Friday, September 27, 2024

A Birthday to Remember

 

I was out in my kayak today.  It was a banner 
outing for stripers on a picture perfect 
weather day.

I was visiting some of my grandchildren a couple of days back.  They knew my birthday was in a couple of days (today actually).  One of them asked, "Hey grandpa, what are you going to do for your birthday?" I replied, "I think I'll go fishing".  They all knew I fished just about every day so no birthday surprise there.

But, I did get the birthday surprise today with a banner day of fishing.  This morning I hit the Bay with my kayak. It didn't take long to find fish just a short peddle away from where I put in. I found breaking stripers and birds diving for bait. I had a grand time catching one striper after another on my weightless, plastic Fin S fish worked on the surface.  While many of them were small, I did land several slot fish. The weather was picture perfect and it was a great day to be out on the water.

After I got home and ate supper, I decided to go out carp fishing for a couple of hours, something I do just about every day in between chasing stripers.  I decided to hit a picturesque spot along the Blackstone River fairly close to my house. It was a mile walk to get there but no problem.  I was there no more than 15 minutes when one of my bite alarms sounded. Soon after a good size 15 lb. common carp was on the bank. Half an hour later, the other alarm sounded, and I knew after hooking the fish, I was onto a good one. It was ripping drag all along the river. Soon, I had a 25 lb. common on the bank, a very large fish for this body of water. 

I landed this 25 lb. carp this evening to 
cap off my big fishing day!

I turned 74 today, and I thank my lucky stars I am still able to do what I do. For 8 months of the year I fish just about every day.  For the other 4 months I ski just about every day. In between that, I ride a bike just about every day. I have no health problems and my doctor tells me to keep doing what I'm doing. I'm blessed with 4 wonderful sons and 3 great daughter-in-laws.  And, I now have 6 beautiful grandchildren. 

For a 74 year old guy, life couldn't be better!