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Friday turned out to be a very nice Spring day, and with the kids home on Spring Break we finally got them outside to do a little yard clean up, raking and burning. That eventually got all of Jeremiah's friends over to our place, and as they were sitting by the fire and messing with the dogs the subject of fishing naturally came up.
I agreed to take them, if they agreed to go to the early season trout lake.They agreed to that, if I would agree to then take them to the other lake so they could...wait for it...swim. It was such a nice day, and they were so hot, they said. As they sat three feet away from the fire.
We got to the lake and eventually got everyone rigged up. Except me. They're getting better at taking care of themselves, but with all four of them fishing I'm still kept pretty busy replacing hooks and sinkers and untangling line. Right away someone on down the bank caught a fish, so all the boys scampered down there to fish. Because obviously that's where all the fish were.
Fortunately, those folks knew Juan and Brian, and were very nice about sharing the bank with the boys.
She caught another one, and the boys watched closely and tried to do everything she was doing. They gradually eased on down the bank and staked out a nice stretch of their own.
Jeremiah left his rod on the ground and went off to pee. Just as he disappeared in the bushes, he got a bite. Juan saw it and set the hook and began to reel it in. Then, just as Jeremiah got back and took over his rod, Juan got a bite.
That smile says it all. They had great fun reeling in their fish together, and then they had great fun acting the experts for the other boys, who ended up not catching anything. Ian really wanted to catch a fish, and kept running here and there trying new locations. Finally he said, "I think I'll go pee." Unfortunately, it didn't work for him the way it had for Jeremiah.
It was good to get some photos of trout, and especially of this trout. It's Jeremiah's catch, and this year he has the honor of catching the first still water trout.
Oh, and by the way, this wasn't catch and release. Juan and Brian were going to take anything we caught home to their family. Brian went to find a rock to kill the fish with and brought back this boulder. The boys didn't hit their fish with it, they just draped them over it. But that worked; the fish died.
They fished on until after 7:00, and then they started thinking it was time to go swim. I couldn't believe, as I stood there feeling a bit chilled, that they were still serious about that, but we packed up and drove down the road to the swimming lake.
The plan was for them to all rush into the water at once, like lemmings, but it didn't work out quite that way.
But they did it! Unbelievable.
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They were all feeling good after this trip, and I have a feeling this is one they'll remember for a lifetime.
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