Where the bites aren't from bugs

The seminar has finished and it was pretty good. The school has a common goal to work around. The next step is to build a more structured, consistent approach. Here's hoping it works.

On Sunday we finished at 1:00 and came back to relax. We, as always includes Amanda and Dexter, took a walk around the donut. At around 4:00 Steve, the maintenance man from school, came by and knocked at our door. Claire opened up and Steve said, "Tell Greg we are going." I definitely didn't understand and he informed me that we were going fishing. Not knowing the time line, I was reassured it was only for a couple of hours. Of course, I knew what that meant. So off we went. We picked up his brother in-law and headed out. We went about 5 minutes into a little bay. It had to be the most beautiful scene I have seen this year. And of course being a true Martin, I didn't have a camera. This bay was kind of hidden around a corner, like a true pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Immediately arriving into this little area I noticed a huge beaver dam and was startled to see three beavers within a stone's throw. *FYI People enjoy beaver as a delicassy, but will not eat them during the spring and summer because they taste different and no one knows why.

We are now set to fish and are looking for Jackfish or Northern Pike. Just to set the stage a little further. When my family goes fishing up at the Hatfield's cottage, catching a pike is rare and extremely difficult. Back to our story. The brother casts out and reels in in 10 seconds. Upon reaching the boat he exclaims, "Oh man, the fish aren't biting today." Steve agrees and wishes that it won't be like this all night. I am looking dumbfounded, like are you kidding me, 10 seconds and we are giving up. So, no word of a lie, the brother casts out and upon the spinner hitting the water, a fish has bitten. He reels it in a catches a 30 inch Northern Pike. It was unbelievable, and then he said, "Oh man, just a small one." Are you kidding me?

Fast forward 25-30 minutes. Steve caught 6, brother in-law 5, and myself 6. I have never fished like that before and only wished my dad could have been there. I caught a fish every 4 minutes, with the smallest being over 30 inches and the largest over 3 feet. Not one of my fish was shorter than my arm. Amazing.

The guys got bored with the pike fishing, I mean who wouldn't with those bad numbers. So we moved to another area to try and catch some walleye. It turned out to be another beautiful bay. This time there was a little waterfall. We caught some more pike, but no walleye or pickerel.

With gas still left in the tank, Steve wanted to show me his net. We checked the 100 feet and grabbed the forty or fifty fish. I got really into it. The one type of fish that was in the net was a suckerfish. People here don't normally eat the fish but apparently the head is pretty good. Steve would just tear the head off, so I had him show me the process. I quickly learned and became like a true fisherman. It was definitely like an episode of Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe. My clothes were covered in fish guts and bloods, which of course Claire loved when I got home because she had just finished the laundry while I was away.

Oh yah, the best part. During our night we caught a 25 pound Trout... picture hopefully to come later. Overall it was an amazing 3 and a half hour experience. It was needed after a couple of off days. Amazing how God sends someone out of nowhere to help in a time like that. Keeps us reminded that we are never alone.