The Bar

                      THE BAR

Having a quarter for the jukebox, Jay played his request to enjoy that final beer at last call in a smoke filled tavern. Sitting down at the lonely bar stool peeling back the label on a long neck bottle, Jay decides he had enough of a modern world, it just moves too fast. To solve this problem Jay needed a change. Leaving the tavern with the stars lighting up the dark sky, he jumped in his old rusted pick-up and headed home.

Getting up to the sound of an alarm clock singing, Jay jumped out of bed to stretch and check out the new day. Wiggling like a fish on shore making its way to the water, Jay walked down stairs rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

The telephone rang and Jay answers quickly, "no" to his friends invite to the bar.

Realizing after hanging up, "Going to the bar to fish could make me feel better about things?" while yelling at a hung up telephone like the world came to an end.

Quicker than a lighting bolt, Jay found the energy to get ready for the "bar". Turning out of the driveway, the next intention was get some food to snack on. Running out of the store like a minnow running away from his attacker, a long lost buddy of Jay yelled," Where you going in such a hurry!"

Misleading his friend, Jay yells back, "Going to the bar!"

Reaching the launch ramp at Fort Niagara, Jay knew which "bar" he was going to. After grabbing the cooler of cokes and neatly packing the two sandwiches with his cokes, Jay headed out to Lake Ontario where a "bar" is waiting for his arrival, knowing there were some "beauties" waiting for him there too.

More confident, Jay is hoping the beauties will show up today.

With the colors of fall moving in, it looks like this might be the last time to get out and catch some of those beautiful smallmouth bass for the summer because of the temperature drop. It wasn't long before Jay hooked into his first "beauty".

Lake Ontario is very calm on this day and there was no wind for a good drift.

Casting the lure in the water and settling on the bottom, a tap, tap was felt. Blaming the bottom, the hook was set on a hungry fish battling to get free. When the battle ended, Jay released a smallmouth that appeared to have weighed 3 pounds or more. Catching and releasing this huge fish set Jays mind to think about his first catches of a Bass.

It was at Six-Mile Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. Remembering it was in the middle of the week, where as a kid, was settled in on a week long vacation with his family.

A picnic was planned for one day on a small island in Six-Mile Lake.

On that island hiding from a hot sun and going under a group of trees with the scent of pine being carried by a breeze, Jay never stopped fishing until it was time for lunch. Fishing from that island alone, enabled Jay to escape the fast moving world around him.

This was a time deserving of a good lure out of his tackle box. Jay's choice was a red and white Daredevil spoon no longer than two inches in length. Making several casts under a shady pine tree surrounded by prickly fallen pine needles and standing in bare feet, a catch was made on that particular spoon. Jay caught his first Bass and no one around to share his excitement.

The End

A TOAST

Here's to our fisherman brave,
Here's to the fish he caught,
Here's to the ones that got away,
And here's to the ones he bought!


The Land Marked the Spot 

The Orange Sky Peace Of Mind
Time To Kill Lucky Cal The Last Day
The Last Day Cont... Beating The Odds Gifts Unanswered
Down Below Jim Presario The Great Getaway
Catch and Release A Reel Christmas The Bar
Wide Open Spaces One More Day The Power Of Silver
A Lesson Learned Crawlers by Night Back to Index

Back to Index

   Fishy says, "Always practice good catch and release"
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