My son Zech was down with his family for a visit last weekend. Zech and I got to fish all day last Sunday on the Pocomoke River and we had a real Huckleberry Fin/Tom Sawyer type adventure. We were using Oliver's Johnboat. The day started out on a sournote, as Zech could not get the motor started. (He's not very good with engines.) I could smell that he had flooded it and suggested that we just troll out behind Goat Island and then try to start it later. That worked. He calmed down and we got some serious fishing in before he tried again and this time he got it started. We were able to sneak under the Snow Hill Bridge before the tide got too high. Zech got it in his head that he wanted to take the Johnboat all the way up to Porter's Crossing. You've heard me talk about that enough to know that it is almost impossible to navigate a kayak through that mess of fallen debris – let alone a Johnboat, but Zech's mind was made up. We got up to the bend that I call Pickerel Hole – for that 22" Chain Pickerel I caught there a couple of weeks ago. Zech missed a couple of bass. We call our tournament the T/O Bass Classic – standing for "That's one"! That's what Zech always says to me when he catchs a fish before I do. He switched to a different section of the hole, and I started casting where he'd been casting and I caught a bass. I couldn't bring myself to say, "That's one," but you had to know that I was beaming inside! Zech decided we should head up river. We were about a mile from the Porter's Crossing Bridge only to find a huge pine tree had fallen across the river since I'd been up there last week. The tide was low so we couldn't get around the tree by going through the swamp. Zech got out of the boat and found enough solid ground to stand on and decided we would portage through the swamp – around the fallen tree. What a project that was. We had to take everything out of the Johnboat – the motor and gas tank, the trolling motor and battery, the oars, our rods and tackle bags and the lunch bag. I've been swamp mucking before, so I know how to do it, but I never had to do it while trying to help carry a Johnboat!
We made our way up to the Porter's Crossing Bridge. I suggested we just fish between the pine tree and the bridge and then have Poppa pick us up at the bridge, but Zech couldn't get those bass out of his head – the ones he had missed at the hole. So, we headed down river again. The tide was coming in, so I knew we wouldn't be able to portage – but there still wasn't enough water to float through the swamp around all the debris – so Zech said that we were going to take the Johnboat – with everything in it – over the fallen pine tree. He had me climb up onto the tree and then he climbed up and started trying to haul the boat onto the tree. I'm sorry I didn't take any photos of that – but I thought for sure we were going to end up in the water and that the boat would sink with everything in it. The river is very deep at that point. Every time Zech would pull, the back end of the boat would swing away. He finally let me help – so there we were – heave ho-ing the boat onto the tree. We started to teeter-totter it back into the river. The front end with the trolling motor looked like it was going to go right under the water – like when the Titanic went down. But it didn't. We got it over safely and went on down the river. When we were on the tree I asked Zech if he could picture my mother ever doing anything like that when she was the age I am now and he said, "Mom, I can't picture any sane person doing something like this." Not too long after that Zech caught a chain pickerel. His spirits were lifted at that point. You've all seen what Oliver is like when he's not catching. Zech's not much better! We fished along the river banks and into the little tributaries, etc. as we headed back down toward Snow Hill. Zech was getting pretty cocky about running the boat around all the stumps and downed logs in the river – a little too cocky. He didn't quite understand how the back end of the boat reacts and at one point I hollered that we were going to hit a stump with the back of the boat – one that he had just missed up front – but he didn't react fast enough and when it hit, he went flying out of the boat. He managed to catch himself – so there he was half in and half out of the water. His leg was really close to the trolling motor blades, but he didn't get cut. I couldn't help but laugh myself silly at that point as he was trying to hold himself up so as to preserve the family jewels - all the time trying to keep his foot away from the blades and trying to get back into the boat without tipping it over.
Oliver is selling the Johnboat, so that was probably the last time Zech and I will get to use it. (By the way, I would like to buy a canoe for Zech to use when he's visiting – so if anybody has one for sale, let me know.) Zech's so upset about Oliver selling that boat – so when we got back to the docks, Zech wouldn't put in while we waited for Poppa to pick us up. It was pitch black dark, but there we were zipping up and down the river between Goat Island and the shore. Zech said that he wanted to get the most out of his day on the water! I ended up winning the tournament, because Zech didn't catch any bass at all. He caught two pickerels – but they do not count in a bass tournament. All in all he still had a great time.
Hey - can you believe that we actually had snow in Snow Hill yesterday. I fished from Porter's Crossing bridge after Zech and all left on Wednesday and then again on Friday. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the snow yesterday morning! I want to get out in that kayak and catch some more of the prespawn bass - but this weather is just not cooperating.
By the way, I'm attaching a couple of photos of the mural I mentioned in my last message. I didn't get it finished completely before our company arrived, but I finished it enough for our grandsons to enjoy. I made it so that you feel like you have to swim to get from the second floor to the third floor. As I said before - I almost painted some sharks, but I figure friendly dolphins are less likely to frighten the grandchildren.
oh and I know Philip is gonna' ask, so who's fish murals, are the hand painted and who did them?
I'm working on the murals. They are almost finished. I painted a wall to ceiling mural on the third floor with a lighthouse on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Since the ocean goes down to the floor, it just made sense to paint an underwater ocean scene in the stairwell going up to that room. The room up there is our TV room and the play room for when the grandkids visit - complete with treasure chest toy boxes, etc. That is where I have all my fishing equipment. I call it the Old World Room since I have lots of sailing ships, etc. up there. I painted a huge cottage using the crawl space door through to the attic as the door to the cottage. My husband just finished making a real door for that opening. He built a neat railing so that the babies won't fall down into the stairwell. I still have a tree to paint in front of the cottage and I want to paint an old world sailing ship in the ocean on that mural.
They look fantastic! I bet the kids love them.
How did you get Wyland to paint your staircase, lol.
Nice story, sounds like a nice day.