I Caught a Catfish and Nate Didn't

I came and sat down at my computer at roughly 8pm tonight, and now it's roughly 8:51pm and I've just typed the first words for this post. I have this thing where I look forward to blogging all day and then I sit down to do it and I check literally everythinggggg else (e.g. email, the 'Tubes, Yahoo news, Facebook, my bank account to see if there's anything left in it, etc. etc.) before starting to write a post. I think it's because I never really know how to start posts so it's almost like I procrastinate starting a post, even though I've been looking forward to it all day. It's weird and doesn't really make sense but hey, that's how everything is inside my head - everything is weird and nothing makes sense.

So anyway, now that I've started this post, let's keep it going shall we? I actually started this post a couple weekends ago but never finished because I dunno, I suck at being productive and finishing what I start? But anyway, a couple weekends ago was a really good one for more than one reason; 1.) I took Friday off so it was actually a three-day weekend, and 2.) Nate was also off for three days ON the ACTUAL weekend which means we got to hang out Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday Hallelujah! This weekend was the 6th annual Flat Cat Classic out at Bartlett Lake; it was Nate's third time participating in the tournament and my first time tagging along.

We left early Friday morning, got to the lake and didn't waste any time getting the boat out on the water to go catch some bait fish!

...Yes, when you go cat fishing you have to actually fish for your bait, then fish for the catfish. 

The weather was not ideal, to say the least, so Friday started out a little rough when we were out trying to get some Blue Gills. The wind kept pushing the boat all around and Nate was getting frustrated, and when Nate is frustrated it never makes for a good time. But alas, we found a good honey hole and soon started pulling those things out of the water like potato chips. I realize that Blue Gills are just a bait fish and they're just little guys, but I'm kind of obsessed with them. When you find them, they're easy to catch, they'll follow your bait all the way up the the surface, and....they're easy to catch. And when I fish, sustained amounts of success are few and far between so I need all the affirmation I can get. 

Friday afternoon we headed back to camp, made some lunch, then got everything ready to head out on the boat for the night.

In case you're wondering, this is what it looks like to spend a night out on the boat:

Shit errywhere. 

When Nate told me earlier in the week that we'd be sleeping out on the boat I asked him what would I do in the event I need to go to the bathroom. Perplexed he answered, "I don't know, I've never had to think about that before." Girl probs, for real. But the next day I was pleasantly surprised when I received a text from Nate with a picture stating, "Found a solution to your bathroom problem."

Marriage is when your husband buys you a bucket to pee in while you sleep overnight on the boat. Yes, I used it and yes, it was both functional and effective. Thanks, Nate.

We got our poles set up (when I say "we" I mean mostly just Nate cause he's the expert), ate our Mountain House dinner using our handy dandy Jet Boil, and enjoyed the sunset.

A few hours later I was awoken from my slumber to the sound of the bell on my fishing pole jingling (that, and Nate's voice like, "Rissa your pole. RISSA YOUR POLE.") and a few short minutes later I reeled in this Channel catfish:

I was so happy and so excited a fish was on that as soon as I woke up I started freaking out a little bit because I didn't want it to get off the line ('cause for whatever reason, that seems to be my cat fishing destiny...hook one, start reeling, and it gets off); as I'm vigorously reeling in my line Nate's like, "How about you calm down a little bit?" I'm like "Noooo I can't, I can't let it get offffff!" And it didn't. So basically, I won. And Nate didn't catch anything all night and I did and so I really felt like an extra winner. Is it all about competition though?? No, it's not. But Nate kicks my ass in everything (except spelling, I spell better than him) so the day when I catch fish and he doesn't is one for the history books. 

Saturday morning we woke up, pulled in the anchors, and headed to the dock to watch the weigh-ins.

We fished the rest of the afternoon with every intention of staying another night, but the wind and rain came in and was more than we wanted to stand for a whole night. So we literally threw everything in the back of the truck and headed out.

Despite the weather pushing us out it was such a fun weekend - mostly because I haven't actually spent a weekend with Nate in foreverrrrr. And also because I caught a catfish and he didn't