The One That Got Away...

My lovely husband took me fishing yesterday for the first time in almost a year. I was so excited to try out my Christmas present, a shiny black & pink fishing pole. See, my dh (darn husband in this case) wanted to get me a fishing pole last summer and I requested that it at least have pink on it. A small part of me though this would be nearly impossible, which means he'd have to find something else to buy me for Christmas...like say, a shiny new camera. But my industrious hubby found a black & pink pole, slapped a bow on it and WALLAH...Merry Christmas to me.

Truth be told, I like to fish. I LOVE to catch fish. If I don't catch something within the first 20 or 30 minutes, I start whining. Or reading. Or taking pictures. But I forgot my camera yesterday, which was a big mistake. I had to not catch fish for an hour. Fun...not so much. But I did enjoy my time with dh (darling hubby in this instance), and learned a lot about his passion for fishing and nature.

For instance, right after I hooked one of his favorite lures in a tree and had to cut the line, I noticed he was just staring into the water, not reeling in his lure like he had taught me to do. So I asked what he was doing, and he said, "I'm crying...on the inside." See? Who knew he loved nature so much that it brought him to tears?

Now, I like to fish, but I do not TOUCH fish...which wasn't an issue yesterday, as I didn't catch one. But I also don't touch slimy moss & seaweed, which I caught a lot of, incidentally. Now, my loving hubby was kind enough to take the Nasty Stuff off my lure a few times, but when he started lecturing about how I need to learn to do it for myself, I got creative. Being the genius that I am, I pulled out enough line till the lure was laying on the gravel road next to the lake, then used my tennis shoe to rub the muddy stuff off my lure. Never had to touch it with my hands...how smart am I?! Chad must have thought so too, because he gave me a long look of love and then walked away real fast, like he was afraid to let me see how proud of me he was.

I will say that I'm not sure my dh (dear hubby) is as smart about fishing as he claims to be. On my first cast I had a bluegill try to take the bait, but it was too big for him. Come to find out, I had "bass bait" on my line. So I ask,

"Are there any bass in this lake?"

"A few."

"Oh, well are there a lot of bluegill in here?"

"Oh yeah, a ton!"

"So are we fishing for bass or bluegill?"

"Bass. Duh."

Um, what? So after many more questions like this, I find out that apparently it is more fun to fish for the few, bigger fish than the smaller, more abundant fish. Boys fish for quality but I want quantity! Makes sense, right? I don't care how big that little sucker is, just as long as he kicks a little when I reel him in and I catch a lot of them. But not so with my dh (dumb husband). He would rather take a chance on not catching anything in search of the Big One, rather than catch a bunch of small ones. Where's the fun in that, I ask you!

I also learned that throwing a lure where you just saw a fish splash is called Wave Chasing and apparently only girls do it. Um, that is because we are the smarter sex. Duh. I noticed he wasn't running in the opposite direction when they jumped out of the water, so I maybe I taught him a thing or two about fishing :)

The good news is, he caught one, which means A Very Good Day for Chad. I didn't, which means A Whiney Amy. Nah, just kidding. I really did have fun hanging out with my BFF. And apparently he really enjoyed it as well: after I snagged a 2nd lure in the tree and had to leave it there, I noticed he was packing up the poles and had that Seriously Lovin' My Wife face on. I gave him a big hug, saying,

"Wasn't this fun, Babe?"

To which he replied, "Want to know how much this fishing trip cost me?"

For a second I thought he was referring to the two lures I had lost in trees but then realized that couldn't be it, because there were tears in his eyes. He was obviously crying over how much fun we had on such a cheap date...only two lures and the gas to get there. Now that's what I call a good date!

One other thing I learned about my dh (darling husband) is that fishing makes him miss his children a lot, which I thought was really sweet. As he stacked our poles in the truck, I heard him muttering under his breath about how he might as well have brought Micah & Ben fishing.

Isn't that sweet?

I didn't have my camera so I used my cell phone to catch a couple of pictures.

This is the pond we were fishing in. I would have "lost" another lure to have my camera there!

This is Chad "wave chasing" :) We were pulling out when a huge non bluegill jumped out of the water. He slammed on the brakes faster than Beth when she sees a couch sitting near a trash can, trying to get The One That Got Away.

Thanks, Babe! Can't wait to do it again!