Well folks, here I go again…I decided to redeem my free-ride coupon that was extended to me @last Christmas timeline @ our 1st West coast Saltfest. At the conclusion of C.C’s 1st successful Saltfest and the stereotypical handshakes and sendoff back at Vic & Eileen’s vehicle for a safe 2 hr. trip back East, Vic extended the “Well Doug, if you ever get up to Crescent City way, let me know I’ll take ya out”. Well 8 weeks later and the sands of Vic’s Southern hourglass looking scant(1 week’s worth), I decided to stand in the coupon redemption line via pm with Vic(Anchorman). After a slight bit of confusion, Vic thought I was offering HIM a saltwater seat before heading North, lol…things got realigned and he cordially agreed in offering up his Queen’s(Eileen) seat.
Next on the scheme of things was an agreeable date which turned out to be today. He forewarned me that the fish-catching has been meager but some quality has been seen. The beautifully scenic lakeside meetup @the ramp only added to the day although periodic fog out conditions yielded to GPS navigation but later was changed out to windless Florida, noticeably sticky, conditions. It didn’t take long for Captain Vic to commence with his early morning exercise routine tending to extremely misshapen 12′ graphite rod arching in harmony with full-shouldered Crescent specks. He kindly reminded me that his real 1st mate would have been net-ready more promptly…that nudge easily remedied that! After a handful or so of true brutes, Captain Vic yielded the baton to me to show me HIS netting timeliness obviously learned from Eileen. It definitely was a trip to remember especially later in the trip when I revealed to Vic my Post title after we agreed to the date. It went like this “hey Vic just to let you know I already have a title picked out for today’s recap, he said oh yeah, what’s that? You know what today is? He said Friday. No, what date is today?
Honestly, non-workforce folks aren’t really required to know that anymore, so I said the 22nd…thus the Catch22. Those that know Vic may be aware that he is on @sunrise off @5-6 hours later, that’s cool. Here’s where it gets a little scary=Vic looks down @his rod-holder hung iced water-bathed fish clicker and reads 21!! I said well 22 would be a better number at least for story tell. He replied well we got 20 minutes left, my response “might as well make it 22 minutes Vic. Now, mind you, we had been in dry/no fish time for a bunch of minutes. I’m not kidding with only 2 minutes left on the game clock Captain Vic’s rod sounded the net alarm and I netted the final well-shouldered 13 incher with now #22 captured for the ice bath. Thanks again Vic for another unforgettable trip. Safe return North later next week. Enjoy the pics-
Doug
