Montreal, Quebec City and New Brunswick!

Our drive into Montreal had to be one of the bumpiest drives we have had in years. It even rivals the roads in Alaska or Louisiana. Potholes you could lose a small car in, patch jobs that could serve as speed bumps. Faded or nonexistent lines separating the 4 lanes of traffic combined with the speeds of people rushing to and from work and you have yourselves a sh#tshow. The fact that all the signs were in French did not hinder us, we just followed our trusty GPS and we arrived at our first destination without a hitch!

Where was our first destination you ask? Well, it was right in the heart of the city. Complete with bustling commuters and narrow one-way roads. We did good though and were able to score a parking spot large enough for our 28’ rig right in front of…..The accordion store of course! Do you know how many accordion stores that are in the U.S. and Canada combined? Me neither but if I were to have to guess, I would say it is less than a dozen. When Barb found out there was one in Montreal, she just had to go!

Accordion Excellence is in a very diverse neighborhood. We were a little intimidated when we had to buzz ourselves in. Would they be friendly? Would they even speak English? We hit the buzzer on the outside of the building and were let in. “Bonjour!” said the man at the top of the stairs. “English?” I asked? “Of course, I am an old Italian, come on in!”

"Bill" was as friendly has could be. (I don't remember his name so I am just going to call him Bill) There were posters of him plastered all over the walls advertising events across Canada and the U.S. It soon became obvious that we were in front of accordion royalty. He asked what he could do for us and Barb explained that she was looking for some sheet music for beginners who were just learning to read music. Rather than scoff at her, he asked her to sit down and inquired about what songs she liked. They talked for about 10 minutes and he said “I will give you a quick lesson before you leave”.

He asked about what kind of accordion she had and I offered to go get it. “Of course, go get it”. When I brought it back in, he immediately brought it over to the technician who inspected it and went through every key, listening to the notes in about 90 seconds. He said the notes were almost perfect. He then went through the finer details on her accordion, showing us the wear, what was in good shape and what was showing its age. He said it was in excellent shape and originated in Italy but they had a plant in the U.S. around 1940. He valued it at $4,000-$4,500. When I told him she paid $150 for it he said “You got a gift my friend”. I felt like we were on The Antique Roadshow!

Meanwhile in the other room I hear Barb and "Bill" talking. When he started playing, I wandered over to see. One word “Incredible”.

When he was done they talked a little bit more and he gave Barb his card telling her to email him at any time and he would send her any music she wanted for free and offer any advice. I offered to pay him for his time he said “No, we do not get many visitors so we like to take care of them”.

I took some pictures of the inside of the shop but also found this very interesting video which shows it better.  It is mostly in French but is in English during what I considered the most interesting part.

Barb had a big smile on her face and was like a little girl on Christmas morning as we left the store.

From there we went to the KOA Montreal South where we checked in. At $61ca/night (w/e), it was the perfect place to spend a few days.

The next day we went to check out Old Montreal. For those you who know us, you know we are not city folk so I was already expecting not to like it. But surprisingly, I did not hate it as much as I thought I would. We took a taxi into town which was a challenge unto itself. At $60ca each way it is not the cheapest way to get into town but it is better than trying to find a parking spot for a large truck down there!

It took a bit for us to explain where we wanted to be dropped off but the driver finally figured it out and we were dropped off at the Notre-Dame Basilica . We paid our $30ca to get in ($15/person) and wow! Definitely worth it. I am not going to try and describe it in words….

From there we wandered over to Chinatown. We had never been in any sort of Chinatown before. Very interesting.

At one point we were stopped and asked to do a survey. Why not. They asked us a bunch of questions; where are we from, why brought us here, how safe did we feel, how much money we were going to spend…… We have everything pretty high ratings but that would have changed had they caught us a ½ hour later when we went to try and find a particular restaurant. It was in a very sketchy neighborhood with drunks and druggies. They were smoking and drinking right in plain sight. We had to walk right by them and they left us alone but it was a little unsettling.

We did not go to that restaurant but instead went back to the busy street and went to xxxx. It was delicious! After we ate, we ran into Dino sleeping one off on the sidewalk. We did not even know he was up here! If you look closely, you can see Lisa is on the left edge. We did not want to disturb them so we just moved on. 

Then it was off to Old Montreal down by the waterfront. Very cool old buildings but the pictures did not do them justice. Lots of activity, lots of people, vendors and restaurants.

Many of the young girls (wanna be Instagram Influencers) were posing for pictures hoping to become the next 15 Minutes of Fame cover girl. Pretty silly actually. But I thought, why not? Here is my pose I have self-titled Old man pondering life.

That was taken while we were waiting for our taxi. That was quite an ordeal itself. We called the same guy back and Barb tried telling him that we were at the Imax Science Museum. He quickly said "20 minutes". 45 minutes later he called back and said he was waiting for us in front of where he dropped us off. Ugh! But he eventually found us and we made it home!

The next morning it was time to pack up and head to Quebec City. The roads out of town in this direction were much better. There were some patches that were rough but for the most part it was smooth sailing.

Our destination of the day was Montmorency Falls. At 275' high, these falls are 100' higher Niagara Falls. The park has a visitors center, restaurant, food trucks, a sky tram and boardwalks right to the falls. 

While all of this was beautiful, we were there for one thing…. The zip line! The zip line extends from one side of the gorge to the other a good 300' above the water below. Barb has ziplined before in Oregon with Jessica, this is my first time. I would not say that I have a fear of heights, I have a fear of falling. So, I was more than a little hesitant!

We paid our $29ca each, got harnessed up and waited in line.

I don’t know what it is about guys being more nervous than woman but the guy in front of me as scared as well, while his girlfriend seemed totally at ease. He looked down the 300' to the water at the bottom of the gorge and said “Man, that water looks cold”. I told him “You won’t even feel the water, the fall will kill you”. They have two runs open so couples can go side by side. When it is your turn, they double check your harness, hook you to the line and wait for the signal from the other end. They then open the gates and count down from 3. At 1, you are both supposed to step off the platform and zip down to the other side. All was going well until the guy in front of us. They opened the doors, counted down and they were off! Well, the woman was off. The guy just stood there staring into the abyss and said “Oh, hell no”. Finally, after a little coaxing he was off and across the gorge.

The tiny green speck in the middle is the landing on the other side

We were up next and all I could think about was “Don’t be that guy”. My heart was racing as they hooked us up and opened the gate. Scared sh#tless would be an accurate description. At “1”, Barb was off like a rocket, I hesitated one second and stepped off. I am not sure I breathed the entire time but I do remember telling myself to look down and around. At the end you mind tells you you are coming in way too fast so you are kinda freaking out but about 20’ out there is a braking system that brings you to an abrupt stop.

You cannot have a phone, camera or anything in your pockets while you do this so there are no pictures of us but here is a video of someone else coming across. 

Barb was once again all smiles at the end. I was looking around kinda dazed and confused wondering what the F just happened! It was a rush, I did it and would do it again.

We had planned to walk Old Quebec City and take in some more sights but after an hour of driving around downtown trying to find a place to park our truck and camper we were both over it and headed out of town to a rest area near Beaumont that offers 6 free campsites. The sites were just the right size for our setup, I would not take anything bigger into this back area.  

Before we knew it we were leaving Quebec and entering New Brunswick and a new time zone that we have never been in. The Atlantic Time Zone. Were now 4 hours ahead of Forrest in Oregon, 3 hours ahead of our home in South Dakota and an hour ahead of Jessica in Pennsylvania.

Along the way Barb was channeling her cousin Lori in Alaska and had to stop by every  Roadside America Attraction along the way which included this beauty.... This is Piloup Seal-like Mascot constructed in 1971 to commemorate the First Provincial Games of Quebec. Complete with mutated flippers! To be honest, I was more impressed with the church next door. 

Then there is the world's largest Fiddlehead in Plaster Rock New Brunswick. I mean, who would not want to see that!

Apparently they have a Fiddlehead Festival every year in this town. 108 between Plaster Rock and New Castle has to be one of the nastiest roads we have been on, bring extra shackles if you are bringing a trailer!

Once we got to New Castle, NB we parked at Richie Wharf. Plenty of room for any size rig and bonus you can boondock in the parking lot!

 We stopped for lunch at Mike's Bar and Grill where we had the Appetizer Platter and of course a couple of beers. 

Then it was off to French Fort Cove Park for a hike with the dogs. I don't know how long the hike was but it seemed like 12 miles after just eating all the fried food. Maybe like 3 miles with a lot of up and down. The girls really enjoyed getting out though. 

Then we got to some boardwalks. At first Dakota wanted nothing to do with them but after the first one she crossed the rest like a pro!

At the bottom, they both got to play in the water!

That night we heard some goings-on over at the pavillion so we walked over to see what all the fuss was about. It was Tuesday night in the park. Barb and I joined and brought the average age down by a few years! Nobody broke a hip, so I bet they considered that a good night. 

Then it was back to the camper for the night. Tomorrow we hit our next new province! 

Rémi, the Crazy Frenchman!

 The other title for this post I was thinking of was “We’re not in Kansas anymore Toto”. Both are true and accurate.

Leaving Pasha we headed east on Trans Canada 11 toward Geraldton, then through Longlac and points  eastward. Once we left Longlac we were on roads that were new to us and Barb got to color in some roads on her atlas. 

This here is Guy-Paul Treefall. The 20 foot Ontario equivalent of Paul Bunyan. The only difference is that Paul does not give you the finger.  

This is not the crazy Frenchman

Our goal was to just drive 4 hours each day then either explore the area or just relax. A concept a lot of RV’ers do but we have never been good at. We usually drive 6, 8, 10 hours to get to our next destination. We may just do it more often as it our first stop really paid off!

Barb had pre-scouted and picked a boat landing that she had found on the Opasatika River (Freecampsites.net). We got there, parked and set up. 

Right along the river

The first thing we noticed that it was hot, 87° hot. The second thing we noticed was the bugs; both black flies and mosquitoes. We have not experienced bugs this bad in years! Someone made a comment on one of our recent blogs that said something like “Your friends like Barb better, the dogs like Barb better, and even the fish like Barb better!” While all of that is sadly true, there is another thing that likes Barb better than me that I am not upset about. That is the blackflies. They just attack her and leave me totally alone….. and I am okay with that! She got bit up like crazy!

Since it was so hot we took the dogs down to the water for a swim.  Dakota was in heaven! I was throwing a toy out in the middle of the river and she swam out and got it time after time.

Pretty soon a truck and boat pull up and start backing down the ramp where we are standing so we moved out of the way. They back up and this man, a girl and two large dogs jump out of the truck. The man was maybe in his 60’s, and the girl was much younger. They start unhooking their boat when the  man starts talking to us in a loud charismatic voice saying “Hello!”. We walked over and talked while the dogs played. He asks where we were from and we tell him “South Dakota!” he says, “You’re a long way from home!” He goes on “I am Rémi and I am a Frenchman!”

We start talking, about fishing, the weather, the river, the bugs….. You could definitely tell he was French but I was catching most of what he was saying. Then they headed out fishing....30 minutes later a storm passes through with high winds and a torrential downpour. Here is where I should probably mention Rémi was wearing jeans and no shirt and the girl (his daughter) was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. We knew they had to be getting soaked out there and watched the boat landing knowing they would be back soon. Sure enough here they come like two drowned rats laughing and smiling as they landed their boat. We were looking out the window at them as it was still raining and Rémi starts yelling “Come! Come!” looking in the direction of our camper. I was not sure if he was yelling at us or one of the dogs that was sniffing around the camper. Pretty soon Rémi comes over and knocks on our door. “Come, I have fish for you!”

So Barb and I went out and sure enough they had 9 nice walleyes and he says “You take 2 for lunch”. Who am I to refuse an offer like that?!? We talked some more and he said “You friend me on Facebook and we go fishing next time!” You don’t have to ask me twice! So Rémi, if you are reading this now, thanks again for the fish!

Do they look a little wet?!?!

I got a little history on Rémi while we were talking. He was born and raised right there in Opasatika (population 226). His father was a truck driver and so is Rémi. As a matter of fact, here is a picture of his truck right here!

He has 2 kids; a son who is 24 years old and his daughter in the picture is 20. He was quite the character, I wish we had more time to sit and chat with him. I think his kids would even agree with the moniker of Crazy Frenchman!

The next morning we packed up and headed east towards Quebec. Now, we have been in Canada dozens of times; Ontario, British Columbia, The Yukon, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. But crossing into Quebec was like crossing into another country. Everything was in French. All the road signs, all the billboards, all the store and shop signs. We were not in Kansas anymore Toto!

We stopped for the day at another free site that Barb had found. Halte De Rapide-danceus Campground with 16 sites on the lake outside of Rouyn-Noranda. There were a lot of signs at the entrance that we had no idea what they said but we did see one that said “$25/jour” I was not sure if “Jour” night or day but I was pretty sure that it was $25 to stay there. The problem was, there was no one around, no paperwork to fill out and we had no idea what the signs said. So we went in, found a spot and parked. We had the place to ourselves, not another soul in sight. 

If we thought the last spot we stopped had a lot of millions of bugs, this place had a gazillion! We took the dogs for a walk and they got attacked. Poor Dakota had a dozen on her nose alone. 

Poor Dakota, those are all mosquitoes!

We decided that we were not going to stay there so we went back to have lunch before we left. About the time we were ready to leave a car pulls up and a woman gets out. I went out to greet her and said “Hi”. She said “Bonjour”. I started talking, she started talking, and it became immediately clear that neither of us had a clue what the other was saying. So we just stared at each other for what seemed like an uncomfortably long time. I was trying to tell her we were leaving. I have no idea what she was trying to say. Finally she made a hand gesture that looked something like a bird flying away and said “Un parte” (or something like that), I said “yes” and she turned and went back to her car. As she was walking away I thought I heard her say “Dumás”. Like I said, I don’t understand French but Dumás must mean something like “handsome” in French. At least that is what I am going with.

So, the camper filled with mosquitoes, we headed to town. Luckily Barb still has The Executioner we bought in ’16 for our Alaska adventure. It is awesome! There is nothing like the sound of that ‘snap’ and the smell of burning mosquito! 

On our way to town, Barb downloaded a French/English translator app. I started throwing words at her to see how to say them in French. Cheeseburger translated…. is Cheeseburger. Sotir is exit and luckily Diesel is Diesel which by the way is $2.38/liter (8.99ca/gallon) ($7.28us/gallon). Yikes! Which is why we are staying at Walmart tonight!

The next morning we hit the road and continued east but first a stop at Tim Horton’s. Her mission; 1 chocolate peanut, 1 chocolate coconut and some donut holes for herself. When she went to order she got the same stare that I got from the lady at the campground. So she just started pointing. She came back with a chocolate glazed, a chocolinni and donut holes. The chocolinni was a croissant looking thing but very dense. Barb and I each took one bite and we were done. The rest were delicious though!

Our 4 hour journey took us to Grand-Remous where we stayed at a little parking lot next to the Savoyard Covered Bridge.

This bridge is 102’ long and was built in 1931 and is still in use today. A very pretty little spot for small rigs with only a few bugs. A few people attempted to talk to us, one knew a little English the others just tried and walked away.

The last leg of our journey to Montreal took us a little over 3 hours were we will be for the next couple of days. How’s my elbow you ask? The same. Someone thought maybe it was a form of gout, and it may very well be. Everything I’ve read about gout is that it is extremely painful. My elbow does not hurt at all.

Overall the trip is going good. The roads are a lot like Alaska with frost heaves, lots of potholes, cracking and filler. I wish diesel was a little cheaper and we wish we knew a little more French. But hey, if you are headed up this way and are going through Opasatika, look for Rémi, the crazy Frenchman, he may teach you a few words. And maybe even take you fishing!  

Let the GSA Begin!

Well, our time here at Pasha Lake Cabins has come and gone, it is time for us to move on. It seems like we just arrived here a few days ago but these past 16 days have flown by. 

The final fish tally? It's really not important, we are a team and that's what really matters. Our freezer is full of fish. Well, by full, I mean 6 but that is all we are allowed to take. We did get out on a few more adventures. Chad went back to The States for a few days for his oldest son's track meet and high school graduation. But, Brian, a high school friend of Chad's arrived. 

The first day he was here we went "Speck" fishing on Lake Nipigon, Lake Nipigon is huge! It is 1,872 square miles of water, If memory serves me correctly it is something like 60 x 90 miles. It has record Lake Trout, Northern Pike and Brook Trout (also known as Specks). These brook trout are the same ones we fish in the creeks and streams of South Dakota but here they get bigger, much bigger! They are also very elusive. If you see one, you are having a good day, if you catch one, you are having a great day! And it has always been on my bucket list to catch one. I had been out for them twice before in years past where I have had follows and even hits but never landed one. 

So off we went, launched boat and headed to our destination. An island 12 miles off the shoreline. Once we arrived we started throwing our spinners towards the shoreline. For 3 hours we moved up, down and around several islands in the area with nary a follow. That's when two things happened. One, it started to rain, and two, our electronics died. The last thing you want out there is to be 12 miles from shore in a rainstorm that you cannot see any landmarks, references or electronics to guide you back. Luckily, Brian brought a back up guidance system so we kept on fishing in a light misting rain. Cast after cast after cast then as I was least expecting it BAM! A Speck slammed my spinner a few feet from the boat. I can still see it in my mind's eye as this thing came from the rocks and hit the spinner. The oranges, the whites, the greens of the fish as it fought at the end of my line. I fought the fish for what seemed like an hour but was probably less than a minute as it danced around trying to get off the hook. We eventually landed it and I held in my hands this 20" beauty!

After taking a few pictures I slid it back into the water where it could someday again make some other fisherman's dreams come true. That night we celebrated our day. Some more than others, Brian was very proud that he guided me to my trophy Speck!

                                           Early on                                                      A little while later....

Chad and Michelle's son, CJ, graduated and got first in his two track events, the 110 and 300 hurdles and will now go to state next weekend!

We had another visitor last week when a friend of ours from Beardmore stopped by for an hour or two to visit. We met Wanda several years ago when she worked here and she drove over to catch up. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures but it sure was nice to see her. 

Barb also made another friend this week when we went fishing. This is Sam the Seagull.

Barb likes to throw food scraps to the seagulls while we are fishing. On this particular day it was Goldfish crackers. Well, Sam must have really liked Goldfish crackers because I kid you not, he followed us around for 3 hours. We would move, he would fly directly behind us until we got to our next location where he would land and wait for a treat, then he would follow us to our next spot and our next spot and our next spot. It was quite comical. 

On our way back home we had to stop for this logging truck that was being loaded. They are logging like crazy up here with trucks going up and down the narrow roads. You really have to be careful as there is barely room to pass. It was cool to see this truck get loaded. 

Luckily, they were nice enough to move and let us through before they loaded the rest of the truck. 

And here is a short video of Barb bringing one of her many fish.....

I managed to hurt my elbow somehow now it is grotesquely disfigured. Not as grotesquely disfigured as pretty much Dino's entire body but disfigured nonetheless. 

It's like someone implanted a golf ball under my skin. I am pretty sure that it is from reeling in all my fish. The good news is that unlike Dino's disfigurements, mine is only temporary. 

Our last night here Brian and Chad threw a goodbye party complete with steaks and fresh caught walleye! Oh, and beer, lots and lots of beer. 

I am pretty sure they are throwing a good riddance party tomorrow night. So now we start the real part of our GSA. I mean, The Farm and Pasha are adventures but now we are off to new and unknown destinations, wish us luck! 

The Good Times Continue at Pasha Lake!

Dogs are so weird. I don't think we could have two more opposite dogs. One big, one small. One outgoing, one shy. One who loves to play, one who loves to just sit and watch the world go by. Dakota was basically raised in a concrete kennel the first two years of her life before we got her. At 2, she had not been in a car, house, or climbed stairs. As some of you may recall, we had to build ramps to get her up stairs and into cars. Although she no longer needs ramps, she still panics when she climb stairs or get into cars. She just panics and does not use her head at all. Forget slippery floors. She either will not go on them at all or she panics and wheels out trying to get to her destination as fast as she can feet and legs flying everywhere. 

Zoey on the other hand is the complete opposite, being held and nurtured since the day she was born. She is trusting, fearless and not scared of anything. She will greet anyone with a wagging tail and lick every part of your face if you let her. 

There are two things that really strike me as odd though. One is their bathroom habits. Dakota will go anywhere. Well, not in a house thankfully, but anywhere outside. Concrete, blacktop, you name it and she will stop and go. Many times right at your feet. More than once we have been embarrassed as we are walking and we stop to talk to someone and boom, squat time! I am sure that has everything to do with being raised in that kennel. 

Zoey on the other hand is a secretive squatter. Especially when it comes to #2. She has to go off into the woods or the tallest grass around, look back to see if you are watching her and then squat. If you are watching her, she won't go! Do you think she was a human in a past life? Once she is done with her business she will often stand and stretch one leg back as far as she can, then the other and return to us. Daisy used to kick the dirt over where she went. I know a lot of dogs do that but do not quite understand the meaning. 

The other thing that strikes me as odd is how Dakota greets people. She is very wary. 80% of the time she just ignores people and avoids them until she gets a feel of whether they are friendly or not. Then she will slowly come up for a pet or sniff. 19% of the time she will wag her tail and come up to someone right away sensing they are no threat at all. Then there is the remaining 1%. This has only happened twice in the past 5 years, so maybe it is even less than 1%. The second time was this week. In these two cases when the person entered the room Dakota's hair went up and she growls the entire time the person is there, never looking at them but never taking her eyes off of them at the same time. And she will not leave Barb's side often staying between Barb and the person (To hell with me apparently). She will not let the person touch her or even get within a few feet of her. We thought that maybe it was a man thing but this last time was not a man but a teenage girl. Weird huh? I don't think the person noticed in either instance but it was interesting to watch!

Sorry, Dino and Harry, I have no video for you to watch of either this behavior or the bathroom habits.

Fishing this week has been better but not great. With water temps in the upper 30°'s and low 40°'s, plus it being spawning season, these fish as just not real active. We have gotten out several times however managing to scrape up a limit of walleye each time. As I said at the end of our last post opening day was cold at a mere 34°. We went out with Chad, Michelle and Carmen (11) who were in one boat while Barb and I were in another. We loaded up the boats, hit the water and....it started snowing like crazy!

Hard to see in this picture but it is snowing pretty good!

Barb's new fish finder works great! I should have bought her one years ago. She asked it she could have it at the front of the boat next to her but sadly, the cord is not long enough to reach the front of the boat so it has to remain in back with me. (Little does she know that the cord is plenty long enough but I have most of it zip-tied into a bundle where she cannot see it.)

The lake stretches about 11 miles long by 1 mile wide. We were for sure the first ones on it for the year and, with the lockdowns, probably 2 of less than 100 in the past several years. The local loons were very curious and hung out with us several times during the day.  Nothing like the sound of loons on a remote Canadian lake!

 We hit all of our favorite spots, but they were neither super hungry or concentrated. We  picked up one or two here and there but not the numbers we are used to.

When we had our limit we headed back to find Chad and Michelle as we went in different directions at one point. When we found them it looked like this....

Engine problems?!?!? These motors are brand new they should not be breaking down! Upon closer inspection we found that the buoy string had become wrapped around the propeller. 

Chad had somehow convinced Michelle that it was her fault as she accidently hooked the buoy with her fishing line but any experienced fisherman knows that the responsibility of keeping the buoy line out of the prop falls on the person operating the motor. Always!

After 15 minutes or so, they had it untangled and were ready to roll again. That is when we made this fancy video showing off their new electric start motors!

As you can see, they have a great sense of humor and are fun people to hang with. 

So, I know many of you are wondering how badly I am out fishing Barb this year. Well, lets just say. I have turned over a new leaf and no longer feel the need to keep score. No need to tally who caught the biggest, who caught the most. I am out there just for the joy of fishing, enjoying nature and spending time with my wonderful wife. In fact, I think it is real petty to keep track of size and numbers. Who would do that? 

I'll tell you who....Barb! Remember a few weeks ago when I wrote The Joy's of Grandparenthood? And how competitive our daughter and granddaughters are? Like the time our granddaughter Kendall shouted out "It's 14-2" during a soccer game they were not supposed to be keeping score. How, oh how, did they become so obsessed with winning all the time? The answer came to be again this week as Barb reminded me of the "fish score" every time she caught a fish. "5-0", "6-1", ...."7-1". She would stand up and shout it to the world, like anyone was with 20 miles to hear her anyway. Quite annoying actually. At the end of the day she reminded me by saying some smart@ss comment like: "Remember when Kendall shouted out "It's 14-2!" at the soccer game?" I replied "Yeah, that was cute and funny". Barb then says "That's what our fishing score was today". I did not find that so cute.....or funny. 

In my defense I was operating the boat making sure we stayed on the good spots and playing with my, I mean her new fish finder. As a matter of fact, here is proof of one of the fish that I almost caught. You can see how the colored line starts at the bottom and goes diagonally towards the top? That's me pulling a fish off the bottom and reeling it to the surface. Sadly, you see the  colored line get to the top and then go right back down to the bottom. That is the fish getting off the hook and going back down. 

The next time we went out I did much better and held my own. After 3 hours of fishing she was one fish up on me. With a self imposed quitting time of 3:00, I had 10 minutes at our last spot to catch one to tie, or 2 to win the day! Or would she catch another one and go further ahead of me?  With less than a minute left, I hooked one, landed it and did the happy dance! Barb said "What are you so happy about?" I said "We tied today!". Then the replied, "Yeah, well, overall it is 24-11". With that I tucked my tail, started the motor and headed for the boat ramp.