When Joseph had to prepare a short speech in grade one, I suggested he talk about his three favourite things in life - food, fishing and fire. That title described all our boys perfectly and soon the three “F” words became a traditional family joke.
One of my most vivid memories that captures life at the cottage, is six year-old Joseph hopping out of bed at 6:00 a.m.before anyone else was awake, throwing shorts and a t-shirt on and running out the door without breakfast. He would grab a fishing rod on the back porch and run down the hill to the lake to start casting.
I still grin at this little boy's obsession.
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Daniel was more intrigued with the minnow trap, shredding bread, counting how many minnows were in the trap and yelling as he ran back up the hill to share his excitement with everyone. The girls and I would just smile and shake our heads at both boys because we could not fathom why anyone could become so excited over tiny fish.
The whole family kept a constant eye on the two boys, sending various siblings to fish beside Joseph or catch minnows with a net with Daniel. Matthew, their older brother or Michael would stroll down to fish beside them for an hour or so or the older girls would read or suntan in shifts, just to make sure neither of them drowned. Often I would have to practically bribe them to come in to put on sunscreen, a hat, to eat, or to get ready for bed.
Where did this passion come from?
Why from dear old Dad, who still can fish for over 12 hours, without food or even docking for a few minutes to stretch his legs. Even winter does not curtail fishing in our family. Ice fishing is almost as popular as trawling from a boat. My husband also loves fly fishing and in the off-season ties his own flies. The handmade flies are gorgeous.
The scariest fishing partnership is my husband and my future son-in-law. They both are fisherman. Put the two of them together and they stay out on the lake even longer! If they are not catching fish they stay out till they catch someand. If they are catching fish, they do not want to stop.Since both men are called Michael, we call them Mike Squared or Mike to the Power of 2. This is another family joke that never fails to trigger huge smiles.
The women in the family shy away from such fishing marathons because unlike men, we need official pit stops to duck behind the bushes every couple of hours. Stunned indignation meets requests to go to shore and offers of other solutions for our bladder needs!! We refuse these alternatives, of course!
Out of necessity, Claire now is an avid fisher woman because her partner is Michael. Some weekends she would barely see that fellow unless she tagged along. I must admit, though, that she totes a survival bag with food and a good book.
Yep. Food, fishing and fire, especially fishing, are three great passions at our house, at least for the males.
