One Year Later on Lake Erie

 Good day readers and followers.  Welcome back!! Here in Questionopolis it is the first day of school for my little question mark- 6th grade granddaughter, Bella- so that is an appropriate statement for the day.  Last month, exactly 365 days from the day that I traveled to Lake Erie, in Erie, PA with my good friend John, we went back.  We went back for a couple of reasons.  The original reason from 2020 was to go fishing and hiking.  The main target fish was Walleye, but in the great lakes there are Steelhead, Salmon, Perch among others.  Last year there was no fishing.

I found more ways to find parking around downtown Erie than to get to the lake, which is tough to do since a great lake is really more like a small ocean that is surrounded by land.  There are waves and tidal flows...but I digress.

One year later.  So much has changed- all good. This year we arrived for our 6 am excursion to nearly 30 boats lined up to launch from the Walnut Creek marina. Last November, at the start of what we, in my family refer to as The Holiday Season, I wrote a piece called Anti-Social Distancing & Gratitude.  In that piece I described last year's trip from which the highlight had nothing to do with the lake, fishing or parking.  Last year I learned that there's a lot of the positive of humanity in Erie, PA.  Particularly at UPMC-Hamot, the main hospital in Erie.  

This year we only had to look at Hamot from far across Presque Isle Bay.  This year we actually spent seven hours fishing with Captain Vince and his son/ First Mate, Daniel.  We caught the limit of Walleye, John landed a nice Steelhead and we landed a few Sheephead too.  A better trip.  Much better. The weather was perfect all four days.  Last year I don't really recall the weather since John had a critical medical emergency and wound up in Hamot.  This year John wore one of the UPMC-Hamot T-shirts on the boat that the hospital sent to each of us at my request- as a way to honor all of the great care they provided to him last year. I wore mine after we got back to our cabin.

At one point in the lull- after the early morning feed, where we each had pulled in a few fish, John turns to all of us and says "So this is a what a fishing trip is like, huh?"  We all laughed. We got to know Captain Vince.  We learned that some economic conditions lead him to become a full-time guide/Captain, but the bustle we saw at the marina in the pre-dawn darkness was because the n umber of guides grew from 34 to nearly 500!   Last year all I  got to really know was that he can run a medical emergency flawlessly and make a boat actually fly- both good things which is why both John and I could come back. Before we pulled anchor to head back in, John had a moment of cleansing- with approval of Captain Vince.  He jumped overboard into the lake.  The jump and brief swim was something he had planned. 

John went to move the car up toward the dock when we got back in.  In the interim, Captain Vince finished fileting the last of the fish with surgical precision.  I took extra time to thank him, give him a generous tip for both he and Daniel. I thanked him for not only a great trip, but once again for the actions he and his girlfriend Heather made to save John's life 365 days earlier. The day was one of four we spent in greater Erie- but it was the best of the four and worth the 4am alarm on a vacation day.  

No matter how many guides show up for Lake Erie I told him "Captain Vince, we will never go with anyone else."  I got to take a trip with one of my closest friends, talk about our life's challenges and have fun because Vince Salvaggi is a hero. The Answerman says "You cannot put a value on friendship, a true friend is priceless.  You can annoy your best friends and still count on them when life gets shitty.  (Life will always get shitty at some point.)  You also cannot put a value on the goodness of people like Captain Vince.