My Fish Story

Day 8

Today was the first day of relaxation atToledo Bend! If you have never heard of this place, it is known for it's awesome bass fishing. The facilities here are the best we have seen so far. Everything is clean and new looking. The view of the water is beautiful. Best of all, there have been no raccoons messing with us!

We decided to explore the campsite for a bit. We wanted to meet some of our neighbors, but everyone we met had already heard of us! We are pretty famous here in Toledo Bend! Word has spread quickly about our journey. Everyone has very encouraging words to say. When we are on the road struggling, that encouragement helps us get through the day!

We rented a canoe early in the day. We launched from the boat launch and went out for a nice paddle. We rode in the canoe back to our campsite, I would guess it was about 3-4 miles. Rheann spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around camp, and I went fishing.

The fish weren't biting early on, so I just spent most of the day casting my line and reeling it in. It started to get tedious after a while. I was fighting the current for most of the day, but by dusk I just started to let it push me around. I caught a couple little bass that I had to throw back. 

It was time to face the fact that we were only having beans for supper. I was about to go in when I decided to cast one last time. I felt an abrupt tug on the line, so I set the hook, HARD. I could tell by the fight the fish was giving me that it was a keeper. I fought him for about 30 seconds and then....SPLASH! The fish jumped out of the water! Now that I saw that he was big enough for dinner, I got excited! I continued to reel him in, and just when he was getting close to the boat, my rod snapped in half! I didn't really have time to think, I reached for the line with my hand, and the canoe nearly tipped over! I knew that if the line got some slack in it the fish would get off the hook, so I just pulled in the line as fast as I could. I finally got him in the boat. I've caught bigger fish before, but I was so excited because we finally had meat for supper!

I didn't waste any time after I caught him, I went straight to the fish cleaning pier and got us some bass filets. Rheann put some Mexican seasoning on them and we had delicious fish tacos for dinner.

I am going to wake up early tomorrow morning so I can ride 6 miles to the nearest store for a replacement rod. I want to do some more fishing!