McCarthy Lake

The lake has been 
waiting patiently for years.
It calls to me:
"Where have you been?"

Welcomes me back
to float its smooth surface
in my ancient aluminum rowboat.

Overturned on the weedy shore,
overrun with vines and branches,
it has sheltered snakes, muskrats,
multiple mouse nests,
and countless spider webs.

All this is swept away now,
as I push off through
dense green reeds
and glossy, round, lily pads,
and onto the deep dark water,
where this little spinner jig 
attracts a beautiful bluegill,
tugging, zipping, cutting,
in quick underwater circles,
the rod tip straining,
this pugnacious pan fish 

spinning on mono-filament
until I lift it

into the boat. 
The first of many.

Yes! I have returned.
I am back on McCarthy Lake.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1, 2, & 3. McCarthy Lake - Kent County - Michigan