Fishing

Our final activity of the adventure was fishing.  Elyse was beyond excited about this part - she has always wanted to catch a fish and it is one thing she never got to do with Grandpa Tom.  Well - we were out on his boat and Mom and Carolyn caught fish, but Elyse was 'too freaked out by the flopping fish' that she wanted nothing to do with it at the time (she was three). Can't say I blame her.  Fishing with Tom in his boat at the lake is one of our best memories.  So here we are - Elyse's first attempt at fishing.

 

AZ Game and Fish received a grant and that is how many of the activities were funded:  the archery, the compasses, and fishing equipment.  A very knowledgeable Game and Fish guy went over fishing rules and names of fish etc. before we started.It was actually quite interesting - we learned how to hold a fish once we'd caught it --- you can hold different fish different ways because of their teeth. He showed us how to bait our hook, had us select our poles and sent us on our way.  Alone. With no guidance. Thankfully, Elyse had been watching other fishers the day before and evidently talked to them because she knew quite a lot more than the rest of us! 

 

We were fishing around a lagoon and it was a windy day.  Fish hooks and wind do not mix well.  We tried but caught nothing. The girls snagged a few weeds and Elyse caught a tree branch - and that marked the end of our fishing adventure because the hook, line and sinker were now in the tree and  I had not paid attention to the 'how to put a hook on the line' part of the lecture!  We all agreed that we would prefer to fish from a BOAT rather than from the shore. Guess we'd better find ourselves a boat!

I baited the hook - with a real live worm.

Carolyn was patient....

Elyse baited her hook and then asked to bring the
 rest of the worms home for our trees.
Save the worms....