A good day of fishing for Walleye…or was it?

Yesterday I went fishing for Walleye and Northern Pike with my good friend Rudy and my cousin Manfried. This was the third time this year that we headed for one of the big lakes in the Whiteshell Provincial Park.  The weather forecast was for sunshine and no rain.

The forecasters were correct but they never mentioned the wind.

Wind brings high waves. High waves make a boat rock. A rocking boat on the water makes some people sea-sick.

I’ve never been able to go on roller-coaster rides or on anything that moves fast in a circle, like a carousel. Even a swing doesn’t do me any good. Motion like that makes me sick to my stomach, with all the trimmings.

We got to the campground where we launch the boat before 11 o’clock. Already I should have seen the hint how the day was going to play out. Rudy pushed the trailer with the boat into the water while I sat in the boat. My job was to paddle from the launch site to the dock where Rudy and Manfried would join me in the boat. Well, I paddled like a Cuban refugee trying to get to America, but the wind started pushing the boat past the dock toward the open lake. Manfried saw me struggling and rushed to the end of the dock, but I realized there was a good chance I was going to miss the dock, because the rope that I needed to throw to Manfried was still tied to one of the hooks. Fortunately, the knot was loose and as I drifted past the dock I threw the rope to Manfried. He caught it and pulled me and the boat back. By this time I thought my arm was going to fall off from the strain.

Okay, there was a motor on the boat and the whole thing wasn’t as disastrous as it sounds. I could have started the motor and brought the boat back, but at the moment I didn’t even think of that. Besides, I don’t have a license to drive a boat, which, I know, is a lame excuse.

It took about twenty minutes to reach our fishing spot. The waves were high with whitecaps. By the time we got there my stomach was already in knots. Then we started trolling by letting the wind and the current carry us. Our boat was rocking on the waves sideways and from front to back like a nutshell in a washing machine. Well…it wasn’t quite as bad but if felt like it to my stomach.

It didn’t take long before I was totally nauseous and I asked myself what I was doing here. I love the water, I love riding in a boat, I love fishing, but only when the sun is shining and the water is calm.

But the rocking of the boat wasn’t the only thing making this a fun experience. Every time we turned the boat around to get back to our starting point, we faced into the wind. In no time we were soaking wet from the spraying water as we jumped across the high waves.

But somehow the Universe is fair and does balance things. With every negative there is always a positive somehow.

I have to admit it was the best day ever of fishing, or perhaps I should say one of the best. I’m sure I must have had a good day of fishing at one time or other in the past, I just don’t remember at the moment. However, right now this one felt like the best, possible because I felt so rotten. Even my continuous nauseous state could not dampen my joy as I pulled out the first Walleye only moments after we began trolling.

It was a nice fish, measuring nearly 45 cm, dangerously close to the legal limit for keeping Walleye. Since it was the first keeper, Rudy and Manfried had to pay me one dollar each. That is tradition. I was happy, but it didn’t stop there. After that I caught a Walleye that measured 54 cm, too large to keep, but I took a picture for my album. The next fish was a smaller one, a keeper, and then I caught one 43 cm long, also a keeper. In addition to the Walleye I caught a couple of Perch and a few Pikes.

The 54 cm Walleye and me. It made me smile.

According to my friend Rudy fishing is best when the waves are high. He was right, but I’m not sure if I want to experience that again.

A small incident marred our joy a bit, and it was partially my fault. We kept our fish on a stringer floating beside the boat, but when we moved fast, we had to bring the fish into the boat. That was my job.

The incident I’m talking about happened when Rudy started the motor before I could pull the stringer with the fish into the boat. Three of our large Pike got caught in the propeller and had to be released. They were dead, of course. One had its head nearly severed, the other one was nothing but fish-burger still inside its skin, and the third one didn’t look much better. In the end, though, we did drive home with 2 large Pike, 1 Perch, and 12 nice looking Walleye.

I do have a valid excuse for what happened. When Rudy said, “I’m starting the motor,” I was busy hanging my head over the rim of the boat trying to empty the contents of my stomach. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, which meant my stomach was already empty. All I could manage was dry heaves, which is bad enough. You feel like all your intestines want to leave you through your mouth…all at the same time. Not something I want to experience too often, actually not at all. I haven’t been this sick with an upset stomach since I was on holidays in Mexico a few years ago, but that was from eating contaminated food.

We usually have our lunch at 12:00. How Rudy and Manfried could eat while listening to my retching sounds I don’t know. I guess they have better stomachs than I have. I had made some nice sandwiches for my lunch, but I didn’t eat or drink anything all day, because I didn’t want to upset my stomach any further, if at all possible.

Even though I had such a terrible day, I enjoyed spending it with my cousin and my friend. Catching fish was secondary, because there is nothing more precious than being in the company of good friends and I consider myself lucky to have them.

Apparently, I was as white as a ghost most of the day, but I’m okay today. My stomach has settled and the color is back in my face. You know, it is a good thing our memories are short when it comes to bad experiences, because in a few days I will have forgotten how rotten I felt. And who knows? I may be back in the water in a short time. However, from now on I will carry a bottle of Gravol in my tackle box, along with the mosquito repellant and the sun tan lotion.

A stringer full of fish. The water is calm in the bay. I\m happy to be back on land.