I “grew up” in the suburbs of Detroit, where I lived from age 5 to 15 while we followed my dad’s work. I was born in California, and moved back at 15, but during those formative years in Michigan, I spent a lot of time outdoors and my favorite hobby was fishing.
All my family lives is in California, and my childhood friends were mostly too young to develop lasting bonds (with a few exceptions), so I really do not have any reason to go back and visit Michigan. However, a few years back, my wife and I decided to go back there and visit the place where I grew up, just for the fun of it.
We did a number of tourist-ie things while in Detroit, but the highlight of the trip was visiting a couple of my old fishing holes, which is where I fell in love with fishing in the first place. I, of course, brought a cheap fishing pole and gear with me on the trip so that I could try to catch a bass or two in the old fishing spots.
We first tried to gain access to a private lake which was by membership only, where I frequented as a kid. Despite my background story and plea to let us in, they did not grant us access, so we were only able to snap a picture from far away – you stink Murrays Lake!!
We then traveled down the road to Independence Lake, which is a public lake with park and shoreline access. My wife humored me, and followed me around while I did some fishing like the good old days. I managed to catch a decent number of largemouth bass and even a few Sunfish in a couple of hours. Getting to experience different environments is one of the highlights of traveling for me, and this environment and fishing like I did in my youth led to a enjoyable and nostalgic day walking around the lake. Here are a few pictures from that fishing session:
Perhaps one day I will return with my kids and show them how daddy did it back in the old days... Ha!
Thanks for taking a trip down memory lane with me.
What brings you feelings of nostalgia?
Brian
