The Cope Girls Go Fishing

The hubs and I went fishing last week. The hubs is an avid fisherman, and a good one at that. Though maybe he’s tales are better than his catches, but that is par for the course for any fishermen. Anyway, he has been asking me for a while to go fishing with him and for the sake of our marriage, I went. Now I have been putting off going fishing for several years now. My reason is legit: it’s not because I don’t like to fish or know how to fish, quiet the contrary, it always aggravates my allergies when I go. But this year, my allergies have been better and feeling like I was almost immune to nature’s toxic air, I went. Heck, I even offered to go!

The hubs takes his fishing very seriously. He studies it and is always looking to improve. He scoffs at me because I have to fish with a bobber. He tells me that real fishermen don’t use bobbers. What does he know?! Have you ever looked at a bobber floating on the water? Its a beautiful scene.

As soon as we got to the lake, the hubs hooked me up (no pun intended) and I was ready to go. Then he quickly got to the fish. After a few minutes he looked up and noticed that I wasn’t fishing.

“Why aren’t you fishing?”

“I will. I’m just enjoying being outside, sitting in a lawn chair, taking it all in. Do you think this hat looks good with my outfit?” (It is a totally awesome pink, floppy hat! It totally rocked!)


He didn’t respond and just focused on the fish.


I did eventually fish. I cast the line about 12 times and caught 2 fish. Statistically, I rock! And I was ready to focus on something else, like taking a nap, reading a book and taking some pictures. The point was for us to be together and have a good time. Which we did. He doesn’t know how good he actually as it. Let me tell you why…..

When I was a kid, my Dad would take Bec and me fishing frequently. For my 10th birthday, my father actually took me to Wynn’s Sporting Goods Store in Maryville and bought me a fishing pole, which I still have. Heck, my grandmother even bought me a tacklebox. We would always go fishing above the dam at Melton Hill lake. Dad would set me and Bec up, and then he would try to get in some real fishing, while Bec and I just “played” fishing.

Sounds like a Hallmark card or a Folgers Coffee Commercial, yes? Ha! Anything but! Let me give you a real fishing trip with the Cope girls.


When we started really going fishing, I was around 11 and Bec was 6. At 11, I was a HUGE music lover. I was always with my tunes - be it ghetto blaster or walkman -but somewhere “America’s Top 40” was on, and I wasn’t going to miss it. So when we went fishing, I would take my walkman and get about 50 yards from Dad and Bec. I would put my own worm on and I was fine. The only thing Dad had to do is take the fish off of the line.

My sister, well, she was 6 and sitting on the bank waiting for a fish to bite didn’t keep her entertained for long. So most of the time, Bec was running up and down the bank playing or telling Dad “I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM, DADDY!” Now, the logical thing would be that Dad would put Bec’s rod up. But noooo! Not our Dad. He always left her rod in the water, cause a fish might bite. Maybe Dad was really trying to bait Bec into being still and creating a love in her to fish. If that was the case, he was using the wrong bait. She only nibbled at the bait, never fully took it.

So here’s the scene: one daughter shunning her totally uncool family while she listens to Wham! on her walkman, the other daughter yelling for a Dad to take her to the bathroom, and a father who really wanted to fish but had to do something with his kids. Naturally, by the time Dad got a nibble on his rod, both me and Bec’s rod would catch a fish and Dad would have to put down his rod to help us. All the while, Bec is just running up and down the bank yelling “I GOTTA GO TO THE BATHROOM!”

So as I sat there on the dock with the hubs, I just had to smile and laugh. I might not be fishing as much as he was, but I wasn’t listening to “America’s Top 40”nor did I say that I needed to go to the bathroom. Oh, and yes, nature’s toxic air did a number on me! I had the mother of all allergy attacks and was sick for 2 days after our fishing excursion. The hubs has it made! Marriage saved!