'Twas the night before bass season and all through the house....

[blakstr1]

Tonight 4.28.06, on the eve of our new early catch and release season, I spent time doing the familiar night before fishing tasks.  Filled the boat with oil, made sure the batteries were charged, got the boat loaded with gear, tied a couple lures on and hooked the boat up to the truck.  I enjoyed tonight more than usual, it was like Christmas Eve as a 6 year old!  I kept playing the next day over in my mind, where I would start and what I would do if this or that wasn?t working, not second guessing myself but trying to visualize in order to capitalize.  Somewhere in my insanity my wife reminded me tomorrow wasn?t a tournament day and I should just relax and enjoy myself.  I agreed with her at least a little and decided I had most everything ready and began to focus on my family so we took a ride out to the Freeland Walleye Festival.  I talked to a bunch of would be tournament anglers getting ready for their next morning?s tournament.  My wife nudged me and said they are acting like you, I laughed a bit but realized it was true.  I had myself so worked up over our bass opener that my intensity and attitude rivaled the walleye anglers getting ready for a tournament.  I?m sure my feelings are the same as most of yours, we love our sport and have mild obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to fishing?some mild some severe.

I decided it was time to sleep so I could get going in the morning, my mind however still buzzing thinking about how my boat would perform, my newly installed GPS, and the whacking of some bass.

My dog shared my excitement for the opener as she woke me up as 5:00am with a big slurp on the face.  I stumbled around the house for a while and left for Wixom Lake about 6:00am.  It was great to be driving north, with the familiar weight of my bass boat behind me.  It smelled like a fishing morning, it sounded like a fishing morning, and I was smiling.  Fishing season is here and life for this angler has started again, life is good, oh yeah life is really good.  As the sun continues to rise I am reminded about how fortunate I am and the good graces and life lessons that have allowed me to be at the position in life I'm in.  I'm humbled and speechless, swallowed hard and got on with my next adventure.   

For a link to my Wixom Lake fishing report click here: http://www.greatlakesbass.com/forum/index.php?topic=771.0