An Ode to the Pearl….And Suck It, Tommy

This is the Pearl, my favorite fishing spot:

I’ve spent a lot of time at this place. It is very close to the house I grew up in, has plenty of great fishing spots, and has really nice walking trails all around it for easy access. I used to run all through them back before I realized running sucks – I do Yoga with Adrienne now, so I have a certain awareness that you mere simpletons will never achieve. See below for your current reflection:

Anyways, I just wanted to give this spot some shine, it’s where I caught my first fish in like two decades, it’s where I caught my biggest fish this summer, and it’s where I finally delivered to Tommy his biggest L to date (more on this later). It is also a great reminder that you don’t have to travel the globe to experience picturesque nature and see some cool creatures. This is a picture of the Pearl from the side:

And this is a picture of a place a grand total of 10 minutes away:

And here is a picture of the creek in the woods behind the house:

And here’s….. Sorry but is that not the most handsomest, thoughtful furry boy you’ve ever seen (reminder he eats goose poop)? My mom even gave me a present to hang in my apartment (aren’t moms the best?). Here it is:

Some might say, why put a smaller picture (11 by 14, or 14 by 11 I don’t know the correct order) right in the center of such a large wall? It’s because I want a person looking at that picture to feel as if they are falling through a tunnel to cuteness (a 90 lb, smelly, and aggressively friendly dog) with no chance of escape. Also, if you are actually in my apartment, Bubz will immediately tackle you into the couch and lick your ears so it is actually just a good representation of the overall experience of visiting me.

Sorry I got sidetracked. Here’s a picture of the last fish I caught at the Pearl this summer, since I have now traveled back to NY:

It’s a pretty vividly colored perch, little guy but cool all the same. Now we are going to enter the Suck it, Tommy portion of the blog. Because the Pearl offers just about all you’d want for fishing. I’ve caught perch, big sunfish (they are very fun to catch on a small, whippy rod), crappie, and plenty of large mouth bass. Now given my past posts you may be already thinking, but what about trout? Well I thought of that too, while I wasn’t too concerned because I like the Pearl so much I decided I’d google to see if it had ever been stocked with trout. Turns out, according to the Massachusetts government, that yes it does get stocked every spring. “Cool!” I thought, “Can’t wait to tell Tommy about this, he’s obsessed with catching a trout.”

So the next day while fishing, I mentioned to Tommy about the trout. He simply smirked and replied, “There’s no trout in those muddy waters Jonny, just forget about it.” My reaction:

Not only had Tommy insulted my favorite fishing spot by saying the water was muddy (it is very reasonably clean), but he also told me I was wrong. I like to think I am an intrinsically motivated person, not needing external pressures to keep me going. But…. when told I am wrong about something I know I am right about, it typically triggers a reaction I legally am not responsible for. I quickly decided that I would spend the rest of my summer trying to make sure Tommy fully understood how much of an imbecile he really is.

Which meant I spent hours baking in the sun or getting stung by mosquitoes on the rocks of the Pearl, here’s the view from them.

I chose the rocks because the Pearl, while decently sized, is not particularly deep which makes it excellent bass fishing. However there is a particular spot where it actually gets very deep and, it being the summer, I figured any trout in the pond (technically a retired reservoir) would probably be keeping cool down there. Again, I spent many hours either baking on the sun of these rocks in the afternoon or getting bit by mosquitoes in the evening trying to get a trout I’ve never seen to bite.

For a solid month or so where I was repeatedly stopping by the rocks or spending entire afternoons there, I got zero bites… until this past week. It was unfortunately my last week in MA and so I decided to fish nothing but the Pearl to try and get the trout I could figuratively slap Tommy in the face with (if he hadn’t left MA it would have been literally). All throughout this Tommy had been sending me mocking texts explaining how futile my attempts were and how I should just quit, which created a nice and healthy hatred towards a former good friend:

My time was running out before I had to leave for NY and end this amazing summer. To start my last week in central MA I had fished the rocks with my brother and visiting uncle. And I actually caught a trout! Well, actually, I hooked a trout, saw it, shrieked “A TROUT!” and forgot to set the hook, so naturally lost it. I was stunned, and then it slowly dawned on me…. I now know there is trout in the Pearl but I have NO PROOF to tell Tommy to eff off with. I think the past sentence is what Catholics would call Purgatory. For the next 36 hours, I was in my own personal hell (I think this is more of a testament that my life is overall not too bad than actually me being in a bad place). This was how I spent most of my time:

I fully admit my spirit was near breaking. I had only a few days before leaving and had all but given up. The day after hooking the trout I spent 3 hours fishing and not a single bite at the usually fruitful Pearl. I actually even started to think maybe Tommy was right – I’m simply not enough of a man to catch a trout at the Pearl (he never said this but this is of course how I internalized him simply disagreeing with me about which types of fish were at a pond I like). The next day I spent another two hours on the rocks and nothing. Feeling Low-T, I decided on one more cast before heading home and crying loudly in the shower. Then something big bit! It was a very large crappie, the second biggest I had ever caught:

This lunker put just a small spark of hope in my dying soul (this really isn’t all that dramatized I was very much down in the dumps). I thought maybe the fish were waking up a bit as the sun started falling and figured I’d give the spot where I originally hooked that trout one more shot. And then…. nothing. A good 20 minutes of casting far and deep resulted in zilch. My fishing spirit was waning and decided I would have two more casts in a couple of directions before heading home. I cast out and started reeling in, hoping for a miracle. After about two-thirds of the line had been reeled in, I let out an explitive and decided I was just going to go home. AND THEN…. BAM! A huge struggle close to shore and five seconds later I was bathing in eternal glory:

This fella (or madam I don’t really know how to check and would rather not) was definitely bigger than the previous trout Tommy and I had caught and a lot stronger. He bit very close to shore though so I was able to get him on the rocks without too much of a problem. And just like that all my dreams were fulfilled. I had achieved the following:

a) Proven Tommy is a f*cking idiot that should never doubt my fishing abilities (I’ll let it go eventually)

b) Validated the Pearl as the best fishing spot in the world

c) Brought home a nice meal (see below)

This is why I’ve grown to love fishing. I get to tinker with things, learn and get better, and most of all set ridiculous goals, maniacally and relentlessly pursue them, and accomplish them one out of every one thousand attempts or so. It also allows me to shut Tommy up basically whenever I want because again this is the only fish he ever catches:

I am now back in NY and from my reading the fish only get angrier, bigger, and toothier out here (I’ve already been skunked once so everything seems very similar so far). Being able to spend the summer back in central MA seeing family and friends meant a lot… much more than I could ever describe in words. I will still be fishing because it’s turned into a life long pastime for me, but perhaps less since when I’m out here I do actually put work in. I’ll still be blogging but possibly not as regularly just because of less time spent fishing. This potential disturbance will obviously cause a massive hole in your life. I heavily suggest you fill it with fishing (or running or walking or anything else that puts you in nature). It’s easy, you just go to WalMart, buy a rod, and…

Cast and Pray,

Jon (see below for Bubz’ condition after a 4 hour car ride)