My First Time

My passion for fishing began when I was 8 years old.

It was an early Saturday morning at our cottage in Val Des Bois, Quebec and I wanted to go fishing but my dad's pounding headache from too many Labatt 50's the night before guilted my mom (in her nightie and with a pack of smokes in one hand), to get in the rowboat and take me out on the river. She paddled up and down for at least two hours while I trolled a yellow beetle when I hooked into a 5-pound walleye!

Back to the cottage with the walleye still on the line because neither of us knew how to take a fish off and we took the whole thing to my dad (still passed out on the sofa).

"Dad! Dad! Lookit what I caught!"

My father's jolted-awake response?

"HOLY. FUCK."

Years of dreaming of being the guy flying around the lake at 70 mph have passed since then, and every time the line twitches it brings me back to that day and I feel the same adrenaline rush and excitement.

Just for the record? I've since learned how to take fish off the hook.