Wannaskan Almanac for Tuesday, May 30, 2023...It Isn't Crap Pie

I have an old friend.  Everybody needs an old friend.  For instance, if you are 90 years old find yourself an old friend who is a hundred.  That way you will feel younger while you are hanging out together.  It is kind of how I feel when I get together with the staff of the Wannaskan Almanac. 

My old friend is about 25 years older than me.  His name is Bob.  He likes fishing and talking about how bad my old truck is...in that order.  I enjoy fishing with Bob.  The other day we went to a little lake (there are no big lakes in Kansas...at least not around where I live) and started catching crappie.  We were down the shore a bit from a Vietnamese family that was also fishing for crappie.  We were catching them pretty much regularly, but the family down the shore wasn't catching any.  We were practicing catch and release, which seemed to frustrate the family down the shore.  

They eventually sent a little girl over with a five gallon bucket.  She asked if we would put the fish in there for her.  We were happy to oblige.  After about 20 minutes, they had a nice pile of crappie.

Pail o'fish

Every time we would put a fish in the bucket, the little girl would clap and shout happily.  After a while the dad came down to see how we were landing so many, and we set him up with a rig that was more Kansas lake crappie friendly.  After a while he began catching them too.  The little girl left us and brought the pail over to her dad and started cheering him on.  We were pretty happy with that!

Today Bob and I went fishing at an even smaller lake.  I ended up with about 25 blue gill while Bob got skunked.  Kind of a bitter sweet feeling when you out fish an old friend.  Toward the end I was starting to cast without bait just to give him more of a chance.  I still ended up catching one.

By the time this appears in print I will be out fishing on Lake of the Woods while my old friend stays in Kansas.  He tells me that his old back won't endure the trip.  I figure I got to get an RV or something that he could just lean back in a recliner and enjoy the ride.  Maybe some day.  Don't put those days off too far when you have an "old" friend!