Retired From Night Fishing

[Old plug]

There was a long period in my life where I spent most of my time night fishing for bass. I am now in my 74th year and it had been a couple years since I had been on the lake late at night fishing till very recently.

I woke up about 2:30 in the morning the other night wide awake. I have been missing night fishing and decided now was the time to go again. I got all set up and started out. The area of the lake I was going to was about 3 mikes away. I have made that trip god only knows how many times in the past 20 yrs both day and night.

I rounded my point and started in that direction. Right away it became evident my night vision was not what it used to be. I used to to be able to make that run almost without looking. But I could not really make out the ridge lines against the sky as I used to. I was headed for area where my arm of the lake blends with the main channel. Before I was always able to tell where it was because it appeared as a dark spot with no dock lights. Well I was going slower than normal because the dock lights just did not look the same along the shore. But I was sure I was on course. To make a long story short I had got disorientated. I was better than a mile from where I thought I was and the dark area I was headed for was not the mouth of my arm in the distance. It was a bluff hole dead ahead. I have never had anything like that happen before. The only thing that probably kept me from running into that bank is we had a good steady 10 mph wind that night and I noticed it was hitting me in my left side when it should have been coming from my back. After some investigation I figured out where I was. But it serves as a warning.

When you get into your senior years your mind,memory and eye sight may not be what you think they are.. Be careful out there with what you think you can trust.

[Jerry Rapp]

reward yourself with a basic GPS. If it is only a couple of miles, you could just fast idle to it, fish a while, then return home with no worries.