A Quick Sneak Down To The Lake

  Tuesday evening after a long day at work, I found myself pondering the thought of sneaking down to the lake for an hour on my long drive home. Do I go, should I stay home,or  Should I tie up some flies? Ahhh what the heck, I'm goin fishin! Soon after I arrived home I found out my little fishing buddy(my son) had a Cub Scout meeting, and I was really hoping to get him out there. I was kind of bummed out. I love sharing the fishing experience with others. What am I to do now? As I sat and pondered, I heard the soulful voice of my daughter. I thought she wasn't home when I arrived at the house because it was so quiet when I walked in. As soon as she rounded the corner she saw me. DADDY! she screamed as she ran over and lunged into my arms greeting me with her usually giant hug. I asked how her day was as usual and then proceeded to ask her if she would like to join me at the lake. I had already known what the answer was going to be, and I think she replied yes as loud as she could before I even got the question out. So I rigged up the rods, and headed across the street to the gas station to get her some worms, drinks, and a big ole cookie. We then proceeded to our shore spot, sat down and got our gear ready. As she started chomping on her cookie, I slipped a crawler on her hook and told her to cast away. We sat there watching her bobber for a few while I rigged up my twister tail. As I turned around for a quick second, I heard a splurge of excitement, I got one! As most young ones do, she started reeling like a bat out of hell. I told her to slow down a little and take your time, or he could get off. So that is exactly what she did. The first fish of the year for her was this nice 8"+ Crappie.

 We snapped a few quick photos, and released the Crappie to catch another day. Full of excitement, she casted  back out in hopes of another fish. I brought my fly rod down with me to see if i could entice a Bass to bite on my popper. No luck for me, but once again my little angler hooked into another fish. This time she reeled him in slow and smooth just like a pro. This time it was a nice gill.

 Full of excitement my daughter turned and looked at me and said thanks daddy. It put a smile on my face to say the least. The sun was setting on the horizon and fishing time had come to an end. We packed up our gear, and started heading back. The whole she held my hand thanking me and talking about the fish she caught. As we got back to the truck she said to me," I can't wait to come back." Soon real soon I replied. We headed down the street for home and met up with my son and wife. My daughter couldn't wait to tell mama about her evening over a scoop of ice cream.