Happy Wife, Happy Life...

When my wife Vicki made the decision to marry me, I'm not sure she new just how much I loved to hunt and fish. As life progressed and 14 years later, she has certainly discovered that I have more than one love in my life. This weekend was one of those rare weekends where my wife decided to face my other love and exact her revenge. I'm not sure why, but she has a near perfect record of coming out on top every time this happens. This weekend was no different.

I'm typically an early riser. I like to get up at 4:45 and be on my way to the water no later than 5:30 in the morning. I've found this to be the ideal time to avoid a lot of boats unloading at the ramp. It's also a good time to throw a cast net without having to contend with a Donald Aronow wanna-be casting a massive wake as you are trolling near oyster beds in search of bait. However, when my wife wants to go fishing, I've discovered it does no good to get up early...we will get there when we get there. Fortunately for us, the falling tide was in our favor as we pulled up to the launch around 10 a.m.

After purchasing bait and launching the boat, we were on our way to a favored fishing spot. Knowing my wife doesn't like it when I myself want to drive like Mr. Aronow, I kept the speed down to an easy 32 mph as we negotiated the turns and avoided the crab pots in the oxbow creek.

Upon arriving at our destination, I had the Minn Kota deploy and quietly glide the boat along the back side of a large abandoned dock. We were the only ones fishing this area and I had pretty good expectations for catching trout. After allowing the current to turn the boat so we could slip back near protected structure, I deployed the power poles to ensure we wouldn't rub against the prominent backdrop of barnacles.

Now, being the husband that always wants to please (at least I try to make her think that), I grabbed a large live shrimp and put it on the hook for Vicki so that she could begin fishing. However, she was quick to point out that my job was not done. A few months earlier I had put new line on her spool. Since she is left-handed and I am right dominant, she informed me that I failed to relocate the crank to the proper side of the reel. 1 minute later, the crank was swapped to the other side and fishing was underway. Just as I threw my first cast under the dock, I head the gleeful scream as Vicki caught her first fish. Knowing by the level of excitement that it had to be a big one, I quickly retrieved my line, set my rod down and grabbed the net, only to experience a near miss as a dink trout flew by my head.

After freeing him from the carnival ride my wife was taking him on, we took a moment to take a photo for posterity. I let him swim off to eat a few more crickets an