That's why it's called "fishing," not "catching."

Today was free fishing day, and since fishing licenses are way too expensive in WY, we decided to take advantage of it.

Now, although I may have grown up in a very outdoorsy family, and I went (along for the ride) on many fishing trips --even catching some myself, I really don't have any idea how to fish. I'm afraid I took for granted the opportunities I had to learn thinking I'd always have someone around more knowledgeable than myself.  I think that happens in a lot of areas of life, and then when it comes down to it, I find that I don't know as much as I thought I did.


I'm afraid my husband had very few opportunities to learn such a skill, so as newly-marrieds I was the "expert."  I admit I thought myself quite competent, having had so much "experience," and of course, I had my life-lines (a.k.a. dad and brothers) back home in case I had any questions.  So, at the end of our first summer together we bought a rod and some lures and went on our first fishing/backpacking trip together.  It was a success!  The little lake we hiked to had plenty of nice hungry fish in it, and the water was crystal clear so you could see right where they were. We caught some nice ones and ate them that very same day cooked in tin foil with a little bit of lemon pepper on a bed of hot coals.  Mmmm mmm!

Aug 2006

My husband really enjoyed that trip, although he didn't especially like the breaking-the-neck part.  I still recall watching him from the other side of the small lake come running all the way back to camp so that I could finish the poor thing off.  I think he was quite traumatized at the idea of making another living creature suffer a slow and agonizing death by suffocation when he knew I could put it out of it's misery quite quickly.  He had unsuccessfully tried the method I showed him of snapping it's neck (which I had actually never done myself before that trip --that's what brothers are for -- but I wasn't about to let him know that; I was the "expert") and when he couldn't manage, we made a deal, that if I would kill them he would clean them.

('06) What a catch!  The fish were pretty nice too. ;)

Anyway, after that wonderfully successful trip we very enthusiastically decided to invest in fishing licenses the next year.  I think I caught one fish (maybe two, but the first was too small to keep) on that license.  We tried several times, but had no idea where to go to find fish, and each time was too discouraging to give us the motivation to try again.  Well, with babies and moving back and forth between states, we never had a good opportunity to do much fishing.  We bought another license the summer my oldest child turned 1, and I think the only fish we got from it was one that an old Mexican guy was unsuccessfully trying to revive in order to release it again.  I had to pantomime that if he wasn't interested in it, I would take it and he fished the poor thing back out of the water with the end of his pole and gave it to me.  He probably thought I was crazy for wanting such a small fish --it was at most 10 inches-- but I was set on going home with something.  We ate it, and it was a little bony, but good.


So, now that you know our fishing history, you won't be surprised to find that yet once again we tried to go fishing together as a family today and I'm afraid to say we were completely unsuccessful.  The fish were literally jumping around us, and yet we didn't have what they were interested in.  How aggravating.  The kids had their heart set on eating fish too (as if they even liked fish --how would they know with us being such poor fishermen?). I think it was the sheer novelty of the thought that made them say so.

I think the last time I caught something I was this pregnant with my first child.

I won't say that today was a complete failure though.  It was a beautiful day to be outside, and I'm glad we took advantage of it.  It was a good family outing, where we got to do something out of the ordinary and enjoy nature together.  The kids had a blast throwing rocks in the river all day, eating outside, and getting muddy (honestly, as a kid what more could you want?). We'll try again sometime, and if even if we don't catch anything, we'll just remember to enjoy the ride.

Skunked again, but what a beautiful place!