Kickass and Canada Fishing by Bill Stokes

Attribution: Gary Halvorson, Oregon State Archivesvia Wikimedia Commons; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lake_of_the_Woods_Sunset_(Klamath_County,Oregon_scenic_images)(klaDA0246).jpg

By Bill Stokes

Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper misses the summer fishing trips to Canada and is prone to wallowing in selective memory exercise, like the one about Antoine the seriously hung-over guide who clung to the back of the boat on a steep uphill portage so the keeper and his friend ended up dragging the boat and Antoine up an impossibly steep incline.

On the long return to camp over very choppy water, Antoine slouched next to the outboard and ignored pleas to slow down though the keeper’s friend in the bow was on the verge of passing out from the painful brutal banging abuse he was getting from the bouncing boat.

Antoine, feigning hearing and language issues, responded only after the keeper swung the fish sack at his head and signaled vigorously for a slower speed.

Most Canada fishing trips did not involve guides but instead were family and friend gatherings that were pleasurable interludes to break up busy summers.

Phyllis, Canada born and raised, says a fishing trip to Canada gives the false impression that the country is all woods and lakes when it is actually so much more.

Her point is well taken and the keeper will not tell her about Antoine because he likely already has, maybe more than once.