A golden reward after a long day

I had today off from work. I planned on trout fishing all day. The weather was going to be sunny in the low 50's. Friday's forecast is for 2-6 inches of snow/rain mix, So I figured I'd better get out and enjoy today. When I go on trout adventures I either make a day of it down the Cape or Plymouth. Today I chose Plymouth simply because it was closer.

The lakes kicked my ass today. I tried four different ponds and fished about 4.5 hours. The only fish I caught was an 8 inch largemouth on a spinner. I tried all types of lures including spoons, spinners, casting bubble/fly. I even stooped so low as to use Powerbait. Nothing. I probably saw fifteen other guys fishing today and never saw another fish caught. My theory is I never found schools of fish. I can't believe that fish in four ponds casting everything I had at them were just "fussy". Whether my theory is right or not, the only thing I came home with was a big goose egg.

Believe it or not, when I was about ready to come home I texted my friend Dave to see if he was going carp fishing in the evening. Maybe I'm a sucker for punishment. He called me up a few minutes later and told me he was skiing but planned on fishing on his way home. This was a good idea for him. The pond was only a few minutes off of the highway. Yesterday he caught over 20 fish at this spot!!!

For me, if I wanted to fish with him it meant driving another hour in the direction opposite of Plymouth. He called me back when I was in a mile long traffic jam at the rotary in Middleboro. I told him, at beast the chances of me going were 50/50.

I  got home about 4 pm. I sat in the house wondering what I'd do if I didn't go out again. The thought that Dave caught twenty fish and a goldfish kept running through my mind. So I was off again at 4:45.

Man am I glad I went. When I got there Dave had already landed 8 fish. He ended up getting about five more while I was there. I did not catch a carp. However, I caught my first two goldfish ever. I have wanted to catch these guys for years. I was fishing with Dave one night a few years ago and he caught a few of them. He knew how bad I wanted to catch one so he had me cast right in his spot. He continued catching them while I couldn't buy a hit. That was probably four years ago, and I have wanted to catch one ever since.

The goldfish was decent size, maybe just over a pound. They are short but full of eggs so tough to accurately guess the weight. It is irrelevant anyway. What matters was catching a really cool new species. Glad I took the ride down.

The red that you see is not blood.
these fish have little tiny specks of red in
some of there scales. Some scales have more red than
others, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason