Fishing with the Little Boys

Thursday was my Dad's birthday, so in honor of a man who loves to fish, we took the little boys fishing.  Okay.  Not really.  We didn't make that connection intentionally, but still, does a person really need an excuse to go fishing???

 It was such a nice calm evening.  We only had the two little ones with us because we had shipped the ten year old off to the state shoot in Douglas, Wyoming, about a 6 hour drive from here.  I originally planned to take him so I could watch, but I'm glad I was able to just send him instead.  It was a lot less expensive, and I was able to be in town to help my mother in law, since she hurt her ankle.

 We had been fishing for a half hour or so when some very inconsiderate people decided that they should have their dog fetch out in the water right next to us. I was beyond perturbed.  There are three ponds up here and this one is specifically for fishing, and there weren't any people fishing any of the other ponds.  Pretty rude.

 Thankfully they left before long, but we didn't catch anything for about another hour.

 It was a nice and relaxing evening though (once the dog people left).  The weather was perfect and the bugs weren't bad.

 Of course you can't go fishing without the boys thinking they need to eat.

When the sun started to set, the five year old asked us, "Where are we going to make the fire?" and "Where are we going to sleep?"  He was ready to camp out :)  But this was not a place where fires or camping are allowed.

 I was pretty sure we weren't going to catch anything, so I pulled out my book.  I didn't get a word read.  I snapped a picture, then noticed the five year old was getting a bite on his line.

 When he reeled it in, he said, "I caught a fish! I'm so happy!"  It was all worth it.

 He was holding out the fins of the fish, saying, "Here's his flippers!"

 He wanted to hold it...

But it was too slippery :)

 While Dad was putting it on a stringer, I got a new worm on his hook and helped him cast it out.  Before Dad could grab his pole, the five year old had another fish.  It was like that for the next half hour or so.  As soon as the line hit the water, the fish would bite.  My husband would pull the fish off the line and get them on a stringer, and I would get more bait and get the line back in the water.  I think in the end, he only caught one fish because he was so busy helping the boys.

 Here's the three year old's first catch.  He reeled it in all on his own, then I lifted the line out of the water so he wouldn't lose it, and he screamed like a girl and dropped the pole and ran away.  It was hysterical.

 Then he got too excited about grabbing the fish before we got it off the line and ended up hooking his hand.  Thankfully it wasn't bad, and he didn't get too upset about it.  He went right back to fishing.  After that I was too busy baiting hooks and helping the boys reel them in that I didn't get a chance to take any more pictures.  It was pretty dark by then anyway.

 He wanted to carry the fish in the house when we got home.

 We ended up bringing ten home, and lost 2-3.

 The three year old was great about posing for a picture, but we had to work at it to get the five year old over there.

It was a lot of fun!