At the Cabin: Wild Sunset Fishing

It was decided that some people would take an evening sunset fishing trip out on the lake.  Many children, three grown ups and a dog climbed aboard the pontoon.  Now, the first thing you need to know is that the pontoon is an old and crumbling, yet appreciated boat.  You never know how it is going to run, what pieces might be missing, or what catastrophe a trek on the water with this machine might turn into, which makes every pontoon ride at the cabin an adventure.  Will the motor completely stop leaving everyone stranded in the middle of the lake?  Do the lights actually work if we are out past the sunset rule?  What is that wheezing sound?   Honestly, I’d have it no other way.  I hope it never gets replaced.  The cabin would not be the same without this pontoon.

The second thing you need to know is that we had a large number of hyper children (the tiniest were probably up way past their ordinary bedtime)  on this small pontoon, and they were all equipped with fishing poles with hooks.  They were all casting their hook laden fishing lines into the lake from every possible direction, and I consider it a major miracle that I disembarked from the pontoon without having any part of my body sliced by a fishing hook traveling at high speed.  In fact, there were few if any even minor injuries, so I consider that success.  You wouldn’t have believed the number of tangles:  fishing lines tangled and knotted on the fishing pole they originated from, and fishing lines that crossed other fishing lines, and fishing lines that decided to morph into additional fishing poles.

The third thing you need to know about this fishing trip is that some of these photographs make the evening look calm and peaceful.  I concede that the water and scenery were calm and peaceful, and the sunset was beautiful,  but let me assure you that this was a wild boat full of wild kids.  It’s amazing that any fish were caught with all the jumping and stomping and shifting and hollering and noise and drama.  It was quite the night, and I was happy to be in the middle of it with my camera.