First Catch

Looks like we have a fisher in our family.
Jenna caught her 1st fish!


We were on a short camping trip, and Jenna must have asked fifty times to go fishing. We took some slices of bread to the pier with us, and I showed the boys how to make bread doughballs. Breadballs seem to be a sure thing for bluegill. Of course, bologna and hot dogs work great, too.

She enjoyed holding the pole in the water, and I noticed that the line started running. I yelled, "Crank it up, Jenna!" She was trying to turn that crank and I was jerking her pole, and before you know it, she was hauling her (pretty big) bluegill up on the pier.

She was laughing and so happy. I guess I didn't expect that she would be so excited about it. I took a couple of pictures, and then we tried to get the hook out of the poor thing.

The hook had gone through under the eyeball, and it was slimy and wiggly.....and those spines on the fin HURT!

All that to say, along with the panic that the fish would die before we could throw it back, I had to ask a bystander for a hand in getting the fish off the hook.
We put the fish back on the pier, and Jenna got to scoot it back into the water.

I am SO thankful someone else was there to do the fish "handling"!! Fishing is fun, but I hate live bait, touching the fish, and fileting and eating the fish.

Jenna must have re-told that fish story--in her own cute way--at LEAST 50 times!
After releasing her fish, she said, "Let's do that 'gain, 'kay?"

David ended up with a big cut from a bluegill fin. It didn't stop him from a good time and wanting to fish every chance he got!