Big fish and big football weekend = a happy big guy

Let's be honest. Last week was dominated by The Big Fish. And not just because I'm still trying to get the smell out of my washer and dryer after Seth's post-fish-fillet cleanup efforts.

In his own words, I feel like these pictures should just come with a cheesy a one liner that you would see on the back of a Bass Pro T-shirt of "What Rednecks Do After Dark". However, I have to thank my wife for so many things. The main one being that she just makes my life a whole lot better everyday, and she puts up with me of course.

This is the largest critter with gills that lives in freshwater that I have ever caught. I know its not a 10 lb. walleye... I am still hoping to catch one of those in my lifetime too. This is a large river fish that I did catch from my kayak though.

I can honestly say that if it wasn't for Amy Nieman I would not own a kayak, nor would I have ever fished from one.

I have been an outdoorsman my entire life. Which to me means being at one with nature while at the same time pursuing a huge animal that I can eventually put on the table. Usually I am not far from an F150, four wheeler, or boat with a motor though. It always just seemed more efficient.

It was not until I meant Amy that I truly understood that you can be an outdoorsperson without pursuing animals in the woods. Amy loves being outside and appreciating nature while at the same time having an adventure and getting some cardiovascular exercise. I really do love sharing my life, my time, and my adventures with Amy and that is why I decided to get a kayak not long ago. (I got Amy a kayak last Xmas, because she thinks they are cool, and until recently she had been pretty much kayaking on her own.)

Plus I thought it would be pretty bad ass to fight a big old River Cat from a kayak while being pulled up and down the river. Turns it out it is. I have been chipping away at figuring out how to fish these things the last couple weeks. I am glad that I finally got lucky tonight. And I do kind of feel like Huck Finn when I am paddling around by myself under nothing but the moonlight. And I am so grateful that my nearly 8 month pregnant wife puts up with me when I say, "one more cast..." when we both know that I am going to get a bite on the next cast and that is going to motivate me to cast five more times after that or until I catch the big one...

And also she doesn't worry about me too much when she doesn't hear from me... Because you guessed it. I caught this monster and I was so excited to take a picture and send it to my lovely wife that I dropped my phone in the Potomac. That is the second phone that the river has taken from me in the last two weeks, but what the heck... Who's keeping score.

I am very happy to have tried something new, but mainly I am thankful to have such a great wife that loves me and keeps me learning and broadening my horizons.

So there's that. Putting up with late-night fishing (apparently that's when they bite?) and fishy-smelling laundry lands you "terrific wife" status. Noted.

I myself love our evening paddling dates, but have learned my lesson: stick around for the sunset and then hightail it home, leaving the big guy to the nasty, mosquito-plagued, and interminable business of killer catfish- landing.

Still smelling slightly piscine, we headed to West Point this weekend to catch the season opener against Buffalo. (We had opted for the early morning haul Saturday rather than the painstaking Friday evening freeway crawl out of the DC area. The early alarm definitely paid off, as the drive took us no time at all.) We made it in time for kickoff, and had a terrific- if sweltering- time watching the Black Knights roll over Buffalo. Seth was thrilled about the team's performance under the new head coach, and improvement since we saw them play in the spring. Finally feeling eight months pregnant, I was mostly excited about spending halftime in the air-conditioned "A" Club room.

Seth spent the afternoon catching up with friends and mentors while I tried not to melt, which longsuffering patience eventually scored me a trip over the mountain to Prima Pizza. I had been hearing about its many superiority practically since the day I met Seth, and I have to say that it was not just my unwillingness to consume stadium hot dogs for lunch that made me concur. It was amazing. Between that and the gorgeous views of the Hudson River valley, I was again reminded that being stationed here was not going to be so bad.

We skipped the Highland Falls nightlife this time for beer/ ginger ale (guess who got which) and football in bed. It was a terrific decision, and I was thrilled to catch the end of SC's upset win over Stanford in my pajamas. Thanks to either pregnancy or late-night fishing- and most likely a little bit of both- our idea of weekend fun is a littler tamer than the usual, but we'll take it.

We took our time on the trip home, stopping for an incredible lunch at the incredible Backfin Blues in scenic Port Deposit (score a big yelp win for Seth), and allowing time for me to discover the shocking New Jersey "full service only" gas station law (how is that a law?!) We also got to listen to the Vikings game, courtesy of my new satellite radio, completing the trifecta of awesomeness as far as Seth is concerned- wins by Army, USC, and the Vikings (plus, of course, NDSU, although they really never lose.)

We made it home jussstttt in time to ignore all of the weekend chores that had piled up and hit the river for a sunset paddle. I didn't have my phone with me (having learned from Seth's bad luck with electronic devices and rivers), so he took the photo of the week with his loaner brick phone (complete with slide-out keyboard.)

As photos never do really do a sunset justice, it probably doesn't matter what we used to try to capture it. Suffice it to say,  it was a spectacular evening on the Potomac. We had the river all to ourselves and we sat in companionable silence, taking in the vivid colors reflected on the river's surface and the cacophony of early evening sounds. It was a nice moment.

In the picture, I'm feeling Baby Nieman kick. We think she likes family paddling dates.