Monday, Red River, Louisiana
Dan writes:
I’m feeling anxious today because I’ve been listening to the “dock talk”. I know better than to do that, but I’m hearing about people catching big fish, about getting bit out in the standing timber, about how it takes twenty pounds per day to get a check in the springtime here. I’m letting these comments seep in and undermine my confidence, and I fished frantically all day today feeling like my fish up in North Lake aren’t good enough. This is a bad way to be thinking today, the last full day of practice.
I fished today out in the main river, right around the take-off at Clark’s Landing, and caught a limit of fish throwing a crankbait along the dikes and wing dams in the “community holes”, but they were just pound-and-a-half fish. I learned later on that Dick, and everyone else, was catching them in these holes also, and talk around the campground this afternoon was about how if a man drew an early boat number, he could go out and catch a few fish quickly on Wednesday morning.
There are boats everywhere down here in Pool 5 – every place I went today there have already been dozens of boats that’ve fished that spot in the last three days. If I were to find a wad of fish right now, I’ll be just one of ten people who’d want to fish those same fish come Wednesday. I’ve got to have faith in those North Lake fish – I caught two over three pounds the first day, no big ones the second day, but I just know they’re there. That’s where I’m headed Wednesday. That’s where I’m going to catch a fifteen-pound sack.
Annie writes:
At 5:30 this morning the phone was ringing, Dan was still home and I figured it was Dick calling him. Suddenly, Dan was in the bedroom saying “I’ll see if she’s awake…”. I took the phone and it was Kate, she was calling to wish me a Happy belated Mother’s Day, and to say she was sorry she didn’t get to call yesterday. She is so sweet, I can’t wait to see her again. I got up to tell Dan about it, and then went back to bed. By 6:00 the phone was ringing again, and Dan was gone so I had to get up to answer it. It was Dick, and I told him that Dan & I had switched phones for the day. Hung up, went back to bed. 6:15, the phone rings, Dick again, he could not find Dan. Just then the front door opened, Dan came in and he and Dick got to speak on the phone, and Dan would meet him someplace soon. I figured I would not have a good chance of falling back asleep, so I stayed up and began doing some computer work. 6:35…….ring, ring………it’s Dick, he thought maybe Dan & I switched phones again when he came home. It was pretty funny.
This afternoon I called Chris to see how baseball was going. We had a good talk, and he told me that he wants to come on another fishing trip with us, like he did last year. As soon as I hung up I began looking at our calendar and making plans. It made me feel good that he told us he wants to come, rather than us asking him, so I want to work hard to make it happen.
After some research and a number of phone calls, here’s what we came up with: We’ll pull him out of school early (he’ll miss the last day,) and then he’ll fly out to Detroit to spend the week of the St. Clair FLW with us. That will be a great trip for him to come on, as the park there has a lot to do, and the fishing will be just awesome. Afterwards we’ll all drive back home to New Hampshire together.