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ONE MORE TIME…….
The thought of casting my line and immediately reeling in a fish was the thought I had prior to getting to the Eldred Preserve in upstate New York. However, my reality was quite different! There are four stocked ponds for fishing: two filled with brown, golden and rainbow trout, and the others with bass and/or catfish. The Preserve has a “catch and keep” policy, which means that after you pay the $2.50 entrance fee, you pay for the fish that you catch at a price per pound.
I watched intently as I was taught how to tie a spinner with a “feathery thing” on the newly installed line of my department store fishing pole. Thread it, twist it, thread it through the first loop, back through the second, lick the line and pull it tight. That part was easy. My experience with the actual fishing part was not nearly as simple – I didn’t catch anything!
Maybe I give up too easily or maybe because I really just plain don’t like fishing deep down in my bones. I am not sure of the reason, but I have tried on several occasions to like fishing, and I do like it when I am catching fish – even if it’s only sunnies with my girls. Comparatively, though, when I am bowhunting and am sitting in the woods, even when I don’t actually get a shot at a deer, I still enjoy being in the woods. With fishing, when I am not catching anything, I just feel frustrated!
Nothing against the Preserve – other people were catching fish – the fly fishing guy caught 12; another man caught 6 with small garden worms; a young girl caught one with a little bobber on the line; and a woman, in a short skirt and high heels, yelled, “I got one!” excitedly more than once. I tried worms (whole pieces and cut up), two spinners (a large and a small), a cricket (live and mechanical), tried reeling faster then slower, letting the spinner and cricket float nearer the top, then another time lower in the water, but nothing was biting on my line! Is it possible to give off a negative vibe through the fishing pole down the line to the fish in the water? Sounds far-fetched, but I was beginning to think that was the problem! “All” I had to do was drop my line in the water – there were definitely fish in the ponds, but I still couldn’t do it!
The Eldred Preserve is a picturesque place to spend a day. It was quiet and uncrowded, (even on a sunny Sunday) plenty of benches and picnic tables, a restaurant on premise, as well as a shop that will clean and prepare your fish for the ride home. There is also a well-stocked store, complete with fly fishing rods and equipment, bass lures, trout fishing accessories, and a reel re-spooling service that will give you new line in minutes while you wait. The nets to land the fish and a pail to keep them in while you fish are provided at no additional cost. There is also a motel and cabin rentals for longer stays.
After a nice lunch, I decided to try again. There had been a brief cloud burst; perhaps that would change my luck! The fly fishing man near me caught a huge rainbow fish right before my very eyes! I took a picture of his prize to encourage me. I cast the mechanical cricket a few times, alternating reel, stop, reel which made it dive deeper. I got a bite! I can see the fish and it looks to be a 1-2 pound trout, but in my excitement, I let the line go slack for just a second, and it’s gone as fast as it was there!
So, I, too, try one more time. Unbelievably, just as the cricket hits the water, a large rainbow leaps straight out of the water not two feet from my line! I laugh out loud and think “only me!” At this point, everyone else has left the pond. Several fish are jumping sporadically around the pond. It is about dinnertime and the fish are literally jumping out of the water, but I still haven’t caught a fish!
As I start to pack up and leave, I can’t help but cast one more time. My day has not been a complete wash – I’ve finally caught a fish! Woo-hoo! I am so excited I am shaking! My first ever rainbow trout – not real big or small – it weighs in at 1.3lbs. It doesn’t matter to me – I am just happy to have caught one after a full day of fishing. Now that the fish are biting my line, I can’t leave. I cast one more time, and a bigger brown trout (2.5lbs) comes after the cricket, just like Jaws – I watch it approach and open its mouth on the lure. It is caught! I reel it in still shaking. My luck has changed and I am hooked as well!
Picture captions: Even the worms won’t cooperate today!
Eldred Preserve, NY
Brook at Eldred Preserve.
Finally! Author with her prize fish!
