Fishing, Farming, and Finding Time – Summer 2016
Blogging…wait…do I do that anymore? It sure doesn’t feel like it! I actually had to look up my last post to see how long it had been since I sat down down and typed out a blog post – April 28th. And now it’s August 1st. That’s quite a gap. It’s not like I’ve had nothing to say, or no fishing adventures to write about, it’s just that I have no extra hours in most of my days and there are other things that have taken priority.
The number one priority these days? The farm. Oh, our crazy little funny farm. We started with four laying hens. Now we have almost 70 birds on the farm. Some are laying hens, a few are roosters, some are young birds that we hatched out this year (we had three hatch just two days ago), a few are meat birds that will provide us food for the coming months, and then there are my two pet turkeys. Those two were completely unexpected but I have a blast with them every day.
The latest baby chicks.
My pet turkeys.
Aside from the chickens and turkeys, the old horses are hanging in there. The flies are driving them crazy this year, but I seem to have managed the paddocks slightly better this year and they still have some grass to eat.
Then there are the gardens. So many gardens, producing so much food, and requiring so much of our time. With this dry year some of the crops have been slow to mature, or just never got going. Some were attacked by pests we couldn’t keep on top of. Then others, like the tomatoes and peas, went crazy. We already have much of the produce we can’t eat blanched and in the freezer, and we’ll be canning like there’s no tomorrow when the rest of the tomatoes ripen. Our goal is to produce as much of our own food as possible, and for it to last us long into the year. The fresh food has been amazing in the homemade sauces and meat pies Darrell has been making lately.
A harvest from last week.
Because of all of this, there have been many farm projects to complete, hours of research, and countless days when we eat dinner long after dark, only to fall into bed, absolutely exhausted.
I’m going to start a blog for the farm soon, I hope, since it takes up so much of our time and efforts, and produces some entertaining stories.
But fishing…that’s the main focus of this blog, and while we haven’t gotten out as much as we would like, we’re still getting out one or two days a week and having fun.
The brook trout fishing in the spring was SPECTACULAR. It was so good that I want to save that for another post when I can find all the pictures. We caught our personal bests, had so much fun, and did it all within walking distance of home.
Much of our fishing has involved visiting local lakes and ponds for bass (and anything else that may want to bite). Having a canoe has made it a lot easier to visit some smaller bodies of water and not be stuck on shore. I never knew I would love canoeing so much, but our Holy Cow Canoe has been fantastic, even on windy days.
Grey County has no shortage of great places to go fishing – Bell’s Lake, Holstein Pond, Flesherton Pond, Wilder Lake, Robson Lake, Irish Lake, etc. The town ponds are my favourite places to go for a quick fish. We have caught some beautiful largemouth bass out of them this year, many on my favourite lures and techniques – frogs, chatterbaits, and wacky-rigged senkos. The ponds tend to be quiet, with nice scenery, and an easy place to go for a paddle.
On bass opener, there was a feeling of euphoria as we launched the canoe for the first time and headed out on an amazing sunny morning. Darrell even caught the first bass before we actually got into the canoe. We were both so happy to be fishing, and to have so many more opportunities thanks to bass being open. Of course, I have trouble with finding my ‘boat legs’ at the beginning of each season, and the canoe was no different. I shrieked a couple of times when Darrell would move around too much and make the canoe wobble. I shouldn’t have worried, the canoe is plenty stable. I was surprised with how quick this canoe could get going, and if I wanted to fish a different location, it seemed only to take a few strokes before we were there. The bass were biting the frog that day, giving me that awesome adrenaline rush of a thrilling topwater bite. I love it when bass agree to bite my favourite Scum Frog!
Some days on the water have been a real grind. Last weekend we managed to get out for a few hours and had to resort to catching pumpkinseeds. I make that sound like a bad thing, but it wasn’t – those little guys give me some of the best days on the water. One after another they would grab my jig and start swimming away. When they realized they were hooked, they started dogging it and put up a great fight. I’d get them into the boat, marvel at their colours, pop the hook out, and watch them swim away. We drifted over the school several times, catching a fish on almost every cast. I said the famous “One last cast” line several times that night.
Notice where the paddle is in relation to my head…LOL
The canoe enabled us to fish a new lake we have driven by almost weekly, often saying we wished we could fish it. It’s a smaller lake, surrounded by cottages, but the angling traffic never seems to be intense. We spent hours looking for any sign of a bass, paddling all over the lake, checking out weed beds, and recovering snagged lures. When Darrell finally got a bite, his rod bent over and he reeled in a nice…rock bass. Worked for us. We switched up and started casting for rockies.
It’s been a fun season so far. We’ve caught lots of nice bass, experienced some new water, and managed to fit fishing into the schedule of the farm. Hopefully we’ll get out on the water a bit more in the next while, and we’re both thinking it would be nice to go to some bigger water, where the fish get just a little bigger.
So there you go, an actual blog post! Maybe I’ll be able to find some more time for it these days. Maybe not. I miss writing and sharing our adventures, and I miss chatting with other anglers and outdoorsy people. But, I’m loving life and can’t complain. I just hope we can fish a little more and share it with the wonderful people who care to read these posts 🙂
argosgirl
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