Wednesday 23 July 2014

Fishing Adventure

It was about time I got out to the creek in the canoe, and made use of my fishing licence.  Ours might be called a waterfront property; we do border a creek, but the space between the fenceline and the shore is so dense with tall waterweeds, and so boggy, that only a rugged adventurist like myself would bother wading through it, dragging the canoe alongside in the little tributary that leads to the creek, scaling the beaver dam along the way.  I got into the canoe and paddled up to the creek and felt the exhiliration of being on the open water.  Not a soul around, just me and the vast winding waterway.  I admit, it's nearly still water, flowing so slowly you don't know which way is upstream, and the weeds are thick and get tangled in the paddle, but calm is wonderful, and there is a steady rotation of cranes and other water birds to bedazzle.

I cast my fishing line and waited, fiddled with the line, and managed to get it badly tangled.  I couldn't reel the line in, but, given how resourceful I am, I sort of grabbed it and pulled, swinging it back towards me when a fish finally bit, unhooked the fish, tossed it into the creek after seeing how tiny it was, and wondered what one does to find fish of a decent size.  I figured the lake on the other side of the highway might be better.  There is a culvert just tall enough to pass through if you duck, and just wide enough to manoever if you are very steady.  It is flush with spider webs, and I held out my paddle like a sort and swatted at them.  Some looked like black widows, longish legs and a smooth shiny body.  I came out the other side and swatted the big spider that had found its way onto my arm.  I looked back at the tiny opening and wondered why I had gone through.  Peter's Lake is not exactly Lake Louise.  It's weedy like the creek, with algae clouds that look like rocks that disintegrate when you poke them.  After catching and releasing a few more tiny fish, I went back through to my side, taxied back to the farm, and got to chores.

No, I am not really a rugged outdoorsman.  But I like being outside, I like farming, but there is something appealing about the wild, even the relatively tame wild.  I recently walked my property line, and found a thread of wild raspberries.  While they are not as sweet as the kind you get at a garden centre, they are perhaps even more delicious for their tart taste, and they are just there, spreading slowly.  I can spend an hour in the patch, picking at them like a chicken locating worms in a pile of soil (incidentally, the chickens and I had to fight over worms as I was collecting bait.  They are incredibly quick at finding worms).  The nice thing about berry picking is that, unlike with fishing, you can count on having something to show for your efforts.  I had enough to eat as I picked, eat a few when I came in, and then freeze some for a winter day when I want to defrost them and add them to oatmeal.



2 comments:

  1. We found wild berries, maybe blackberries in our Scarborough back yard. Made some muffins, very crunchy but good!We are enjoying callaloo Very nice greens to eat with okra.

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  2. I tried okra for the first time a couple of weeks and it was delicious. I made an egg and tomato dish and added some sliced okra. It will be on the planting roster for next year as well.

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