Here Fishy Fishy Fishy

Adventure: Fly-Fishing

Place Proud Lake Wixom , MI

People: Joe and Shannon

Cost : $0 ( for the day but equipment was previously purchased)

OOOOOOOh I love the Fishes because they’re so fun to catch. …Gonna go fishing gonna go fishing!!!! That’s right ladies and gentlemen I love to go fishing. You might have thought that I was just all about museums, eating and things of that nature but you were wrong. I like to get down and dirty and go outdoors camp catch a fish or two go hiking, biking get my hands dirty. Since I haven’t done anything like that lately I thought it might be time and well about a week ago it was perfect weather for my first Fly-fishing experience. So I jumped in *Kiki * my kiwi colored escape* and I was on my way.

  Just a little back-story for everyone, this past Christmas I received my first set of fishing waders From Joe and I have been itching to use them ever since. For those of you that don’t know what waders are, they are like a set of cover alls for the water. They are the most UN attractive things you will ever see. They make you look like you put on about 60 pounds they are waterproof so you can go stand in the freezing cold river and fish for some cute little fishes up close and personal.

Alrighty on with the adventure story…we arrived at Proud lake at about 1 in the afternoon there were plenty of other Fishermen out already fishing the hot spot but I was Proud to be the only Fisherwoman out their. I put on all my gear tucked my socks into my pants and put my fly rod together. Made sure that I had my newly acquired fishing license…. Yes folks we must make sure we follow the rules.  Then we walked down to a little more private fishing area settled into our spot and then gulp it was time for me to head into the river.

IT WAS FREEZEING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  But being the wondrous adventurous trooper that I am I continued on full throttle into the river farther and farther make sure to remember the key points to fly-fishing in waders. 1) Always keep one foot on the ground 2) don’t ever walk backwards 3) don’t fall into the freezing river water. After Joe gave me quick lessons on fly-casting I was on my own.

There’s just something more to being in a river in the fishes nature habitat trying to catch them than just sitting in a boat trying to catch them. I feel as thoughts maybe were on a more even playing field? Maybe its because I can feel the current of the water against my legs, or hear the fish come up out of the water behind me. I could see the rocks underneath me and the water running over them, the sticks and other natural debris floating in the water I just felt at peace standing there in the extremely cold body numbing water. I am a catch and release fisher I only do it for the fun of it not for the eating purposes. However my first hour out I wasn’t having any luck catching so I couldn’t even release. Joe caught a couple fish but he didnt follow one of the rules of Fly-Fishing with Shannon Rule number 10) after you catch the fish before you release them give the fish a kiss and tell them its going to be okay before you put them back in the water........ he forgot the kiss part.

            I unfortunately didn’t catch anything my first time out, well except maybe a cold the verdict is still out on where it came from exactly.  But I didn’t learn that I Love the sport more than I thought. My next step is to learn to tie my own flies and convince Joe that fish wouldn’t be scared of a set of pink waders. We packed up all out stuff headed back to Kiki poured some hot chocolate, took off all our fishing gear and headed for home. This year will definitely be one of many fishing trips. I hope to do a fishing weekend where I can involve camping as well. I really enjoyed the Proud lake spot it was clean, easy to get to and not to far of a distance from my house. On to my next adventure!