Fiff and Fiffing

What a day yesterday turned out to be. I did about 3 hours worth of work today on floorplans, and 3 hours worth of driving. I got bait in Beverly next door to our old apartment (why they pave the lawn? Why did they change the locks? Why did I have to break in? I only came here to talk.) The day was a whirlwind of excitement from first thing this morning to the fishing derby.

We got to the fishing derby with our bait (I bought WAY too much) and got down to the pond to find that the water level was so intensely high that there was literally nowhere to safely cast. The edge of the water was way up in the tree line... a lot of kids gave up on the woods and went to the street. We didn't want to go where eight thousand other cub scouts were going, so we made the best out of where we were.

Check Doug out:





I was prepared to wade out above my knees (sandals and cotton pyjama pants) but Doug stepped up to the bat and did the Dad Thing. He rolled his pant legs up, and they rolled down while he was out there, and then he figured "In for a penny, in for a pound!" and waded farther in to get a good cast out. I was impressed... don't any of you bastards EVER say Doug's a cruddy dad, m'kay?

Dude wins.

We stood there while Geoff held his pole, wondering what the heck to do... "This is fishing. Isn't it thrilling?!" Doug said to Geoff. I had to laugh. Yeah. Wished I had a lawn chair at that point.

After a little while, and listening to the other boys and their dads all through the woods talking about how they weren't catching anything, Geoff says "Um. Where did my bobber go?" I looked at the water, and sure enough, it was under the surface.

"Reel it in buddy, you got a bite!"

He had a lot of slack on the line due to the bait and bobber just floating back towards us... so he didn't feel the pull at all. He reeled in, and there was the fish. Holy crap, he actually CAUGHT something!

A 9.5 inch Yellow Perch. Great Googly Moogly. They measured it up, and we released it with much rejoicing and Geoff's interest rekindled. Both of us had been basically ready to sack the fishing and leave... but now. Game on!

We had some trouble with the line being twisted, so we cut and tied and fixed it. As the horn blew ending the derby, we were in the process of reeling in our second fish. A bass, same length. Two fish in one hour. Wow.

I was impressed with Geoff's patience and his willingness to wait, watch, listen and follow direction. I was more impressed with Doug's willingness to walk out into the water.

Flickr pictures are posted.

This morning, we're heading out again so Geoff can try his hand at casting on his own. Wish us luck.