Mooring day

Mooring Day

May 1^st is the first day that my local state park (just 10 minutes away) officially allows boats to moor up to their berthing spots.  Last year, it was the latter half of May before even close to half of the boats had found their way out to the lake.  This year’s exceptionally mild spring meant that many anglers were ready to have their boats out the middle of March.  I was no exception.  Although I have a sit-on-top kayak, having a car to transport meant it is not very convenient to transport my kayak every fishing day.  

So this was my 2^nd year of purchasing a shoreline mooring spot.   I had been out in my kayak several times already but I was really looking forward to being out on the water every day off.  I have to admit, I was anticipating this like a kid anticipating a trip to the zoo!  I only got about 2 hours of sleep the night before yet I was wide awake and full plans for the day.

I have the only kayak next to a varied lot of plastic and aluminum skiffs, most pretty small.  The larger boats have floating docks on the side opposite the boat launch and there is also a kayak tree for (lighter) kayaks and canoes.  Having a spot on the beach is great; I can be in the water in less than 10 minutes.  If I was more organized it would take less than 5 minutes.  This includes unlocking and removing the heavy cabling that I use to secure my kayak, installing the seat, situating my gear where I like it, and stowing my gear bag in the front hatch.

Of course, there are disadvantages too!  Like the time a huge toad jumped out from under my kayak when I turned it over.  Since it was still dark it about scared the..well you know what out of me.  This happened a couple of mornings in a row.  Even worse,  one morning I reached down to turn my kayak over and there was a dark shape huddled under it (I started looking before turning after the toad).  It being dark again (I like to paddle to my first fishing spot before dawn breaks to get that early bite) I couldn’t make out what it was.  I got out my flashlight and to my dismay it was a raccoon.  A couple of proddings with the blade of my paddle and I determined it was dead.  This really creeped me out…I mean all I could think of was that perhaps it had rabies and crawled underneath to die.  I called the park rangers later that morning and they apparently came and picked it up because it was gone when I got back.  An additional call a couple of weeks later and I found out that did not have rabies but they did not know what it died of.

Most of the time there was no scary things popping out and I was out on the water paddling with anticipation of another great day.  The cool things I see definitely outweigh the creepy.  Bald Eagles swooping down and gliding back up with a large fish in it’s claws, beavers on shore and in the water, loons calling, deer at the lake edge, and porcupines just to name some.  Needless to say, there is also the numerous bluegill ‘kisses’ at the water surface, the carp jumping in their spawning dance, and the occasional explosion at the water surface as a bass pounces on its prey.

So now it has been three weekends since mooring day and I have been out fishing five times since.  The only day I missed out in the kayak was because I was sick.  I anticipate another sleepless night next May!