Wanderin Aimlessly
Scouting For Fish
by Phil Burkhouse
The month before fishing season I keep busy doing a variety of tasks: some fun and others not so much. Pruning apple trees, rototilling the garden, planting onions, cutting and splitting firewood, and trying to get the lawn mower running fall into the not so much fun category. On the other hand, I spent a lot of early mornings scouting for turkeys and shooting waterfowl with the Canon out of the duck blind—fun.
I get some help with my tasks from the four grandkids, but their priorities tend to be slanted toward fun projects. There is basketball, baseball, camping out overnight, fishing, and, for the older two lads, visiting young ladies. Also on the priority list of the older boys is an item I never participated in: scouting for fish.
Scouting for fishing requires a lot of enthusiasm, time, ambition, and sun glasses. I checked my fish scouting shelf and could only come up with sun glasses. An evening of scouting for the boys requires a three or four mile hike to check every hole in the creek to “check on the fish dumped in from the white fleet.”