Fish on, and then some.
“Dude, it’s going to be cold.”
It was. Wasn’t as cold as I thought it would be, and I suited up in the spare winter suit, and I was good to go. First fish of the day, by the power plant (Lake Fayetteville) was mine. I tossed him back before I got a picture, but it was nice fish, about this big.
Not long after that came the next fish.
There’s something rather surreal about looking at smoke on the water, really just steam, rising up from the surface, with a cold winter sun burning through the mist, and the smoke stack in the background, plus a strong north wind, making it rather more choppy than usual. But fun, nonetheless.
There was something almost spooky, perhaps a little eerie, looking out from under a ball cap, brow sweating, a freezing wind billowing down, and that steam rising up off the water. With concentration and a rather narrow field of vision, I wasn’t sure where I was.
It’s also all about the total experience. Instead of turning left, we took a right and towed the boat into Fayetteville, “BBQ in Smithville, or just grab a bite here?”
“Here” turned out to be Orsak’s Café, on the square. Not like there’s much of a town, either, but it was nice. The blue plate, or chalkboard, special was “Pork Chops, Sweet Potatoes, Black-Eyed Peas & Dessert (Large $4.50, small $4.00).”
Deal of the day. Priced right, tasted fine, and I’m not sure, but I think the mashed sweet potatoes had some onion in them. Not much, but not what I’d expect. Made it even better.
It’s all about the total experience, remember? Caught a couple of fish. Smoke on the water. Fine dining in a little café in a small town in Texas.
Of course, watching the other diners? My buddy kept suggesting lyrics from Charlie Daniels’ “Uneasy Rider.”
Me? I was enthralled by the bulletin board. Deer tracking services, hunting dogs, fence repair, a bearded lizard (iguana?) for sale, whole stories on that one little board, life’s ebb and flow in a small town that was bypassed by the interstate and big highways.
“Watch him folks because he’s a fairly dangerous man…”
