Dream: Fishing While Sitting in the Lake

I'm at the lake with my wife and daughter. I'm sitting in the water on a concrete ledge, with my feet dangling off, not touching the bottom. The water is brown, murky, and it's halfway up my torso. For all I know it could be 100 feet deep.

I have a fishing rod with me, so I decide to cast the lure out and see what happens. I have to be careful not to snag my wife and daughter, so I don't swing the rod very much, and the lure doesn't go out that far. It goes only a few feet to my right.

I reel it back in and try again. This time I cast over to my left, and I manage to get it out about eight feet. The bail hasn't caught the line right, so I'm holding onto it with my fingers, trying to keep it taught. I can tell I've caught something already, and I wonder if this thin line I'm using will hold. It feels like only four pound test.

Finally I manage to set the bail properly, and I can reel in. There definitely is a fish on the end of the line. But it's not giving me much of a fight at all. It rises to the surface. It's a bass, only about 10 inches long, and it appears to be dead. It's curled a bit and listing on its side.

I feel as though I shouldn't have cast the lure. I didn't want to catch any fish. And now I'm stuck with a fish on the end of the line, sitting in very deep water. How am I going to get the fish off the lure? I have no place to set down the rod!

The fish seems to wake up, and it dives down below my feet. Now the line is between my legs. I manage to untangle myself. As I bring the fish back up, I feel something brush against my feet and legs. It feels as though a person is down there grabbing at the fish with his hands.

I feel miserable and exposed. I want to get out of the water.