At my age there always seems to be another fish story. I have always said you know when you are old when you are telling the same stories year after year to the same friends as if it was the first time. Most of my friends tell me they do get better every year! It must mean though you are fishing less or your recent adventures have not gained the richness that old stories seem to have after they have possibly been embellished upon year after year to grandeur and more magnificent proportions.
Well, my story that I am telling you now is not one of those stories, but has the makings of one 10 years down the road. So, while I have it right I will tell it in it's Innocent and unembellished form. The story has to do with my Trophy mounted fish which are entirely the salmonoid species as that is what I mainly fish for. Someday, I will tell you my Bass fishing story, but I will keep it to myself for while longer.
The first thing that strikes you when you enter my house is that I am always in the middle of some new project. The reason is simple. Three years ago when my granddaughter came to live with us I was moved out of my hobby room to make a place for her. And, if that wasn't bad enough being misplaced from my room the other bedroom filled up with my daughter who had just separated with her husband. She has a small boy and he shared the same room as my granddaughter until she finally went back to live with her parents earlier this year. So, for now I do my hobbies in the middle of the kitchen table.
The second thing you notice is that I have a lot of mounted trophy fish hanging around. Now that is the best part! My most recent addition to my collection is a 35 inch long 21" girth Brown trout which is hanging over the fireplace at this moment. I took down my wife's favorite oil painting to get that position. I don't have any unrealistic expectations for keeping that spot as my wife is not at all delighted with all these dead things as she puts it hanging around our living room. Actually, it is kind of funny! She has been really tolerant of me and all my hobbies over the years. And for her to let me hang these dead things around our home is one reason why I love her so much.
Anyway, back to the trophy mounts. I would like to tell you that all these wonderful fish are really fish I caught. However, the sad truth is I can't lay that distinction to even one of these beauties. I just like "Big" beautiful trophy mounted fish and it makes no difference to me if I caught it or not. Now, if that makes a difference to you then read my stories ten years from now after I have had a few memory problems and can't quite remember in what order I may have caught them! Wow! I can really come up with some great stories about fishing the Little Red River and fighting that 25 lb Brown on 4 lb test line and 2 lb leader.
Well, lets hope that is not the case or in any event all I can hope for is that they are entertaining. However, I do find myself more and more going into a room and standing and looking around wondering why I am there. You know, after a second thought those stories may be really good. It is not as if I have never caught a trophy fish before, but I never gave it thought to have it mounted. Well, at least I had maybe one trophy fish so it is really not as if I would have had to make that decision every time I went fishing. With all the beautiful fish I have you would think automatically that I was the Safari King of the water.
My favorite Mount is just a small 27 inch 14.2 lb Brown that started all this desire for more. I have it boxed right now as I don't want anything to happen to it until my wife and I are finally back on our own. It is not as if my grandchildren are not well behave as they are, but rather the fact that I bought this from a widow who's husband caught this nice fish just prior to his death and had it mounted. She hated it, but put up with it as she knew how much he loved it and it was the nicest fish he ever caught. I guess her healing process from morning his death finally came full circle when she decided to sell it to me.
I will never forget the day it arrived. I was like a little kid opening the biggest Christmas present of my life. I thought I would never get it unpacked. Her daughter had taken it to her place of employment and had the shipping department package it for her. I am not exactly sure what they manufactured or shipped, But I can tell you they used everything at their disposal to package it as it took me at least a half hour to finally get three rolls of bubble wrap off that was taped in every direction. Of course, it was as I had feared.. they kept wrapping that bubble wrap around that fish making it tighter with every turn until the right front pectoral fin snapped in half.
See Part 2 - Finding A Taxidermists >>>>>>>>>>>>>
