Good Places, Good Memories

Dad and I fished last night. I needed to check some things out on my boat before our Canada trip, and it seemed logical to do some fishing while we were at it. I recently installed a new sonar fish finder on the boat and was anxious to see how it worked. And the way the wind has blown this spring, we knew we needed to take advantage of any calm evening. Clark State Fishing Lake, north of Ashland in Clark County, is about an hour away, so we drove down for a short evening trip. Clark is a jewel of the prairie that you have to see to appreciate. Driving in from the north, you pass wheat fields and native prairie -- flat and wide open. When you turn west, for the last mile, you still can't see the lake. Then the prairie drops out from under you into a spectacular canyon, deep and rugged. The sight of the 300-acre lake in the bottom of that canyon never fails to impress me, even though I've been going there for almost 40 years. The road in from the east drops off quickly, and as I braked the truck down the steep grade, I remembered our first trip there -- Mom, Dad and little sister Teri. It was a picnic outing, but of course I remember fishing, and I remember catching a couple of small bass. The memory of that simple afternoon family picnic at the lake has stayed with me all this time. Dad and I caught some fish last night, reminisced about past trips to the lake, and enjoyed a rare calm evening. Any way you look at it, Clark State Fishing Lake is a special place, but you should see it for yourself. I'm sure memories of trips with my family and Dad skew my view.