I had a great time up at my grandma's. I headed up early from work and we had dinner and headed out to do some fishing right after our meal. And lo and behold we actually caught fish! I say that because it's been slim pickings in the fish department for a number of years now. We first began fishing in the lake in 1984 and back then fish were a dime a dozen. Over the years however, we have noticed a decline the waterlife of the lake (not just the fish). There are less frogs, crayfish, leeches, turtles and fish. It's been heartbreaking to see my beloved lake suffer over the years.

However, this weekend has brought me new hope. We caught quite a number of fish and although we always catch little fish (sunfish, perch and catfish) it's way tougher to get our prize fish ...bass (and that's bass as in ass, not bass as in base). Back in the day we could bring in 6 or more in a weekend, but now we're lucky to get 6 in a season (and believe me, we stuck to the rules so as to not wipe out the fish population). This weekend we caught a number of bass, and what made me really happy was that we brought in a number of baby bass. We let them go of course, I was just happy to see that there was a new generation of fish. :-)

It's tricky fishing with my grandma though, coz we don't always see eye-to-eye when it comes to how big a fish has to be in order to make it a "keeper". She's a die-hard fishing queen, and according her standards almost anything is "pan size", meaning it's perfect size for the frying pan. I am all about finding a reason to let them go coz I'm a lover not a fighter and I hate the idea of killing them (I can't even kill spiders, ok??). Plus I want to give the lake and fish population a chance to regenerate. Because of this grandma and I have actually had arguments in the boat while I held the poor fish and argued to spare his life. One time when one started to wriggle in my hands during a dispute I let him wiggle right out of my hand and back into the water and played it up like it was an accident. Grandma didn't fall for it, not for one second ("You let him get away!!!"). LOL. I love my grandma to bits, she's my fishing buddy.

Anyway, there were no disputes over the baby bass this time (which stunned me coz they were "pan size" for sure) and so I let her keep her big one (the pic is here). She actually hooked a bigger one before that one but her line snapped and it got away (always the one that got away!). I still did guilt though, and apologized to the fish profusely for his having been caught (and consequently, killed). Yes, I talked to the fish! So?? I felt bad. I bet I'll feel less bad when I eat him though....coz MMMMMMM... fresh bass is good eatin'! At least he won't go to waste.

And now I'm home after fishing all day (we were up at 5:45am!) and I am getting ready to meet up with my family for dinner. I am feeling wonderfully centered after spending some time with nature and am ready to head back to work on Monday. Check out the beautiful sunset pic I took last night. How can I not feel good after spending time in such a gorgeous place? And I saw a bunny....a little baby bunny!! I took a pic of that too, but like a dumbass I accidentally deleted, I know not how.
I hope everyone else is having a good weekend!!!