The kids have been fishing for years. Grandpa Jack has made certain of that. However, the quality of the fishing trips has varied. We've had epic trips totaling a whopping 15 minutes on the water with no fish as well as multi-hour, multi-fish, multi-win trips.
This trip, to one of Grandpa Jack's secret lakes deep in the Hancock property, was of the latter variety, but with bonus firsts thrown in for good measure.
A few weeks ago, we took our fleet of rafts and belly boats to Rattlesnake Lake. We found the boats worked well and that Clara was ready to be casting in a boat by herself.
On this outing, Clara and Grandpa Jack headed across the lake in belly boats while I had Lilly and Henry in the Queen Mary, our huge raft.
When we finally caught up with them, Clara was consistently dropping her fly right where Grandpa Jack was pointing to. In just a few hours, she'd become more confident with the rod and would land 10 fish. She's still not choosing flies, tying knots (other than wind knots), or releasing the fish she catches, but she's light years beyond where she was last year.
Lilly, Henry, and I were not as successful in the catching department. We trolled along the shore and picked up a couple. One of which Lilly set the hook, reeled it in, and held it up for a picture. (Of course, that's right about when it dropped off and we scrambled to grab it and get it back into the water. Still, it was her first fish short of casting.
Henry was more interested in rowing, so he didn't rack up any firsts.
Overall, it was the most successful trip we've had on the water in years and it hints at a great season ahead. (As long as nothing bad happens that could impact our ability to fish...)
