A NEW TRADITION, or a TRADITION CHANGED...
Never let it be known that the BBs of BL are closed to new ideas--- I invited my wife to go fishing with us today. My neighbor, the Other Member of the BB of BL, just smiled and said "The more fishing the Better" as he helped pile gear into our boat, The Doghouse. Imagine this incursion against manly tradition---the image of a GIRL sitting in the same boat with two grizzled, fish-hooked veterans of the fish wars. Boy, we were in for a lesson; that was for sure. We took our early morning pilgrimage to Fishtrap Lake (after stopping for our traditional early morning coffee--- grizzled veteran eyes rolled as a Chai tea went for my wife) and backed the boat into the lake just a hair past 7:00. With my wife helping as if she had done this sort of thing her whole life, we stowed our gear and shoved-off in record time and, before the fish could send for additional reinforcements, we were on our way down the west side of the lake. The weather was cold, with a bit of wind keeping us thankful that we included our windbreakers this day. My wife did not complain about the weather all morning, which kept us grizzled veterans of the fishing wars quiet about the weather, too. No sense in being outdone in complaining…especially when the other side doesn’t do any complaining at all. It did not rain on our fishing outing, either. We grizzled veterans thought as we waited for our lures to do their work: Do wives keep the rain away? Do fish actually follow the boat? Is there such a thing as TOO much bait on a fishhook? And...Wouldn’t pancakes be wonderful right about now (the obligatory "I'm hungry" thought)? Such Pearls of Thought floated in the BBs of BL heads until we saw our fishing poles begin to dance in our hands--- There were fish here! The fish responded eagerly (and, in most cases, tenaciously) to the offerings of Wedding Ring Lures (what other kind of lure is there?). The combination seemed irresistible given the wind, the cold, and the slight choppiness of the lake surface. Trout and Kokanee seemed to be the biggest volunteers to assault our fishing lures. Before we all knew it, we all limited-out on our take of piscatorial bounty---my wife caught the biggest fish, too. The Unthinkable had happened: My wife, Bless her heart, had limited-out before either of the BBs of BL! It was determined that the fish seemed to respond more to her fishing techniques, so the grizzled veterans decided to include the part of asking her to fish whenever we go fishing. Looks like we will have to become less grizzled… We’ve already made room for her in the boat. We never stop learning about fishing; today’s biggest knowledge nugget: Wives fish, too---and mine fishes REAL GOOD. (I did bait her hook, though.) Oh, yeah... The boat STILL DOESN'T LEAK!!!

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