Off the hook

Since we met, J's been rubbing this outdoorsy nature vibe off on me. It's a side of me that I've never had before, but always secretly wanted. My family was never the one to go camping, or canoeing, or well, much of anything athletic, but when we'd "plan" to do things like that in college or after, I was always amped to do it. But, 9 times out of 10, those plans never came through.


So you can see why when Saturday rolled around and it was 85 degrees out and my boyfriends says to me, "Let's go buy your fishing pole and go fishing today," I was giddy with glee. We packed up and made our way to the Virginia excuse for a Bass Pro Shop and picked out a cute red one (a compromise from the pink one).


We made our way to the Ocean View Fishing Pier around 6PM, and let me tell you, this place is so much fun. It's an open-air restaurant + a fishing pier on the Chesapeake Bay, and for $8 to fish and $3 for a 22oz can of beer, you've got yourself a deal! There was a band playing inside the restaurant, which made for lovely ambiance as the sun went down, plus the people watching was superb.

And now to answer the money question: did I catch anything? Well, I let J bait my hooks with bloodworms (eeeeek!) at first, and yes, I caught my first Croaker (they actually croak like a frog) and then through some disgusting process called "gut bait" I caught my second one. J, mountain man extraordinaire, caught like 7 fish, including 2 mudskippers, and he also caught an eel (btw, will definitely NOT be eating any eel sushi anytime soon--holy crap those boys are nasty!), and a horseshoe crab. If you're like me, and all, ya know, Midwestern, you think, ohhh crab, those are nice. Not this kind. They're something straight out of a nightmare. This isn't my picture; unfortch I didn't take my camera, and even if I had I'm not sure I could've mustered the courage to take a photo of one of those things. One of the fisherman who came over to ogle J's catch said that it looked like something out of the movie "Predator" to which I'd say, sir, you're absolutely right. *Shudder* We gave all of our fish to the nice couple next to us who were going to eat said fish, while we're just "catch and releasers."


It was the most fun I have had in a long time, and we're already planning our next trip. Watching the sun set on the ocean (it was really the bay, but who cares?), listening to live music, with a fishing pole in your hand...what could possible be better, I ask? Also at Bass Pro, I bought a new pair of hiking shoes for the trip to Tennessee. Which due to some crazy work stuff going on, we had to set the date today...we're leaving May 14 after work, and staying in Sewanee until driving back Sunday. In preparation, because we're both kind of insane with excitement, we set up the new tent tonight. Ya know, just to make sure we could do it. And not at all because being inside a tent inside your apartment is one of the most fun things ever.