Collecting Driftwood While You Are Fishing Can Pay You Double
Making The Most Of A Fishing Excursion
I like to go walking the lake shore while I am fishing. It gets me to a variety of locations where I might find a big fish waiting to be caught. While I am casting and moving along the banks, I am constantly on the lookout for nice pieces of wood to carry back to my art studio. It becomes a two-fold operation with me.
My friends who fish with me on a regular routine know what to expect. I often enlist them to carry larger pieces back to our vehicle. Some of them are so accustom to my wood hunting that they have become wood hunters too. It is not uncommon for one of them to ask me if I want a piece of driftwood they are holding up for my opinion.
Time To Go
One day there were three of us headed out in the boat to fish Lake Michigan. It was a hot summer day and I had been working for the better part of the day. I met my friends at the marina. We had not been in the boat for more than five minutes when an argument started over something and I decided this was not the place for me to be. I told my friend to take me back to the dock. She quickly turned the boat around and headed in. I jumped onto the dock and headed for my van exchanging a few words as I left.
Turning A Negative Into A Positive
I was annoyed and tired and decided to go home and call it a day. The next time I saw those two friends they had a big surprise for me. It seems that the fish did not cooperate the day I skipped out. My two friends decided to make something positive out of what had turned into a negative day. They went to one of the empty beaches and started gathering driftwood.They made a project out of it. There day ended with a boat load of driftwood collected just for me. Friends are wonderful that way.
Sometimes when I find a piece of wood that is very waterlogged or hosting a large selection of bugs. I will drag those pieces up to a dry area, and leave them exposed to the sun to bake off the unwanted creatures. I have been known to return months later to retrieve my find. Sometimes the pieces are gone and I chalk it up to fate. When I am on a vacation I will often start a place right off the bat to hoard my findings. Woodhunting can make a slow fishing day into a masterpiece waiting to happen. Remember to give it a try next time you go fishing........or should I say take a fishing pole along next time you go beach combing?
