I don’t always tell on myself for doing something less than brilliant, but this is a fish tale that needs no lies to make you laugh. Jon, Jean and I set out on 7-5-16 for Akers Ferry Canoe Rental to float the Current River. With a dinner celebration looming, we were in a hurry. Off we sped down twisty, hilly roads to enjoy a sunny day on one of the Ozark National Waterways.
We got within a stone’s throw of our destination to discover Akers Ferry was broken. We would have to drive nearly an hour to cross the river and circle back. That put us seriously off schedule. It would have been nice if the good canoe rental folks that took our reservation had mentioned the ferry was on the fritz.
After apologies, we were put on the next bus to Cedar Grove. They assured us the river was running 2.5 feet higher than normal and we could easily make the 4-hour trip in less than 3 hours.
We hustled loading our gear, tied lures on our rods and shoved off in a rush. Jon was in front, Jean sat in the middle and I steered. The swiftly running river required lots of paddle handling, which highly limited my casting opportunities.
We were about an hour into a fun trip before I noticed my lure looked odd. Not that Karen had selected a lure with the Florida State Seminoles logo, the bait I’d been casting had plastic guards on every hook. We nearly turned the canoe over laughing. We finished the float in plenty of time for our dinner date and had a fresh fish story to tell.