First the business part. The SCA Trout Tournament wrapped up late Sunday afternoon. In its wake were two days of dawn to dusk fishing. Unfortunately not really for me. As club Treasurer it meant two days of 4AM wakeup calls, hawking memberships, hats, & t-shirts, and reconciling cash boxes from the various stations of the event. Lots of big fish were caught, even more smiles on little kids faces, and from all early accounts, a success from a fundraising standpoint.
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| Lots of people = Not ideal fishing conditions, but lots of money |
As for the fun part, Lilly showed up for a little bit on Sunday afternoon with K.C., and we met up with one of her friends from school and her father. As such, I took a little time out from my duties to go fishing with Lilly and try to catch her a fish. First stop was the kiddie "pond," but she wanted no part of it whatsoever. For real. Not sure if it was too crowded, or she just knows that isn't real fishing. So we just left the kiddie pond
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| Kiddie pond of death |
Instead, we tried to find some room on a bank to do some fishing, but since it was shoulder-to-shoulder in all the promising spots it was more about uncrossing lines than it was about fishing. (Yeah, I'm sure the hardcore guys to our right were lovin' us!)
Lilly pretty much lost interest when she figured out she really couldn't do her long (but inaccurate) "grip it & rip it" casts like she does at the sunfish pond we frequent, so she just picked up rocks, played with her tackle box, and chased her friend around the surrounding trails a good portion of the time.
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| Crappy cell phone picture of the 10 or so minutes Lilly & her friend fished. |
So no fish for Lilly today. At least she had fun with her friend and from what I can tell from the smiles, a good experience overall. Fortunately, I don't think the lack of action discouraged her from fishing again.
On the walk back to the car she looked up at me with bright eyes and a sneaky grin and we had the following exchange:
Lilly: "Daddy, can we go 'Family Fishing' at the pond tonight?"
Me: "Tonight? No, not tonight Lilly. Daddy won't be home until late."
Lilly: "Tomorrow...?"
Me: (Huge Smile)
Sounds like you could use tomorrow off after the long weekend. Might as well have Lilly skip school and go for a family fishing trip instead. That seems like the most logical thing to do, right?:)
ReplyDeleteNice. Sounds like Lilly is going to be quite the fisher-woman :)
ReplyDeleteWas the creek stocked for specifically for this event? That is a lot of anglers.
ReplyDeleteI hope you and Lilly get a bit of fishing in today.
-stephanie
@Trout Magee
ReplyDeleteIn a perfect world, yes. In an imperfect but more realistic one, it rains today and I go to work.
@JM
ReplyDeleteAs long as she's having fun, she can be whatever she wants to be.
@Stephanie and Dustin
ReplyDeleteYes, my trout club isn't a fishing club but more the club that runs the cooperative nursery that stocks the surrounding streams for the State. The tourney's our biggest fundraiser - basically it pays to feed our fish.
We did a stocking prior to the tournament, and also purchased quite a few "trophy" sized fish to bring in the crowds.
I did notice one in the kiddie "death" pond that looked rather chubby. Hard work, long hours, and great fun. How good is that?
ReplyDeleteDid you get ot my post and see the Tenkara guy? Just for you.
Mark
@Shoreman
ReplyDeleteThere were some pigs in the kiddie pool (which honestly I question their placement there)...
No, I haven't seen your tenkara post. Have been quite delinquent with my blog reading the last week with all the tourney prep going on. Will check it out now!
Very nice Mike, you've got a lifetime fishing partner for sure.
ReplyDeleteHope you and Lily can get out and enjoy some fishing together...looks like she will be a good little fishing buddy!
ReplyDelete