If you’ve ever been a 16-yr-old boy or raised one, then you know these are interesting years. Squirrel is a great kid and, as fate would have it, is the answer to my mom’s warning that I will pay for my raising.

He’s been giving me signs that I’m letting work get the better of my time. A couple of weeks ago, he started asking me when I might get the boat out. It’s been too cold, but now that we’re in May the days are climbing into the sixties and while the water isn’t quite warm enough for spawn I imagine there’s a couple of hungry channel cats swimming around.

Near the end of 2020, while we were on our extended family camping trip (all staying on separate sites, half the family masked up and vaccinated and the other half snorting at the “fake flu” and claiming the jab would kill everyone) my dad admitted that the 50 yr-old aluminum jon boat he has sits in the yard unused until July. His knees won’t let him get in and out of it and he doesn’t duck hunt anymore. The only person who has taken it out over the past five years was me and I damn near live on that boat for the week we’re down at Lake Chicot. He asked me if I wanted it. Hell yeah I wanted it. The motor was near busted, it leaked like a sieve, the transom was almost dry rot dust, and the tires were hazards waiting to shred apart. It was beautiful.

I spent the rest of that summer remodeling it. I ran LED running lights, put in a Garmin, new tires, new paint. Even painted an A-10 inspired bit of nose art on the bow. The final touch was a 20 hp Tohatsu and I was ready to go. It is too little and too slow for Beaver Lake, but there are a great handful of smaller lakes within driving distance even if you don’t have access to Bella Vista. It’s a good boat, but that transom is on its last legs. I’m doing everything I can to keep it from breaking because for the cost of rebuilding it I can just put toward a newer bigger boat.

I’m writing this part of the post at 8:00 am. The boat is loaded, ready to go. I’m gonna let the boy sleep another hour. Give the sun time to warm things up a little bit. He has claimed ownership of my green Tacoma since getting his driver’s license in December, but he’s never towed anything. He gets his first lesson today as we head down to Bob Kidd Lake. I’m more than a little excited that I have someone to handle the truck while I put the boat in and out. Here’s hoping he doesn’t back it into the lake.

Day after update

We rolled out about 9:30 and hit up a gas station to fill up the tanks, grab boat snacks and a slice of breakfast pizza. He didn’t want to drive down there, but said he’d be comfortable pulling the trailer out while I launch the boat (as long as he didn’t have to back it in.) He talked the whole drive down, more words than I’ve heard him say in a month of monosyllabic answers and noncommittal grunts.

The wind was up a little, so it was cooler than expected. He hoodied up and watched an episode of some show on his ipad while I tossed out the noodles. A tradition of ours is that I ask him to predict how long before the first fish hits and how many we’ll catch for the day. He is eerily correct most times and that day was no different. He said 7 and the first one will hit within 15 minutes. About 15 minutes later, the first noodle just exploded down and our first big cat of the day was caught. We didn’t catch many but we did catch a lot. Two big channel cats about 6-7 lbs each and three smaller ones. I threw one back and the two 1-2 pound cats we gave to a family group fishing on the dock. Came home around 2pm with him talking the whole way back.

We both needed that and it is nice when your kid can pull the trailer out and park the truck without you having to get out of the boat.

The keepers

Just one of the fillets made a meal for us that night.