Idaho Free Fish Day

While neither Jer nor I are eager outdoor enthusiasts or anything close to fisherman - we both want to expose the boys to things, even when it involves something that takes more patience than either of us has......

Fishing.

Jer's stepdad (who is a fisherman) bought him a fishing pole probably 4 years ago and Jer has never picked it up. I think mostly because he has no one to do it with and the boys have been too young for it until now. Jer's experience with fishing is equivalent to my experience with playing basketball. (if anyone has ever seen me shoot) Although the difference is, I've tried, and people have attempted to teach me. His own father took him out once when he was little but got frustrated and gave up, leaving the trip a sour experience for years to come.

But now was our opportunity- Idaho Free Fish Day. They would stock the fish hatchery so we were bound to be successful.

Jer found out about the times and location and was prepared to take the boys. "Paint the Town" a community event - was also happening the same day which he was also committed to- so he woke up early and went to help out with event and then snuck out early to get the boys and head out for our adventure. I was recruited at the last minute when we found out the times conflicted with our original plan of his good friend Scrub driving into town being the expert fisher. So off we went with a fishing pole we knew nothing about.

We got there and were shoulder to shoulder with other families around a pond. There were low hanging branches from trees that made it very difficult for an amateur fisher to cast among. We quickly got our line tangled and hung up in trees. (the picture doesn't show this because we started in this open area but felt like obvious posers in the wide open...) I hooked my own finger several times. The boys were afraid to touch the worms and we kept losing our bait. We finally went and borrowed a smaller fishing pole from the hosts of the event. Still nothing. Not only did mom and dad lack the patience for this sport (and the know-how) but we were competing against time and the patience of a 3 and 4 year old. I was just hoping for one catch for the boys to be excited for. While we watched the group next to use catching a fish every 2 minutes, we began to feel discouraged. Finally they were getting ready to leave and offered us their spot. They said it was right next to the feeder and gave us a few pointers of the bait they were using. We tried it. After Luke fell in the the water once, we cut our line from a tree and one of the boys dumped the whole tackle box over- finally something nibbled on our line.

One was all we needed. They were overjoyed! I reeled it in and we got our picture.

Then Jer and I looked at each other. What now?

I sheepishly walked over to the group beside us and asked if he wanted it. He got the hook out for us and kept it.

Next time, we'll just make sure to take someone who knows more than us about fishing.

But the boys didn't know any different. They caught a fish. And had special time with mom and dad. And we were proud that we could provide that experience for them, despite our incompetence.