Our first stop was at the Sunoco gas station in Potsdam; I needed my cup of Gulliver's hazelnut coffee and Michael needed a bottle of water. Next stop was Dunkin Donuts. It is a tradition that I bring donuts for the trip when I go fishing with dad. We got 6 donuts. I let Michael pick out three of them and said that he could have some, but that he would have to wait until we got on the boat.
On the way to Clayton, Michael and I had a conversation about castles. I shared with him the story about Boldt Castle. I knew that we would arrive a few minutes late, but I thought it would be neat for Michael to actually see the castle. There is a spot in Alexandria Bay, which is on the way to Clayton, that you can see Boldt Castle. We made the side trip and Michael with impressed with it. I also shared with Michael that the Thousand Island Bridge Authority owns Boldt Castle and that I used to paint the bridge during the summers when I college student. On rainy days, we would go to Boldt Castle and paint the steel rafters in the attic. Another interesting point: one of the muskies that was caught on my father's boat is displayed in the billards room at the castle.
We arrived at the marina and my dad greeted us. After quick trips to the bathroom, we all jumped in the boat and my dad skillfully maneuvered the boat out of the boat slip. I'm truly amazed how my dad maneuvers the boat in & out of his slip since it located in the corner the building and there are always boats behind him that he has to avoid hitting.
"Time to open the donut box", I said to Michael. We opened the box and to our amazement one donut was missing. I asked Michael if he had already had one and he said no. Strange I thought since I know we got six donuts and the white frosting to the one missing was on the box. Michael grabbed a donut while my dad and I passed on having any. My dad did have two later in the day and the missing donut remained a mystery.
We got to our first fishing spot, baited our hooks, and dropped our lines in the water. My dad provided Michael with instructions of how to drop his line down and Michael caught on quickly. We were there for about 15 minutes and didn't get any bites. "Time to move, why stay in a spot where there is no action," said dad.
We were on the move to waters located in Canada when dad decided to try one more spot on the US side of the St. Lawrence River. We had our lines down for about 5 minutes when Michael informed me that he thought he had bottom. I grabbed his pole and brought the line tight. The jerking of the line revealed to me that Michael had a fish. I gave him the pole back and told him to begin reeling. He was reeling and all of a sudden the pole bent over and the line went out to deeper waters. My dad and I looked at each other and said "he either has a northern pike or muskie." After a few minutes of reeling, the fish was netted and in the boat. The fish was a northern pike measuring about 28 inches. Nice fish, Michael!! After a picture, we threw the pike back into the water. I encouraged dad to give Michael the traditional fisherman handshake: shake hands before washing the fish slime off. Dad originally hestitated, but then decided to do it. Michael didn't seem to mind. This is a sign that Michael is an experienced fisherman now - he has had the traditional fisherman handshake.
Michael ended up catching a few perch at this same spot. By the time that we were on our way to Canadian waters again, Michael had out fished me in quantity and size. Not bad for his first time out.
On the ride to Canada, Michael asked a lot of questions about the tackle and instrumentation on the boat. He was able to see the us cross the border line on dad's GPS unit. It was pretty interesting. Michael also got to see how my dad finds fish with his depth & fish finder.
My dad and I shared how fishing was a lot different then when I learned how to fish. We didn't have all the fancy instrumentation. We used to go to a spot, put our lines in, and wait for the fish to bite. Now if my dad doesn't mark any fish in an area, he doesn't stop to fish there.
We were at our next stop and Michael caught his first small mouth bass.
We ended up keeping the bass. After dad placed it into the fish well, Michael walked over to him to initiate the tradtional fisherman handshake. My dad looked at him, laughed, and shook Michael's hand.
We caught a total of 6 small mouth bass, two perch, and Michael's one pike. All in all it was a good day of fishing.
Michael learned a lot about fishing. He eventually was able to bait his own hook and take bait off from his hook when it was dead. He also got a lesson in cleaning the fish, but I don't think he enjoyed this part as much as fishing. He also got to eat some of what we caught on Saturday night since we had a fish dinner at his house with the rest of his family.
Thanks for letting my dad and I share our fishing knowledge with you Michael. It was great to spend the day with you and teach you all that we know about fishing. You've graduated from fishing 101 to fishing 102 now and remember what your mom said about the bait that we use in fishing 102.
Michael and I had a conversation about the mystery of the missing donut on the way home. We concluded that my dad must have given one to the marina owner since he was standing next to the boat when we boarded the boat.
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