The Fabulous Fishing Reeds

We have taken up fishing! It's been a fun way to spend family time together this summer. We joined a fishing club...although there's not much "clubbish" about it. It mostly means we get a lake pretty much all to ourselves. We've fished and had dinner out there a couple of times already. Each of the 3 big kids have reeled in a at least one fish each time. They've even touched the fish and the worms used for bait. If you know my girlie girls, that is really saying something!

Trust me, there's a fish on the line, just turned the skinny way. See how far she was leaning from the fish, yet still holding the line?! Makes me smile. :)

I grew up fishing with my parents. I remember how frustrated they would get with my sister and me sometimes. At the time I never understood why. Now I do: Kids are idiots. Please don't judge me for calling my kids idiots...I'm calling ALL kids idiots! They're completely oblivious to things like hooks flying around when they just HAVE to cast the line themselves. And they cast directly into the tree...the tree next to them ON THE BANK! Things like "wait until the bobber goes down before you reel it in" are rendered to mean "reel it in as fast as you can right now so mommy and daddy can throw it out again and not fish themselves". You get everything finally set up and ready to fish and they inform you that they have to use the bathroom now...the one on the other side of the lake.

But you know what? I still love it. I still love spending this precious time with my family. I still love that they get to experience something that I loved as a child. I still love that they get to experience nature- life without the noise and static of technology. I still love providing them with new experiences in the hopes that they'll become tender memories for them as they get older. I will still do this, even if we have to replace 4 hooks, and buy new bobbers because the old ones are stuck in the weeds (or in my case, stuck in the mouth of the bass I caught and got to the bank just in time for the line to break!). And I will still do this even if my kids sit in the sand and play while mommy and daddy cast and hook a fish then call them over to reel it in! Oh, and I'll still do this, especially because somewhere out there in the lake is a monster fish that had my line and busted the reel right off the pole...no lie! Alas he got away. But listen here, Monster Fish. I'm coming for you, just you wait!