Sping has Sprung, and Fishin's Fun!

Today was the opening day of fishing season in the state of CT and the kids and I spent the day together. We awoke to a summer like day, Becky and I enjoyed the sound of the birds singing as the sun was rising this morning and the warm breeze through the bedroom window that we left open all night.

I was unsure if I was dreaming this morning cuz most days the kids are awake before the crack of dawn and are usually noisy enough to wake the dead! Much to my surprise - and the cause of my confusion - the children got up this morning and were quiet as church mice. Not that I'm complaining I enjoyed relaxing in bed it is just that I expected to have two children pulling me out of bed to go fishing before the sun had risen.

The kids made their own breakfast and after filling my travel mug with the required morning dose of hot coffee we were out the door to the local brook/river to go trout fishing.

Today was a historical day as it was the first time I was taking my kids fishing with the plan being they would be performing their own casts with the lure of their choice. This meant that all three of us would be actively fishing. I am PROUD to report that Alex took to casting his fishing rod "which I must admit is no easy task-even for an adult as we are fishing a brook surrounded by trees, bushes, briar's, etc...) like a well seasoned veteran. Both of my kids have learned to cast their open face reels at a much earlier age than most kids I know which I hope will give them a better appreciation for the sport of fishing.


We all had our own tackle boxes which I filled with new lures (yup, you read right, lures - no drownin' worms for my kids! Actually I will touch on this in a moment) that I purchased with my Cabela's gift card from Christmas.



Due to the nice weather this morning there were a lot more people fishing than I am accustomed to seeing. Even with all the people surrounding us at the brook we enjoyed the morning together. I hooked into a nice Brown trout which was between 16" - 18" I was going to let the kids reel it in (that's my story and I'm stickin' to it) but after it rolled several times in the current my lure came free :( I did catch a little rainbow trout it too fell off my line as I was lifting it out of the water. The kids each had several good "hits" that I witnessed but we left for lunch with an empty stringer.


We also enjoyed a good hearty laugh as Ariel attempted to wade out into the water to free her lure from a rock. After only 2 or 3 steps she lost her balance and ended up sitting on her behind in the ice cold water! Thankfully Ariel is a good sport and after making a pit stop at home for some clean, dry clothing we were on our way again.


I stopped at my cousin's house to help him hang a couple sections of stockade fencing. While we were there Alex enjoyed playing with his 2 dogs while Ariel spent her time doddling over his chickens and helped out by performing the egg collection duties.


We decided to try a local pond I enjoyed fishing as a kid which much to my kids horror required we get some live bait to fish with. After lunch we found a nice sunny spot on the shore and I set up their poles and the waiting game began. After about 2 minutes Alex informed me that this was a boring way to fish and decided to continue to reel in and cast out on a regular basis even though I told him letting it sit was the preferred method.


We managed to catch a couple of fish and the kids learned about fishing manners as I taught the kids around us the do's and dont's of fishing around other people. Ariel also found a baby painter turtle (its smaller than a US Quarter) which we brought home for our back yard pond.


Before calling it a day we decided to go wet our lines in the brook again and even though we didn't catch any more fish we had a great time together as well as watch a 3 engine freight train go slowly by on the other side of the brook. As I have stated many times before I am blessed to have kids who are interested in my hobbies. Not only do I get to do things I enjoy, I get to do them with my family.

The Fish Whisperer

Redneck fishin' buddy