My youngest son, Alden, and I were going on a little bit of an impromptu trip to the camp last spring. We were going to kayak fish in the "boat hole" up at the camp. The "boat hole" is quite a story in itself, Civil war, gold, flooding.....but that story is for another day.
On the ride up, Alden noticed that I wasn't wearing a seatbelt. My older truck has a feature that if you push the seatbelt release button the warning goes off. I like it. He asked me why I didn't wear it. I said that I had two reasons. One, is that the seatbelt law was kind of a hoodwink on the people of Louisiana. It was sold to us that one of the reasons our automobile insurance rates were so high, is because we didn't have a seatbelt law. Well now we have a seatbelt law and our insurance rates are still the second highest in the USA. And number two is that I have been driving for 43 years and I haven't needed a seatbelt yet......
Selfish, He said that I was selfish. Me? The one that traipsed all over the country with you playing baseball, and ....."what do you mean", I asked. He said, "you're selfish. You could be killed in a wreck and we wouldn't have you anymore". Well I was taken aback. I had never thought about it that way and it was a little chilling. So just like that I am wearing my seatbelt much more diligently and hoping I never need it.
Below is Alden pulling up to the bank of the boat pond.
Here is our rig before heading out.
And he let me use the Hobbie!!!! What a kid!
You know it got me to thinking about the Catcher's Mitt. Sure you can handle a fish without it, but you never know when a fish is going to wiggle the wrong way when you're trying to get the hook out and it ends up in a finger or your hand. Or you flip the fish in the boat and you reach down to grab it and it flounces and a fin pokes you or the hook gets you. Wearing a Catcher's Mitt is a lot like wearing your seatbelt, you just never know when you're going to need it. Plus it keeps the slime off of your hands and clothes.
You can get a Catcher's Mitt at our new web address that is catchy and easy to remember. www.reelfun.fish