My girlfriend Jean and I were sitting in front of the expansive picture window in my Grandmother's living room. The house was set back about 150 yards from a big lake and the view of the shore was framed by the trees of the north woods. My Grandmother went to the hall closet and returned with a pair of binoculars. We took turns looking through them, out this portal to nature. Our attention was directed to one of these trees near the shore in which a pair of bald eagles were nesting. We watched as one of the parents returned to the nest with food. It was fascinating you the parents cared for their young.
As the sun crept higher in the sky, the day warmed and it became obvious it would be another beautiful Minnesota day. I looked at Jean and asked , "Would you like to go out on the water? Maybe do some fishing?"
"Sure, I'll just go change into something better for boating."
She went into her bedroom and I put the binoculars away in the hall closet. Back in the living room I saw she was dressed in a white tank top, floral patterned skirt and sandals, not too different from the khaki shorts and University of Minnesota tee shirt and boat shoes I was sporting. We went out of the house and the dew, still wet in the grass was getting Jean's feet wet. I bent down and she hopped up on my back for a piggy-back ride to the pier. I walked down the slope to the shore and put her set her down on the first planks of the long pier.
I ducked into the boat house and emerged with a tackle box, some floating seat cushions and two oars. Then I lead the way down the pier to the boat, our footsteps echoed off the water beneath them and a loon splashed is way out of the water and into the air about 300 yard to their right. The pier went past many of the reeds that were in the shallow water near the shore. The insects hummed loudly and we saw many dragonflies waltzing in the air. At the end of the pier were two boats. One, a large pontoon boat that was my Grandmother's, was very comfortable. The other, a small wooden row boat, was the one I planned to use. Only about 12 ft long, it was easy to handle alone. First I tossed in the seat cushions, two by the bow and one on the back bench where I figured Jean would sit. Then I put the tackle box behind the middle seat and finally put the oars in the oar locks. Standing up, I turned and held Jean's hand and helped her down into the the boat. After untying the stern line and the bow line, I stepped down into the center of the boat. It rocked gently under my weight, but I was accustom to its motions and easily sat down. Gently I shoved the boat off the pier and started rowing.
I faced the back of the boat as I rowed and could see the pier grow smaller as the boat made progress out onto the lake. More importantly, I could watch Jean from this position. The sun shone down on her long dark hair and the eyes sparkled in its light. Her smile beamed back at me as she became conscious of my looks. I stoked the oars to my own rhythm and whistled a little chantey, the sun heating my shirt and a sweat started to build up on my lean arms. Jean's skin began to glow too in the heat of the sun. I loved the little row boat. It was easy to maneuver, it was great exercise and much more intimate than the large pontoon boat. After about 20 minutes I had rowed the boat out past all the reeds to an area that I liked to fish. The lake bed was transitioning from sand to larger rocks with a short weeds near the bottom. It was a good place to fish for perch.
I stopped rowing and Jean asked, "Say, were are the fishing poles?"
"I didn't bring any fishing poles. I figured we could drop line fish."
"Hm, I have never drop line fished before."
"Oh. Don't worry. It is really easy," said I as I opened the tackle box and removed a drop line from the bottom.
The drop line consisted of a hook, a short leader, and about 25ft of black braided fishing line. I put a small purple plastic worm on the hook and handed it to Jean.
"Just lower the line out until it hits the bottom and then raise it up about 8 inches," I explained. "Then just hold the line over your index finger and wait."