Fishing
One of the many other things I enjoy doing outdoors is fishing. It’s great just being out on the water in the morning when it is so calm. I also love watching the loons early in the morning and, if we are lucky, sometimes we see a bald eagle fly over. Dad, Payton, and I go fishing every time we go to the lake in the summer.
Every year we rent a spot in Barsness Park, on Lake Minnewaska, to park our camper in the summer. Two years ago, we got a boat from another person that camps in the park. It is just an older fishing boat, but it still works great for our purposes. Most of the time during the summer, we leave on Friday afternoon and arrive at suppertime. The next morning, we usually try going out to snag a bass or northern. Once, when we went out early, we tried casting for bass by a line of docks. Within the first five minutes, I had the biggest bite I’ve ever felt. I only had it on for about five seconds before it snapped my line. I was pretty mad that time because I had on my best lure. We have another spot we like to go where we catch bass no matter what, big or small. One time, we were nailing the bass, one after another. That day we had just about ten nice two pound bass. Every time we go out fishing, we always catch at least one fish.
Another thing we love doing at the lake is going to the beach. The lake is just right across the highway, so we can take a walk there anytime. We have a Jet-Ski, so we can go tubing and whatever else. Kennedy and Quintyn like to make sand castles and play in the water. At the beach, there is also a slide and a few yellow diving rafts. Sometimes Payton and I swim out to the largest raft which is about seventy-five yards out. Out there it is fifteen to twenty feet deep, so we can dive and do flips off it. One time there was a bunch of sunfish under the raft, so we put on our goggles and went down to see them. Another guy there had a butterfly net that he let us use to try and catch them. We tried for a long time, and after awhile, we caught a little sunny.
Every year on the Fourth of July, all of our relatives come to our camper to fish, swim, and have fun. This year my grandpa had gotten a new boat, so he brought it with him. We heard fishing was good at Pocket Lake, near Minnewaska, so we decided to try it out. We weren’t really catching anything at first, but after a bit, the fish started biting. We caught a few bass, then we tried our luck at trolling. Just after I had cast my Daredevil out, I had a huge hit. It took awhile to get it to the boat, but when I did, we could see it was a nice northern. Just as it got about three feet from the boat, it gave one final fight to get away and snapped the line. I was blistering mad I had lost this fish, when, all of the sudden my grandpa had a fish. He reeled it in and this time we had the net ready. When we got the gigantic fish in the net, there was my Daredevil hanging from its mouth. I don’t know how that ever happened, but it was the best fishing story I have ever had, even if no one will believe it.
That afternoon, everyone headed to the beach. We took our Jet-Ski with a tube, and Grandpa took his boat with a knee-board. We boated until dark, and then we went back to our camper to roast marshmallows and sit by the fire.
As you can tell, fishing, boating and camping are all an important thing to my family. Hopefully we will be able to get our spot at Barness Park for a long time so my littler siblings can enjoy it as long as I have. Camping also lets us make more joyous memories with our friends and family.
