Tomorrow would have been over a month since my boat was wet. I've fought with this vertigo, the aftereffects, and the side effects of the meds for weeks. I checked my booking schedule and WHOA!!!, got a trip for Tuesday and Wednesday after thinking all along they were the end of the week. We had rain and north wind this morning so I decided to wait for some clearing before I headed to the lake. I left the ramp at 3:30.

The north wind had it rolling pretty good so I did the best I could and got my gear set out and started a crank trolling run. Pretty soon I caught a 10 1/2" white. I thought a fresh mess of fillets sure would be good but having a client catch them would be even better. Back it went. Over the span of the next 2 hours I ended up with 12 keepers and lost a couple that came to the top before I realized they were hooked and came off on the way to the boat. I didn't have a single crappie under 10.5" but also didn't have one over 12". My 13th and last keeper came in a different area I decided to scout. I caught one yellow, one goo, and didn't lose a single crank. I was loaded and headed home before dark.

It sure felt good to be in the boat even though my balance still has a long way to go. I never was accused of being a ballet dancer anyway. A stumble here and there were a small price to pay to be back out.

Maybe I stored up some good karma by releasing all the keepers. If they jump on a crank again in the next couple of days they won't be so lucky.