Gone Fishin'

The gorgeous weather of late has given us the urge to enjoy the great outdoors. What better way to spend an afternoon than to go fishing! There's a lovely little lake at a nearby subdivision that we love to visit. It also just so happens that Ben's place of work has several small ponds and large lakes. They are situated such that you can feel you are off in the woods somewhere, miles from civilization. Okay, maybe not miles, but at least several thousand feet:-)

Let's start with the most important, and most impressive, catch of the season. That would be my gigantic, nearly record breaking, awe-inspiring Crappie - caught on a worm on the girls 3ft pink, princess fishing road. Prepare to be impressed!

Told ya! Pretty awesome, huh? Here are a few more to put it in perspective.

Here's a link to the current NC Crappie record. I don't think it would have beat it, but it would have been close. We figured mine was about almost 14in. long but we couldn't figure the girth and of course we didn't weigh it. (I have now added a scale to our fishing gear:-))

http://www.ifished.com/blog/new-north-carolina-white-crappie-record

And to give credit where credit is due, the infamous Princess fishing rod.

Most recently, we, along with Grammy, spent an entire Sunday afternoon enjoying the weather, a picnic, and daylight savings time.


The best part of the day just may have been watching the girls eat, an activity of which we never seem to tire. Natalie and Abby both went to town on chicken legs with much gusto.


Natalie finished hers off first, with Abby close behind. Yes, folks, you heard that correctly, they each ate an entire chicken leg. Life's simple pleasures...


We didn't catch any monster fish like mine above, but we did have a great time with a number of small bream, catfish, and bass. Grammy also got in on the action...

Alas, the princess poles did let us down on two occasions. Both mom and I hooked fish that broke the line before we could get them in. I'm not sure what test pound the line is on those poles, but it probably isn't terribly high. That means I was really lucky to catch that crappie (which I think was at least 2-2.5#) or those were some darn big fish that got away!

As mentioned before, the girls' favorite activity is playing with the worms. We now buy 2 containers of worms. One for fishing and one for the girls. The worms for fishing actually end up fairing better since we don't get to all of them! The girls like to create worm families: mommy worms, daddy worms, baby worms, sister worms, etc. They dip them in the water to give them something to drink. And, when they are tired of that (or maybe when the worms stop moving), they often throw the worms into water "to feed the fish". Abby also really enjoys trying to feed the fish when we catch them which involves trying to stuff a worm down the throat of the poor fish we have hooked. I guess it's kind of a consolation prize.

Before anyone worries about their treatment of animals and possible future psychopathic tendencies, I assure everyone that they show great kindness to kitties, puppies, and old people. Their somewhat torturous behavior only extends to worms, and since we are spearing the other worms with hooks, I'm not too worried about it.

Abby giving the worm some water.

Natalie getting worms from their container.more worm fun...

A few random fishing moments

Fishing always brings back great memories for me of my childhood and fishing with my family. My dad and I had a running ledger of who had caught the most fish. We also had a saying, "big enough to catch, big enough to eat". I think we must have caught bigger fish back then because some of the ones we've caught recently would have pushed the reality of that axiom to its limit.

I am so thankful we have introduced this wonderful and relaxing past time to Natalie and Abby. There is nothing better than enjoying the great outdoors. And, of course, everyone needs a few good fish stories to tell...