Something Fishy Going on Around Here

February 25, 2020

Fishing lure pendant

Victorian Popper artisan pendant

 

Some husbands play golf while others build furniture or rebuild cars in their garage workshops.  Mine fishes.

 

Yukon fishing

Inconnu Lodge, Yukon 2001

 

Many of our vacations have either been solely for fishing or included fishing.  Except for one trip they were all incredibly beautiful places with wildlife on land and sea.  To find really good fishing you have to be willing to go remote and we've done that a few times with a few harrowing tales to go along with them. 

 

Selwyn Lake 2005

Selwyn Lake 2005

 

One time we were in northern Saskatchewan in early June and on the one day I decided to stay back at camp my husband and our First Nation guide got iced in and hours later were rescued by float plane.  I tend to be a worrier anyway, but when I saw the manager's face in response to my query on where was my husband when everyone else had been back at camp for a couple hours - I alternated between crying and feeling icy calm.  The First Nation guide's wife who worked in the kitchen came up to me at one point and said he was with the absolute best guide to be in this situation due to his survival skills.  Whew?

 

Sunset northern Saskatchewan 2005

 

The guide started a fire and told my husband to grab wood to feed it.  He ran around grabbing twigs and stuff on the ground and the guide said no one is going to see that, and went and pulled up a tree to feed the fire!  My husband asked whether they will sleep by the fire if they don't find us tonight and the guide laughed and said it was way too cold to sleep that they'd have to keep feeding the fire.  When I saw my husband waving to me from the back of the small arriving float plane I almost went to my knees in relief.  Without radio and it being a massive area to search we felt fortunate that they were able to find them although it was a huge advantage to being that far north as it stayed light very late in June.  

 

Float Plane, Selwyn Lake Lodge

Selwyn Lake Lodge, Northern Saskatchewan, Canada

 

Due to spending quite a bit of our lives in the Pacific Northwest we have gone fishing in Alaska and BC the most due to proximity and ability to get some fish home to eat.  We do mostly catch and release since it's just the two of us.  It's been awhile since we've gone though so I am looking forward to our scheduled return to Admiralty Island in Alaska this summer despite the expected rough plane ride into Juneau.

 

Quatsino Sound, Canada

Quatsino Lodge, Vancouver Island, British Columbia

 

Lucky for me a lifelong fisherman has allure and quite a few lures.

I've grabbed a few over the years for crafts and in this case a fun and beautiful pendant which combines an old hula popper lure with half of a Victorian buckle.  I actually began working on this pendant many years ago and the initial version was published in Jewelry, The Zine by Catherine Witherell and Deryn Mentock in 2009.  It sat in one of my unfinished boxes for I guess 10 years!  I love the final version and hope someone else will make a splash wearing it.

 

"You know when they have a fishing show on TV?

They catch the fish and then let it go.

They don't want to eat the fish, 

they just want to make it late for something."  Mitch Hedberg