trip report- my first time

thank you, rw ;-) - here goes:

got up this mornin, drank coffee, ate breakfast, put on my bathin suit and a
skirt and headed out.
first, i went to this gorgeous spot in banner elk. a rocky stream (just up
the road from a place called wildcat lake) that a good friend of mine
recently showed me. i seated myself on a large rock, with a waterfall to my
right and a quick flowing rocky stream to my left. i was once told that the
fish like to hang out on the "quiet" side of the rocks where they can await
food, while expending a minimal amount of energy. so i set myself up
accordingly. i layed out my towel, slid off my skirt and with pole in hand
commenced to the business of bird watching, sunbathing and fishing. i put
one of the rubber spinners on my hook that came with my fishin kit, and cast
my rod. i sat, soaking up the sun, listening to the birds and enjoying the
sporadic spray of the waterfall that the wind occasionally blessed me with,
and waited on "baited" (that was for you rw) breath for my first fish of the
day. and i waited. and i waited. despairing of success in that spot, i
climbed the rocks, and got back into my car, and moved up the road a little
bit to the duck pond, where i spied a gentlemen sitting in a lawn chair- rod
in hand. bingo. this must be a good spot- plus the potential existed for
some sage advice from an experienced fisherman. i got out of my car,
unloaded my gear, and settled a few yards away from him. when i asked him
how the fishin was he said that he had not yet caught anything. as i
prepared to cast my rod, he asked me what i was using for bait. i told him.
he then asked me if i wanted to fish the top or the bottom. i then
confessed that this was my first fishing trip, and that i really didn't know
what i was doing. so, he examined my line, and re- vamped it with a
heavier sinker that he was kind enough to let me keep, and put a hook on it
that he then filled up with corn. he suggested that i bottom fish, and had
set me up accordingly. i then took the pole, and before i could cast it he
asked me if i knew how to cast. i said that i thought i knew what t do, but
he apparently felt it necessary to show me anyway. so he cast it, and
handed it to me. then, with pole in hand, i settled on my towel, and we
began to chat. he gave me a few tips on fishin, and we shared information
about one another- he is a retiree that lives in florida in the winter and
boone in the summer. after a couple of hours it started to rain, and being
the tenacious person that i am, and he apparently is, we braved the weather-
until it got so heavy that we were driven into our cars to wait it out. ten
minutes later, when the downpour ebbed to a sprinkle we got back out, and
continued fishing. we were finally driven away by the lightening that came
up a little while later. we said our good-byes, i thanked him for the
hook, sinker and bait, and drove away. he did point out a huge golden trout
to me at one point in the afternoon, and that was a beautiful sight. so
even though i didn't catch anything there, i did get to experience that.
disappointed that i had not yet caught anything, i determined that if it
was not raining in boone, i would go to the spot i had caught the fish with
that fella yesterday. bingo- no rain in boone, onto plan b. i sat down,
put my line in the water- baited with a nightcrawler-( i had picked some up
on my way back to boone) , and watched the fish swarm around my bait. it
was a pretty awesome sight. i wasn't there five minutes when i had a bite.
i was so excited! i reeled it in, and had my first intimate experience with
a fish. i looked right into it's eyes, into it's mouth, heard the sounds
that it made as it gasped for breath, looked at all it's beautiful
colors-noted how they changed as i turned him around in my hand- and
observed how his tail turned into a pretty orange color. it was great!! i
was giggling out loud. good thing no one was around! it wasn't a very big
fish, and it was slender but i don't know what it was. after admiring his
beauty, i dislodged the hook from his mouth, and threw him back in. spurred
by my success, i re-baited my hook, and put my line back into the water.
ten minutes later i had another bite. again, i began giggling. i could
tell by the resistance that this was a bigger fish than the first. as i
reeled him in, i saw the "horns" on the top of his big head, and knew i had
a horneyheaded hogsucker on my line. i brought him in, and again held the
fish in my hand and examined every inch of it! this one was about 6 1/2
long, had a bunch of those thorny horns on it's head and boasted a beautiful
display of colors. his eyes matched the glorious orange of his tail- what
excitement! two fish! then it began to rain, and not being ready to stop-
even though i had already sat through one rain shower, and been out several
hours by now, i decided to sit through this shower, and keep fishing.
however, i didn't catch any more fish. after getting my line hung up on
something twice and having to put a new hook on it each time, and being
pretty wet by now, i decided that it might be best to stop. plus, i thought
i might should eat something!
so, that was my first trip out! probably a fairly sedate experience
compared to ya'll's, but all in all a very exciting day for me.

snakefiddler- how do ya like me now? ;-)