It is April. Days are cold, nights are colder. What were we thinking when we promised to take the kids fishing.
First, only a few of us have rods, my rod got broken last fall, the 3 girls don't have rods...So, start with a trip to Wal-Mart. lots of explanations about what is the difference between the $60 rod and the $12 rod, and how "pink" was not a good reason for the former over the latter. Pick up some worms (mine are too precious to offer up to the fish gods). While we are spending more money than we have on fishing gear, why don't we get a few more camp chairs, some bike/skating helmets, food, and enough soda for a Hoard of Orcs (since that's what we are now) and suddenly the bill comes to $260.00. I thought we chose this because it was an inexpensive option for Spring Break.
We get every body ready in their warm clothes, and load up in two cars to drive up the canyon. As we slink up American Fork canyon after paying for our 3 day pass per car load we notice that the snow is getting deeper. At the turn off for Tibblefork it is almost 4 feet deep. then we come up over the final rise and sure enough the lake is no longer frozen, there are several people fishing and the snow runs right down near the water's edge.
We unload everything, make a run to the potty and then start down the ramp (Tibblefork is handicapped accessible) with our rolling cooler and a radio flyer wagon loaded with goodies and kiddies. We set everybody up with a bubble and a worm before realizing that we have to cast into the wind and if you really kill the cast, you can get it into 4 feet of water. At this point I am hoping the fish are coming up into the shallows for a bit of warm water but I'm not holding my breath. I set Emily up with a clear water filled bubble instead of the clip on ones that everyone else has. Pretty soon we have taken over 100 yards of the shore line, Brayden and Bella are in the water up to their knees looking at rocks, Taylor is yelling because his worm is too short, Kira is just sitting in the Mud...Why did we decide to do this again?
We spent a bit trying to get everyone's line in the water at the same time (no small feat might I add). I just cast out for the first time and hear a blood curdling scream from down the shore line. I am off like a shot running through the knee deep snow like a cheetah (with four broken legs and kidney stones) to discover that the emergency I am responding to is that fish are slimy and Emily doesn't want to touch it. Note to self: Explain why we try to be as quiet as possible while fishing. The culprit was a 13 inch rainbow trout which Emily decided not to kill while I was flailing through the snow. As soon as she got it in the water again, it got off the line and got away. I baited her hook again, and within 5 min she had a tiny 9 inch brown trout which she knocked out on a rock to make sure it did not get away while I was coming. Since it was now damaged we had to keep him, even though it was going to cost us more to heat the pan to cook him than he was going to provide in sustenance. She got 3 more to shore for a total of 5. After the first one she was able to keep though, we threw back the small ones, (at least we are learning) and ended up with 2 keepers. I had lots of bites and one pretty good one on but didn't get any to shore, Mom also had some good bites and Kira caught a fish every time she reeled in (of course that is because she had a rubber covered pink fish on the end of her line instead of bait).
We came home with our 2 fabulous fish. Emily and I cleaned them together and I fried them up in some butter and key lime seasoning (basically lemon pepper only with limes). Everyone had a piece and liked it except the 1 bone that Emily got (Sorry Em). All in all it was a great success. The kids begged us to take them again on Sunday, and we committed to go up the canyon and have a fire with some hot dogs and peep smores for family night on Monday. Guess I better start putting together a fireside talk.
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