Yes, We Actually Took the Girls Fishing!

So my Dad found out about a "Fishing Rodeo" which was held this morning in Jasper, GA and talked us into attending. None of us owned any gear or had any experience fishing. Wait, my Dad was a boy scout and actually fished once or twice as a child. Back in the 1950's.

So, my Dad borrowed some cutsie kids fishing poles from a friend and we went to the "Fishing Rodeo." They had stocked a creek with 4000 (!!) fish and had an 8 fish per kid limit. We were so unprepared compared to the other attendees: they had brought chairs to sit on, bug repellent, sunscreen, fishing poles, fishing line, bait, pliers to remove the hooks from the fishes' mouths, chains to hook the fish on, coolers to take the fish home in, etc. Who knew there was so much equipment involved?

We could not figure out how to get the kid poles to work, so one of the rangers took pity on us and lent us one of his reels (is that what they are called?). He also gave us bait: canned corn. Who knew fish ate vegetables? THANK GOD we did not have to stab a wiggling worm with a sharp hook!

After about 20 minutes and getting the line stuck on branches in the creek several times, we figured out how to cast the line out into the water. It was close, but noone's hair or eyeball got stuck on the hook during the casting process.

Then, an amazing thing happened. I was helping Catherine hold the fishing pole when I realized that something was tugging on the string. Yes, I had a fish on the line. Catherine and I reeled it in, but by the time the fish was actually visible, she was a little freaked out and backed away.

She got a little shy with the fish:

We did get her to touch the fish:

We of course had no idea what to do with the fish once we caught it. The idea of me beheading, skinning, exsanguinating, and deboning the fish to eat it later was NOT going to happen. I didn't for one second think that my father or husband would do that either. So, I asked the man next to us if he wanted the fish or if we should put it back into the creek.

By now the fish was bleeding, hanging on the end of the line - but still flopping around. The man explained to us that the fish had swallowed the hook really deep in its throat and could not be thrown back. He said the fish was going to die. I began to feel guilty. I had killed this fish in the name of entertaining my toddler girls? Who knew that was going to happen? I thought this was supposed to be a family friendly outing.

The man said he would take it. He then took some pliers out of his tackle box, squeezed the fish's belly really hard so its mouth was forced open, and dug the hook out of the inside of the fish's throat (several inches down). He also had a chain with a bunch of big HUGE hooks on it and hooked the fish onto that. He then put that chain in the water to store the fish until he had caught some more. He did all this with his bare hands: no Purell, no rubber gloves. I am not sure the girls witnessed all that, but I was pretty traumatized. I almost hyperventilated watching all this happen.

We are, obviously, not outdoorsy people. But, it was still a good experience. We introduced the kids to the fact that fish live in creeks and you can catch one with a pole borrowed from a ranger and some canned corn. Good to know if I find myself in a survival situation I suppose. However, I will continue to get my fish from Publix and Kroger in the future.