bars"! Just classic.
Then there was the Polish Navy. Some other guys, much like us but without a
boat, became creative. They took their
swim float, mounted an outboard, coolers for beer, rod holders, and a charcoal
grill. Shouting to everyone in their
way....."We can't steer...get out of the way"!
Way back when, Paul was playing a fish and snatched the fly
from it's mouth rather roughly. That
move forever has been called, in catch and release terms, a Smirnoff long
distance release.
And finally there was the time we were using side
planers...each about fifty feet off the side of the boat and holding up to
three fishing lines. Dave was driving
the boat and managed to wrap one of the planers around a buoy.
Just good stuff and meaning nothing to anyone other than us.
May Day-Sat
Finally on the water in both boats. No Salmon.
Skip one 2.5 lb bass that doesn't count.
Tommy allegedly with one lake trout down three hundred feet on
metal. Doesn't count. John Greenfield and Abe witnessed the bass
catch from the dock, so they were given the idea about how it is all done.
Skip and Bill in Putt. It looked
like JD had a large fish hooked and Paul was waving at it with the net. Their boat kept turning so we couldn't see
much but the fight took some time and Skip was sure the fish jumped, confirming
the presence of a salmon. Finally
when it was adroitly netted by Paul....it was a can of beer
and not a fish. I think it was a Coors
light. Skip and Bill were had again.
Later that night it was Abe's turn in the barrel as the
others set up a hand of cards with him getting four wild cards and an ace. Bill and Skip were not aware of the set up
and the betting got pretty wild with everybody raising Abe's bets. He could not understand it until the final
bets were made and they came clean. His
five aces really did not win the twenty some odd dollar pot. Great laughs.
May 1 - Sunday
Clean up and good byes.
.JPG)
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