Bass being released after a successful day of fishing on the lake.
into our direction as the morning pro- gressed. While I was almost near- ly preoccupied with trying to learn how to fish for bass, I was also able to watch and become aware that none of the other boats seemed to be catch- ing anything. I asked Jesse why and he explained that many fishermen weren’t using the advanced tech- niques he had taught me. I was learning bass fishing 201 while a lot of those fishing for bass were using 101 techniques. Also, a lot of experience and studying of bathym- etry maps had resulted in Jesse hav- ing an acute knowledge of where the fish would be along the lake bottom. I was beginning to feel more and more like a legitimate bass fisherman. Around mid-morning I took a break to change into my shorts and have a snack with Lindsey. We sat back and took in the surroundings, snapped some photos and watched as Jesse picked up a pole. I will be turning 46 in a few months, 50 is just a few years away, so close I can see it just on the horizon. Aside from a five-year span when I worked in the environmental consulting
world doing water quality and fish - eries work, I’ve been a carpenter my entire life. I was taught how to be a carpenter by a generation of old school carpenters who had an im- mense measure of pride and integrity in their work. That’s something that has bled over into my life and a thing that I greatly respect. As I watched Jesse cast his line, his passion for fishing was evident. He knew exactly where to cast, where the fish would be, and when the bass would come after his lure. I was wit- nessing a fish whisperer. I watched a few Bald Eagles fly overhead and considered how lucky I was to be in this moment. With the morning winding down, I continued to fish with the jerk-bait. I felt like I was starting to get the feel for their necessary movement to draw a bass onto the lure, though I was still pretty horrible at accurately casting. On the side-scanning sonar, we could see a vague return of my lure in the water column and a blip on the screen rising to it. I felt the bass take the lure and set the hook, bringing in one fi - nal fish for the morning. We caught somewhere between 10 and 15 fish.
With the sun fully overhead and the morning complete, Jesse and I posed for photos with the four largest bass we had caught. We released them back in the same location where we had caught them and stowed our gear for the return trip across the lake. As we began to motor back to the boat launch, other boats began slink- ing over towards our spot, in recog- nition of our evident success. Jesse laughed as he brought the boat up onto plane and told us that while we fished the north end of the lake there was a bass fishing tournament hap - pening out of Harrison. Jesse guessed that had we had been part of it, we would have likely brought home some winning money with our morning’s catch. It was a fun and memorable fish - ing adventure. And while I may nev- er consider myself a true fisherman, I did recently purchase a fly-fishing rod … just in case. N
Scan code to read this article online and see more pictures of Jason’s bass fishing adventure.
32 NSPIREMAGAZINE.COM
Made with FlippingBook Annual report maker