Fresh Fish

Yesterday, I posted about my deep sea fishing excursion off of the coast of Florida.

Today, I am going to share a much different fishing story.

The weather was so pleasant here in North Texas that when Cassie asked me if we could do something outside, I jumped at the offer. We had been talking about fishing because of my trip, so I just threw it out there, "Would you like to go to the park and fish? You could bring your scooter, too."

When she said yes, I was pleasantly surprised.

I packed up the poles and tackle box. Mom put together a cooler of snacks and Cassie got her scooter. We stopped at a gas station on the way, picked up some drinks and some minnows.

We got to the fishing area and noticed that the wind was up, and it was blowing very hard right into our faces. This was not going to be good weather for casting, so I added a couple of weights to each of the rigs. I baited one pole, then another. Cassie wasn't too interested in fishing to start, so she went off exploring and playing with the dog.

She quickly tired and came to me for a pole. I gave her one and kept the other and we waited. She then stated she thought she had a fish. Her line was not taught, so I told her probably not. She started reeling in and mom confirmed that she saw her pole bend. I was skeptical and took her pole. I reeled in a little and said, "nope, no fish sweetie." I gave her the pole back.

She continued to reel in stating she had a fish. I doubted it until we saw silver at the top of the water. She reel him in, a pretty good sized fish. I didn't know what kind of fish it was, noting that the mouth was pretty small. I asked someone else at the fishing area and he said he thought it was a small mouth bass. We took the obligatory pictures, and thinking he was too small to keep (small mouth are 14 inch minimums), we released him - he swam away and we hugged and high-fived.

I told Cassie how proud I was of her. In fact, the entire afternoon she was a very conscientious fisher. She watched her line and remained patient. She was rewarded, too - as she was the only person to catch fish in that area that we saw. Funny, but the guy that I asked what kind of fish we had was pretty pissed off at her, stating that he fished all day and didn't get a bite and we come and get a fish pretty quick.

I printed a big copy of our picture and I will be placing it on my trophy wall with all of my other trophies. However, as I started looking at it, I started doubting that it was a small mouth. There are just no vertical stripes. In fact, there aren't any real stripes at all. I pulled out the Texas Parks and Wildlife Hunting and Fishing Annual and now believe that she caught a white bass. The minimum on these fish is only 10 inches. I'm thinking she might have had a keeper.

All I know is that the memory of her first fish will stay with me. She may forget about it, but I was as happy as if I had caught the fish. I'm hoping that she wants to go more often...perhaps more outdoor type activities will be in our future.

Now that would be a keeper.

SL