Sunday evening and just back from a go-out with a couple of young gals name of Diane and Sharon.
I'd had Diane out once before but Sharon was a complete newby so required some basic instructions before we ventured forth, which I carried out as we motored away from our mooring spot.
Despite a bad omen start wherein my outboard nearly came off the boat as we were turning sharply to retrieve my lifejacket which somehow chose to remain on the dock after we'd left for the Pool, we eventually made it out and started fishing.
I had both of my Shovelnose plugs on, my older Lucky Louie and my new to me original Minser, recently received as a gift from a pal and most welcome as it made up the pair.
We worked our way back and forth a few times, exchanging pleasantries with the other rowers as we encountered them plus we performed a couple of weed checks which was interesting as Sharon has fairly short arms, which makes catching the line difficult with a weight swinging on it and she seemed a bit taken aback by the whole routine, even though it's not that complicated.
My impression was that she didn't really expect to get a strike so didn't feel a sense of urgency about getting things done quickly or getting the plug back out as fast as possible, but no big deal for me as I'm all-too-aware of how one can just get caught up in the whole experience and, having heard about how few strikes there are, wander away from the actual task at hand.
This played a big factor in what happened at about 9:10 PM as Diane got a strike which she nailed really well. Being on the port side of the boat she had to hold the rod butt-backwards, the bane of being on that side, so I quickly reminded her to switch hand position as I hauled away on the oars with the speed and vigor that would have made Bruce Aikman proud of me.
Simultaneously I instructed Sharon to reel her line in as fast as possible. She was initially a bit slow to react as she was caught up in the action and excitement of Diane switching around and getting on the reel with the result that she suddenly had line running out at a rate that suspiciously matched Diane's.
"I've got one too!" she hooted.
But I knew what had really happened, so tried to figure out which way the lines were crossed and who was over who, not that easy in the fading light.
The fish ran away a bit and I could see Sharon's plug sliding along Diane's line towards us so grabbed my nippers while asking Diane to swing her rod around so I could grab Sharon's plug and weight and cut them off, thus freeing Diane's line.
Unfortunately, I have but two arms and two hands so couldn't stay on the oars while doing the nipping bit and that's when the fish decided to arrive at the boat, still highly agitated by the looks of it, an undersize for sure but a bright fish, obviously new to the Pool.
"It's right here!" Diane exclaimed, gesturing at the frothing maelstrom right next to us.
I reached back for my net, looked back at the fish and watched it dive under the bow of the boat.
I might have said a bad word.
With my other hand I grabbed for the oar in a vain attempt to spin the bow away from the fish, ending up with a couple of awkward and feeble strokes which accomplished little when Diane announced, "It's gone."
Fortunately the plug popped up right there so I netted it then looked at the line where it had parted.
It was rubbed and scraped, probably when it encountered the keel, which is Brass covered Teak.
So there you have it, a new plug that hooked a fish the first time it ever saw the Tyee Pool plus a minor comedy of sorts involving beginners luck and a lost fish.
The fish was definitely not a Tyee but it would have been great to have boated it regardless, and I'm super stoked about the new plug.
Finally, even though it's well known that I'll take out just about any Tom, Dick or Harry, tomorrow I'm taking out a Joe.
Wish us luck.
Take care.