Something good usually happens

If you read my last post, you see that I had a miserable day fishing for trout but later that evening had a great experience catching my first ever goldfish.  Obviously, for me, that was something I will always remember and will most likely be one of the things I am grateful for on my annual Thanksgiving Day post. That said, I'll let you in on a secret of mine. I fully believe that I will have something memorable happen more than fifty percent of the time when I'm outside. I'm not going to tell you every fishing trip is great or every hike is world class. What I can say without hesitation,  something good usually happens.

Usually when I go out after work or on a day off whether it be fishing, birding, or hiking there will be something that will make that trip worthwhile. Rarely (but it does happen) will I drive home totally frustrated thinking I completely wasted my time. On the other hand more often than not I drive home thinking "wow, that was awesome" about something.

Obviously, when we have great days fishing, we all remember that. I'm not going to tell you more than half of my fishing trips are spectacular because that would be a bold face lie. What I mean is, while I'm fishing something memorable will happen. Sometimes of course, that "something" will be a huge fish,or a blitz will happen right in front of you.  You might even miss the fish, but you will never forget the splash.Other times fishing might not be very good but an eagle will fly by. I might be fishing in Charlestown and see half a dozen shooting stars. On the drive home from a spot I might see a coyote. One time I was striper fishing with eels and caught a four foot shark!

When you do a big trip, you are bound to have some memorable experiences. I could probably name five awesome things about each of my camping trips to New Hampshire last year. And of course one of the highlights of 2016 was looking for a rare loon and watching whales feed just offshore at Race Point.

Still, even when doing everyday outdoor activities good stuff usually happens. How many times have you walked in the woods and spooked a deer? To me, that makes the walk totally worth it. I don't know how many times I've had days where the fish weren't biting, but I'd see a wild animal or cool bird. Sometimes you can be at the right place at the right time. One day last June I tried bait fishing for tautog but all I could catch were bait stealing choggies. Finally in the late afternoon I tried for stripers hoping to get one or two. It so happened that the National Guard Airshow was going to be the next day. While I was fishing, I watched a plane drop out parachuters. They practiced their jump. I also watched one of those small engine trick planes practice over the Atlantic Ocean. I did end up catching two schoolies to salvage the fishing for that day, but honestly, watching those planes was way more exciting.

Today was no different. I got a call to see if I wanted to go fishing. I had woken up expecting snow on the ground but it was barely sprinkling out. This screwed up my day, since I was expecting to be house ridden all day, I didn't plan on doing anything. When I got the phone call, I jumped right on the idea of going fishing. The conditions were terrible. It rained and sleeted for most of the trip. The air temp was about 35 degrees and the wind was in our face. But you know what? The fish were biting. We each caught two carp and a sucker.

Suckers- either you think they are kind of cute or homely

You might ask what is so memorable about that? Well, for starters we caught fish when we both didn't expect anything. No one expects to catch open water fish when ice is falling from the sky. Secondly, I caught my first sucker of the year. Third, we watched a muskrat swim by us multiple times To top it off I caught a carp just under 20 pounds. Not a bad way to spend a few hours.If you add all of those things together, even watching a muskrat swim around  made for a day I won't soon forget.  Of course, I'd have been warmer indoors, but I had the rest of the day to warm up.

So today was a day I will always remember. Truth is most days will have something worth remembering. I could go on and on with a hundred cool memories from the last year, and thousands over the last few years.
The point I'm trying to make here is if you go outside good things are going to happen. You will never know what surprise awaits you at the next fishing hole or around the next bend if you sit at home watching tv. Good things are waiting, get outside.