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GREENSBORO -- Gilbert Howell glances over when his wife Rose pulls in a bream.

That's about eight for her, one for him.

And that's how it often goes when the couple goes out fishing, which they typically do some three times a week.

"He says I have the quantity and he has the quality," Rose Howell says, grinning. "It's a male thing."

But her husband denies that he's keeping score.

"I'm not that way," he says. "She thinks I'm that way, but I'm not."

Good-natured kidding aside, what the two retirees really are after is a relaxing way to spend a summer morning.

They'll head to Country Park or Bur-Mil Park, find a shade tree, prop up a chair, and fish. And fish. And fish.

"You know if you stay out here three hours, it must be relaxing," Gilbert Howell says.

And it is about relaxing. Fish or no fish, he's happy. Most of what they catch they freeze and give to friends and neighbors anyway.

As much as she loves to fish, Rose Howell says, it's better when the fish are biting.

"I will not sit here all day and not catch a fish," she says. "If we're together, there's no telling how long we'll stay. He can stay the rest of the day."

Still, she knew what she was getting into when she married her husband.

"He taught me to fish when we were dating," she says.

Even among the animals, you almost make friends out there. There's a heron that likes to perch up on a tree by the bank of the pond, Gilbert Howell says.

If the bird sees him pull in a bream, he flies over, hoping Howell will toss him the fish. "He'll come over and eat it," he says.

He's picky, though. No crappie.

"He had sense enough not to mess with it," he says.

A day on the pond is about more than fishing. It's a time to hear the birds talking, see the reflection of the trees in the water, a chance to get lost in your thoughts.

"I do a lot of reminiscing. I think about the kids, the grandkids. All the way back to school days," Rose Howell says.

She used to bring headphones, but she stopped. She likes to hear the kids running around or to chat briefly with passers-by who wonder how the fishing is.

It's a good way to make sure you don't spend too much time in front of the TV.

"It's all bad news, all through the day," she says.

By contrast, if you go into it with the right mentality, there's never any bad news at the pond.

Near the end of the day, Gilbert Howell gets a big strike. Rose cheers as he pulls in a big bass.

"It's a good day," he says.

But it'd be a good day without that bass, too.

Contact Jason Hardin at jason.hardin@news-record.com.