Carol Northcut | Wednesday, 11 October 2023
I’ll have to admit. Fishing and casting have not been at the forefront of life the last two months. In fact, the entire month of August saw me practice only once, and only for 15 minutes. This last week, however, I’ve been getting back into the practice of practicing.
At last report, we were building a deck off the back of the house. Never having done it before, and Steve able to do it only while not working his day job, resulted in it taking a month to complete. There was a lot of waffling on decking materials, but we chose a composite decking made from all recycled materials. It’s beautiful and looks better than many professional jobs. It’s evidence that you can learn how to build many things on You Tube, once you find a knowledgeable source with good instruction. It’s kind of like casting in that way: Hard to find good sources on YouTube, but once you do, you can learn a lotif the instruction is good. The exception with casting is that a good instructor/coach is necessary to watch your movementsand recommend nuanced ways to improve.
We finished the deck two days before my sister-in-law arrived for a 10-day visit. Ten days is a bit long for most relatives, but she’s an exception. We went camping for two nights and hiked five miles into a series of lakes inappropriately named “Fish Lakes” in very squatchy territory, seeing only one four-inch fish and no squatch except paintings on signs and wood cut-outs. Yaak Tavern, the nearest business, annually hosts a Sasquatch Festival, yet the adjoining market didn’t even have any Sasquatch memorabilia. I suspect the festival is an excuse for total inebriation of one sort or another, and then, and only, then, will anyone “see” a squatch.
One day of floating and fishing had been planned for the ten-day visit. But, as luck would have it, it was cold, windy, and rainy, so the trip was canceled. Despite my sis-in-law having been a hard-core bass angler accustomed to being on bass boats in the cold and wind, and me having wade-fished in similar conditions, we decided to cancel. We’d been watching the forecast and had given the guide (a friend who has been known to float fish wearing snow goggles) advanced warning that we might bail based on the weather. It turned out to be a good call.
Ten days is a long time for company when not accustomed to having a lot of talking in the house. I am not a talkative person, and with Steve working from home and me being retired, I sometimes only talk a few times a day. My sis-in-law on the other hand, is a very outgoing, accomplished, marketing professional who talks a lot. The near non-stop “Squirrel!” chatter can be draining. (If you don’t know what I mean by “Squirrel!”, watch this YouTube of Dug the Dog. https://youtu.be/xrAIGLkSMls). Too much chatter and I shut down. On a couple of hikes, I had to suggest we try to be quiet for 10-15 minutes, to take in the beauty and just be silent. All that said, I really do enjoy her company and am eager for her next visit in December.
There are some big changes coming in the structure of the FFI casting program. I had a good talk with Jonathan Walter last week about it, and I have volunteered to help with the communication aspect. The details have not been hammered out yet, so we’ll see what that role ultimately entails. I still won’t talk much during the day. LOL.
pic of day: find Waldo.