Seriously? SERIOUSLY? Why do we have to do this every time? I've started taking video of them having fun so I can show them. (Somehow they still don't believe it.)
This time it was flyfishing. They didn't try to pull the, "I'm not going," because they know when we're visiting Grandpa Jack there isn't a choice. They were prepared to fish a few minutes and then spend the rest of the time paddling around in their bellyboats chasing turtles. Too bad they started catching fish.
I know the whole, "It's called fishing, not catching," thing and I've used it to excuse slow days. But let's be honest. Fishing is better when there's a lot of catching. Otherwise we'd use hookless flies.
Each of the kids were into the fish. Henry fished with Grandpa most of the time and rivaled him for number of fish landed. Lilly was with me and had a blast bringing in a couple in spite of a serious case of Cheeto Fingers. And then there was Clara.
As an official teenager she often desires to assert her independence. She paddled ahead of us toward the end of the lake. From afar, I saw her casting to a fish, hook it, bring it in, and then release it. All by her self. My job is done.
Then she did it again. And again. After one more time I decided she needed oversight/I wanted in on the action. I caught up with her near the end of the lake and we shared the luck.
In the midst of the many rainbows we caught, I hooked into a fish that seemed extra colorful. As I brought it in I found it was a spectacular brook trout with a bright orange belly and a perfect white on the edge of its fins. It was probably the most beautiful fish I've ever seen. I almost wanted to take it so it could be stuffed, but no. Catch and release forever.
As we paddled in to the shore everyone had big smiles. And just to remind everyone of how much fun they had I took lots of pictures and stitched together a little video. Be careful with the audio; it's a little rough. But that's ok because fishing is fun.
