Well, it started off late, but we launched at St. Vital Park. We anchored nearby and I don't think all the lines were in the water before our 8 year old daughter had a big fish on, most likely a cat on a light rod with I think 8 lb test. With some coaching she fought it well. After it had been going on a while, I tightened the drag just one click and the pickerel rig broke. She was disappointed, tired, and couldn't stop talking about it....
Shortly thereafter, our 4 year old got tired of fishing and gave me his rod. A while later I had a big cat on. Again, on a similar Shimano outfit. I was able to get it to the surface and we saw it. Things were pretty excited then. To gain leverage, I put my reeling hand on the reel - a finger or two must have been on the spool, gave it that extra bit of drag and the cat decided it didn't want to come any closer than 10 feet to the boat and snap went the line
Oh yeah, these cats were taking like half crawlers on pickerel rigs. Man.
So I take out my catfish outfit and nothing. Figures. After a while we moved, then decided to just go for a bit of a cruise and see Winnipeg from a different angle.
After getting the boat out of the water, the wife whispers to me that we should go to McDonald's for supper and then to the floodway gates. I convinced her to go home first and switch vehicles so the boat is hooked up for tomorrow. We get out there...the water is up....the way people were dispersed made it difficult to get us at a decent spot. Anyway, some folks left, we tried targeting carp, and 4 year old Joseph decided he wanted to fish. With all the snags, I told Suzanne to put a worm on under a bobber. A little while later, his bobber goes down and here is the result...
On top of everything else, it is 14.25 inches, so it is an MA. He's caught up to me and he's only caught one fish. Anyway, that smile made the day worthwhile. It was bleeding pretty badly, so it is bait for tomorrow.
So 6 year old Luke decides he wants to get in on the action and shortly has a goldeye of his own...
Of course, being the polite fellow he is, he asks me if I want to keep it for bait for tomorrow and I oblige.
Moments later, Joseph hauls in a small channel cat with his mother's assistance...
So, my goal of getting Joseph his L'il Angler badge is met (once the paperwork goes in, of course).
All in all, the smiles say it all. A slow day, but all three kids saw some action. It was disappointing that Teresa's broke off, but she accepted it. Mom and Dad didn't land anything by the way...sigh. I've definitely had worse days.
Derek
http://www.mts.net/~dthille/fishing.html
