To Bowl or Fish on Your Birthday, That is the Question.

Everybody loves to go bowling  or fishing on their birthday followed by blowing out the candles on a big ole slice of cake. For my mother's birthday we decided on fishing, and although we did not have any cake, we made up for it in pounds of bass. It's funny how things just seem to work out on your birthday. I could not promise my mother she would catch a trophy bass all I could do was plan a nice outing on the lake with an opportunity to catch something.

The birthday girl and her 6 pound bass. 

Luck is when preparation meets opportunity, and that is no doubt what happened here. My Mom was prepared by knowing how to fish a drop shot rig, and by fishing in areas that had great potential to hold fish, if opportunity knocked she would be quick to answer. And answer she did! Her deafening screams from the back of the boat let everybody on the lake, including the jealous tournament anglers know that she'd just hooked in to a fatty!

"Get the net", she screamed.

"I think I caught a big one!

"Sky, take the reel I can't do it!"

Getting a lesson on how to hold a large bass.

No way was I going to rob her the feeling of reeling in her first 6 pound monster, bucket mouth, fatty bass hog of a fish.

"Don't stop breathing," I told her as she reeled herself to exhaustion. Luckily her drag setting was low enough that the fish could make runs and not snap off. When it got close to the boat I was able to net it and take a few photos of the happy angler and her catch before we released the fish back into the water.  

It was not my birthday. 

Bowling and fishing are similar in the fact that even a novice has an opportunity for the biggest moments in the sport. This might be why they are both great American past times and why so many people go bowling or fishing on their birthday. We all think that the odds might be a little bit better on our birthday for that 10 pound fish or a few strikes at the bowling alley, in reality practice is the real way to increase our odds. So if you really want to catch a trophy bass like my Mom or bowl a few strikes at the bowling alley, get in some practice and when your birthday rolls around pins will be falling and fish will be biting.

Skyman out.