Lines in the Water

One of the things I genuinely miss about my childhood home is the ability to be off-shore on excellent fishing grounds within 30 minutes of leaving my front door, and 15 of those were spent paddling away from Spring Bay beach into the tail end of the Georgia Strait.

I’m somewhat shocked to realize it was 20 years ago that my dad and I bought our 20$ tickets for the big Victoria Rotary Club’s Annual South Island Fishing Derby for the fourth consecutive year. The years previous, you could almost sense the derision from the power-boat anglers with downriggers, sonar scanners and multiple lines in the water as they puttered past our lowly canoe while we strip-cast or jigged buzz-bombs or stingzildas.

While we always boated fish, we could never match the weight of the lunkers the trollers would pull in and accordingly were nowhere near the leader board. This was of little matter to us, as it was all about another day on the water, raising money for charity and hoping just hoping for the seemingly impossible “big one.” Another day of casting my line over and over yet going home with nothing more than a well-defined farmer’s tan.

There’s always a chance.

It was late afternoon, near 4pm I would guess, and if my memory serves me correctly I had stuffed my rod for the day and was munching on a PB&J sandwich while pops carried on. I didn’t see the hit or his rod arch violently in the span of a second, but his “Whoa oh oh!!” turned my head around in time to hear the reel drag begin to scream with that high-pitched “zzzzzz!” every fishermen loves to hear. This was no skip-jack or seasonal pink..

It took a good 20-25 minutes to get the big spring into the canoe, during which time dad frantically and sometimes expletively yelled instructions at me to paddle the boat to more favorable play angles as the chinook recklessly raced around the depths. Naturally, I had to net it and my 13-year old arms had one heck of a time heaving it out of the sea. The feeling of elation on our faces would have been priceless to catch on film.

Weighing in at 30 point-something pounds, our haul was good enough to take home third place in the derby and a $300 gift voucher from Island Line & Tackle.

I loved how he held it up extra long so the hot-shot power boaters could get a long look at it.

That’s the beauty of fishing to know they’re there and no matter how technically proficient you are, sometimes it’s all luck and right place, right time. All it takes is the initiative to get out there and a line in the water.

Similarly, if you’re one of the hundreds of people who’ve taken advantage of the exceptional deals to be had on home furnishings and products at Cymax Stores recently, you can put a “line in the water” yourself by submitting an online review of your purchase on any product page at http://www.cymax.com. With no risk of the aforementioned farmer’s tan, seagull bombs or annoying dogfish, you can know that you have a chance of pulling in a $1000 PRIZE FOR ANY PRODUCT REVIEW SUBMITTED TO CYMAX! While it will be difficult to suspend it by the gills for a dockside-victory photo, you won’t need to gut, fillet and wash this nice cash bonus generously offered by Cymax as token of their appreciation for your customer feedback.

Feel free to rave, or not, about the space-friendly design and easy assembly of your South Shore Back Bay Chocolate Platform Bed and how it’s the perfect match for your room. While you’re at it, take a moment to think how wise you’re being in taking only a few minutes of your time that could, if the big one swims your way, land you a cool grand.

Espouse the value of your Home Star Mission Hills Bench Table as a fitting addition to your foyer, how you can’t beat the combination of price, appearance and function, and how it’s the ideal spot to sit and shed your hip-waders after a day combing the lake.

Go on at length how your Tecno Seating Executive Hi-Back Massage Chair makes going to work on Monday all the more bearable after portaging from one land-locked lake to the next over the weekend, and how you’re thrilled how quickly it was received after placing your order.

Put your line in the water at cymaxstores.com somebody’s gonna land the big fish!