Latest fishing trip.

Well, to call my last fishing adventure successful might be a slight overstatement, but I still enjoyed it.  Friday, with the weather as nice as it was, Heather and I couldn't resist another trip on the river with the canoe.  After rounding up all of our gear, we headed to a favored location along the mighty St. John River.  We pushed the canoe off the mud bank that I call a boat launch, and set off with high hopes of hooking into a monster fall muskie.  As we drifted slowly along probing the depths of the river bottom with a myriad of lures, I decided that I should have tried to start the motor before drifting this far from where the pickup was parked.  With reluctance, I set my fishing pole down (I was scared Heather was going to catch a fish before me and up the score even higher), and attempted to start the motor.  For a little background, I run an Old Town XL Tripper canoe with a side mounted 6 h.p. Johnson.  The motor is a 1979, and although it has left me paddling a couple of times, it runs quite well considering its rough life.  A few cranks later, and me starting to worry just slightly, I heard it kick over, and one more pull roared it to life, which calmed my fears of having to paddle the canoe back up stream.  Now the worrying was over and it was time to fish.  We cruised up the river stopping at all of our traditional spots, trying to hook into a fish, and as we continued along, I began to fear I might be experiencing my first "skunked" trip of the season.  As the hours passed, I tried all kinds of different lures that I hoped would provoke a response, and fished the holes in every way I could think of.  We trolled current lines of deep pools, cast countless times in every direction, and no matter what we tried, we could not seem to entice a fish.  The day was far from a loss, as Heather and I got to spend a beautiful fall day on the river, and got to see a multitude of birds including a Great Blue Heron which seemed to be investigating all of the same areas we were.  It also takes some unsuccessful days to make you really appreciate what you have when you are successful.  We will just have to get back out there and try again!