Finding a quiet lake where we can put in our canoe and fish is a favorite summer pastime of mine.  Our county park system purchased a lake very close to our house so my husband and I decided to spend a Sunday afternoon fishing.  We put the canoe in at the launch area, paddled through marshy areas and water covered with lots of vegetation until will reached open water.
We were the only ones on this catch-and-release lake.  A family of swans swam away as we approached.   We could hear a car on a nearby road, but mostly it was silent.  Fishing and conversation do not really go together so we were silent, except when we got a bite and were really in our catch.  I enjoy the companionable silence as each of us bait and cast.  I’m a worm and bobber fisherman.  My husband uses lures.  He tried a few lures until he put on his trusty bass catcher.  And what do you know, after the first cast he caught a very nice bass.
As I sat waiting for a nibble, I watched the wind ripple the water and then the water become still and quiet.  I watched fish jump and I shoed dragonflies as they landed on my shirt.   Bullfrogs would call out now and again.
We fished the edges of the lake, where the lily pads grew.  We caught bass, sunfish, and bluegill.  All would have been keepers.  After about three hours, we paddled back to the launch area and carried our fishing gear and canoe back to the truck.Â
Nothing really happened during those three hours.  Reeling in a catch was fun to do and watch, but mostly we just sat not really thinking about anything.  We were just part of life on the lake during the time we were out there.Â
I do not think I turned on the television that evening.  What I could have watched on television was not nearly as engaging as experiencing not much of anything while fishing on an empty lake on a Sunday afternoon.
