I'm not sure if any or all of you know this, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE to fish. I really didn't discover this until a couple of years ago when my guy suggested that I give fishing a go! I mean, I''ve fished before......fared out really well at the fishponds at the fairs when I was little. When Jon was younger, we'd rent a cottage for a week in the summer. A fishing pole in hand, I'd find a bait shop and buy a box of worms. I absolutely Abhored baiting the hook, but like swimming in a soft bottom weedy lake, I'd do this all with a smile on my face. Lord knows, I didn't want Jonathon to develop a phobia about lake water and worms! lol.
Fishing can be very relaxing, but it also can be completely frustrating. We set out at about 5:40 a.m. on Sunday Morning...........yep, you saw that correctly...........5:40 AM........to explore the fishing spots in a remote area of the lake. Not the usual spots that are close to the Cottage and where I"m guaranteed to catcha good harvest of Crappie, but down to areas that we haven't fished before. It was actually quite chilly, thus the hoodie! So away we went. Nothing seemed to be going right for me.............I was having trouble with my casting, of course it must have been a bum reel............and all I seemed to be reeling in was \SALAD!!! that's my way of describing weeds!!! I always brag about how effective I am about catching the side dishes!!!
Paul was having much more luck than me. He'd cast out and bring in a nice bass..........catch another and move along...............needless to say, when you get frustrated, your cognitions can get a little wonky.........too say the least and I was thinking...hmmmm , maybe these fish just don't like me!!!!
I found myself complaining about my abilities.............. I can't cast, I can't fish......... I'll never learn.........and then it dawned on me that at this rate, I musn't be too fun to fish with........so I turned to Paul and said "how do you like fishing with a negative Norma?" He just chuckled and so did I. I realized that although I wasn't catching any fish, I was out on a beautiful lake on a gorgeous day. I'd enjoyed the sun's rising, drinking in the hues of pink and mauve against a robin's egg blue sky. I was reveling in the beauty of this day.
So I relaxed and I fished. All the negativity washed from my brain, just enjoying the moment. There is much to be said about the power of positive thinking...........no it wasn't like the Secret, where I willed those big fish to come to me.......it was just making a concerted effort to focus on the positive aspects of the morning. I cast out my line................a smooth cast and slowly reeled in. Thinking that I was hung up on a REALLY big weed, I started to reel in. As my line tugged left and right, I knew that I had protein on my line......PHEW finally I had something to compliment my salad. A fish!!!! A big fish!!! In fact the biggest fish I've ever caught!!!!! YAY!!!!! and yes, I did say YAY!!!!! Beaming in my moment of excitement, clapping my hands and giggling voraciously I celebrated!!!! Just as I had wished that I'd brought the camera to capture the beauty of the sunrise, Paul said he wished he had a camera to capture the glow on my face at that moment.
It wasn't long after that, I caught another; just a touch smaller than the first.........Large Mouth Bass are very tasty. With an ample harvest in the boat bales, off we went to clean and prepare our breakfast. A wonderful start to a glorious Sunday.
I placed a new card on the Flower Soft blog yeseterday. You can check it out
here
