It was cold out as my cup of coffee and I watched the sun come up. I was the only one awake, the first day of the New Year! The temperature was a mild 48 and expected to get up to 63 degrees. Although it was overcast and we had friends that stayed overnight with us after celebrating the New Year, I already knew I would convince them all to go fishing today.
I made enough noise in the living room to disturb the biggest one! In my mind, if I was able to convince the biggest dog of our little pack to go fishing, I knew the rest would follow. So he wandered into the living room, rocking a crazy hairdo and he definitely had the one eye going on. I smiled and bid him a good morning, knowing that he secretly hated my morning enthusiasm. I waited patiently as he groaned and settled into the easy chair. I allowed him a good 10 minutes of watching a fishing show on VERSUS before I suggested that we go rustle the rest of our group up and urge them to a quick breakfast and then onto the lake! To my delight, he agreed and finally sprung to life, ready for the day.
Eagerly, I burst into my husband’s peaceful bliss and announce that he has 20 minutes to get showered and out to the front lawn to be ready to go fishing today. I didn’t have to convince him. As he slowly got his bearings, remembering the events of the night before, he quickly stepped into high gear as he remembered we had a house full of guests.
Within the hour – we were climbing aboard, my best friends pontoon boat, The Lady Cooper. No sir! Today was not the day for the 21ft Triton that we left behind in the garage – it was definitely a day for The Lady Cooper. I was quite proud of myself for not tripping my way onto the boat from the dock, as I often do. I contribute the new found graceful steps to me being half asleep and not really caring if I fell or not – at least we were getting on the boat!
We found our first spot – it was just under 400 diving birds off of a point on the upper end of Lake Murray. The waters of Prosperity, SC were icy looking and clear. It was only the second cast when Abbott pulled in the first Striper!
Everyone gawked at its beauty while simultaneously and immediately throwing at the same spot Abbott just pulled this striped girl out of. I quickly snapped a picture then made my next cast. Our buddy caught one from the front of the boat. I could see the top of the water churning; bait fish were trying to swim on top of the water! I cast in the middle of them and in no time, I set the hook! I pulled up a nice striper as the heavy overcast skies begin to rain down on top of us. We ran for shelter and waited the shower out for about an hour. Then we hit the water again! Neither cold nor rain would keep us on dry land for long. We ended the day by catching a few crappie and dinner with wonderful friends. Happy New Year!
Submitted by: Annette A.
The following fish story was submitted to our weekly fish story contest for the week of 1/30/2010. If you would like to enter next weeks fish story contest for a chance to win fishing related prizes (Tackle, Rods, Reels, Electronics and other Fishing Gear) please submit your fish story or become my (Adam Fisher’s) friend on facebook by clicking the button below and ask about the contest.
