Nice Bass (By Justin)

My favorite form of R&R is to take the boat out on the lake for a morning of fishing. Usually I go solo or with my stepdad, but every once and awhile I succeed in guilting Anne into getting up early and joining me. Granted, my 5 am departure time becomes more like 8 am and instead of worrying about a supply of lures and rods I make sure there is plenty of coffee and crossword puzzles, but I do enjoy these rare occasions!

Last Saturday was one of those rare occasions. We headed out to Shawnee Mission Park (home of the dog park) and found a prime spot. The first couple of hours yielded multiple nice fish for me, but Anne had only managed to hook a modest catfish. Although Anne was visibly frustrated, she did not give up her pole in favor of her crossword puzzle, which turned out to be a good decision. Minutes later, after a solid strike, Anne was in a battle with a "whale" of a hybrid bass. A 10-minute fight ended with me netting the 10-lb. monster. At that point, Anne called it a day. Her work was done. My work (of preparing fish tacos the next day) had begun.