First Fishing Excursion

Earlier this month we had our first fishing excursion. I was a bit nervous because I want Jay and Isabel to have great experiences fishing - and want to go fishing lots with me. So I wanted their first exposure to be memorable in a happy way.

We started by stopping at Wal-mart to buy the kids fishing poles. Jay chose a spider man pole, and Isabel chose a princessy looking one that came with a few lures. The kids were excited.

We went fishing in my favorite spot - where I used to go every day during lunch. It is under the bridge in the Provo Riverwoods, right next to the Utah Community Credit Union building. The river is wider there, and not too deep. I also know that there are fish there, so we had a good chance of catching something.

First I tied a plastic practice fish on the end of Jays line - which is just to help him learn how to cast. He was interested for about 5 seconds, and then thought throwing rocks and his fishing pole in the river was much more fun. Nancy helped keep him from falling in the river.

Isabel really got in to it. I tied a colorful jig on her line. I doubted she would catch anything on it, but I knew she should be able to see it and it was less likely to snag on something. She did quite well as she learned to cast across the river and then pull it back. A few times she almost threw it to the other side.

After Isabel got quite adept at casting, her line finally got snagged. Daddy "unfortunately" had to get into the river to free her line. I asked Isabel if it was OK if, since I was in the river already, to fish for a few minutes. I started throwing a fly further up the river in a hole where I knew there would be fish - and far enough up that they probably weren't disturbed by Jay's activities. I got three quick bites and then was able to hook a fish. I waded back to where Isabel was and let her reel in the fish. Then we let the fish go and promised to come back and visit it again. That's a great kid fishing trip - fast and fun, and we caught a fish.