| The Fog | |
|
by Jim Hurt
So
that’s what we did. A couple of
locals were talking about how good the walleye fishing had been lately.
We followed them into the bar after dinner, and I asked them where they
had been doing so well. “I saw
some Indianer plates out there. You
guys ain’t from Indiana, are ya?” one of the bigger guys asked.
“Nope,
we’re from Michigan, I piped up.” Which in my case was true.
“Good
thing, we don’t like Hoosiers around here!” the big guy said.
Fred
and I looked at each other, wondering what was going to happen next. One of the guys who seemed nice asked if we had our chart
with us. I said yes and pulled it
out. He showed us a series of reefs
straight out in the lake from the nuclear power plant, just a little ways
northwest of Port Clinton along the coast.
“Go
out there and drop a jig and minnow on one of those reefs, and you’ll catch
‘em!” he said.
“One of the best spring reefs around. I
wouldn’t tell you about it, but our freezers are already full of fish for this
year.”
The
big guy added, “Don’t be tellin’ no Hoosiers about dem reefs, ya heah?”
“No,
sir!” I said.
Now,
Fred and I are not ones to pass up good inside local knowledge, so the very next
morning, that’s where we headed. “Fred,
your Indiana plates are making me nervous as hell!” I commented on the way to
the launch. “You better hope we
don’t run into those guys over here.”
“It’s
Sunday morning, I bet they’re sleeping it off,” he replied.
There
is a little private boat launch in a small harbor near the power plant. The cooling tower of the nuclear plant makes a nice landmark
for navigating back when you’re done fishing.
On normal days, that is.
The
fog was so thick this morning you couldn’t see more than about a hundred
yards. Not dangerous for driving or
running your boat, but it could make navigation tricky since we had to go a
couple miles out into the lake. “Jim,
I don’t know about this fog,” Fred said. “What do you think?”
“I
think we pick a reef due northeast from the launch and use your new compass to
go straight there!” I had bought
Fred a compass as a gift for his surprise fiftieth birthday.
Wow, what a party that was. Fred
had . . . Well, that’s another story for another time.
“When we’re done fishing, we come back in on the opposite heading of
southwest and we’re here. Nothing to it!”
“Well,
I think your optimism is showing again, but I’m willing to give it a try if
you are,” Fred said.
Next page > Going Out In A Fog > Page 1,
2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, 8
