Home repairs have a most curious effect on me. They make me want to go fishing.
The latest provocation was an utterly complete collapse of my home office. It started last Thursday when I clicked on a photo to crop and size for the Sunday paper. Click. My computer screen went blank. My printer shut off. The lighted panel on my satellite Internet modem went black. The ceiling fan stopped and the light went out. No, wait. The ceiling fan and the light crapped out a long time ago. Since there are two in the office, I ignored the disabled fan/light combo and limped along on one.
A short in an electrical socket was the culprit. An easy fix. But since I was in a fixing mode, Miss Laura decided I needed to replace the ceiling fan, too. Saturday came, and she decided it was time to yank all the carpet out of our bedroom. One thing led to another, and she ordered me to go fishing. And take that recalcitrant young man with me.
The recalcitrant young man is my son Matthew. Like me, he’s learned to keep his camping and fishing equipment in a compact kit. We had it all in the truck in about10 minutes, and we were gone before she could change her mind. The quick escape required leaving the canoe at home, so we went to a place in the Ozarks where we could wade fish.
We arrived late and got the last available campsite. After a quick meal of Mountain House Beef Stroganoff and some delicious Little Cutie tangerines, we retired to our respective tents for a delightful rest, with a light rain tapping the tempo of my dreams against the rainfly.
Along with the fishing, it was also an opportunity to test out some gear, the most prominent being a new Eureka Taron 2 tent. For years I’ve used a Mountain Hard Wear two-man Drifter. It’s great for many reasons, not the least of which is its light weight. That also means it is very small and cramped. The Taron 2 is a little roomier. Its rainfly has a bar that straddles the tent frame and makes it ride about 4 inches above the main frame. The raised ceiling makes it seem even more spacious.
The Taron 2 is a little trickier to assemble for the first time, but it is cozy and rainproof. Its huge vestibule is big enough to keep a lot of gear dry, too. For car or canoe camping, it is superior to the Drifter.
Of course, such a tent can get very stuffy on a hot summer night. To remedy this, I use a nifty little portable fan that’s available at several big box retailers. It only costs about $14 and runs on eight D cell batteries. I set it atop the smaller of my two gear lockers next to my inflatable mattress, and it cooled the space nicely.
If you use a mattress, the Drifter doesn’t have enough room inside for a fan.
For breakfast, I had hot coffee and a granola bar. I have used Folgers single coffee bags for years because they pack well and are simple to use. For this trip I tried a new line of single coffee bags by Coleman. I’m not crazy about flavored coffees, but the French Vanilla is very tasty and nullifies the off flavor that comes from boiling water in a stainless steel cup.
In very thin, relatively shallow water, Matt and I fished side by side for about six hours in sporadic rain. I caught six smallmouth bass, and Matt caught four. We also caught a good mess of Ozark bass and green sunfish. I took the opportunity to shoot some underwater fishing video for the first time with my iPhone. It was possible thanks to a Lifeproof phone case, which I reviewed last week.
It takes a lot of faith to dunk an iPhone in the water.However, I did the recommended test in a wash basin beforehand, and the system of rubber seals kept the interior as dry as cowboy humor. I shot some really cool video of fighting smallmouth bass, including one sequence that showed a bigger smallmouth trailing the one on the hook.
The best one showed a smallmouth leaping out of the water and splashing back down under the rain-dappled surface.
We returned home that evening in time for a grand Father’s Day celebration that included a fresh Boston cream pie, my favorite.
Sports, Pages 25 on 06/20/2013