Leland's First Fish!

On Wednesday 5/14 and Thursday 5/15, I took Leland fishing for the first time. For her birthday, the Benners gave her a pink Barbie fishing pole. I had convinced her to ask for one because I think it will be a fun opportunity to spend time together outdoors and get her excited about nature.

As my family knows, I am not much of a "fisherman". Fishing was too slow for my dad, so our outdoor sport was golf. As a kid, I went fishing sometimes with my cousin Ben and my uncle Bruce Kenney. Dad did take me deep see fishing with Scouts. I really became more interested in fishing while working for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, where I often took reporters out on the Chesapeake Bay. Anyway, for some time, I have thought it would be nice to learn to fish with Leland.

On Wednesday, the Barrett family (our friends with the twin boys Leland's age) took us to the Montebello Camping & Fishing Resort, which has a small trout pond where you only pay for what you catch. Unfortunately, we got there 15 minutes before closing and we didn't have much success. Leland still had lots of fun thinking that the bobber on the line was "her fish." Jason and I decided we would come back the next day with just the kids, so we talked to a family that was catching tons to find out what they were using.

On Thursday, we met at Wal-Mart where I did my patriotic duty and spent $40 of my $1200 economic stimulus check from GW. We bought bobbers, bait, split shot sinkers, a small tackle box, and most importantly a bass lure that looked like a grasshopper. As strange as it sounds to use a bass lure to catch trout in a pond, that is what the family was using on Wednesday.

I spent so much time at Wal-Mart that we didn't get to the pond until 30 minutes before closing. But that was plenty of time. I cast out a few of the kids' poles with some powerbait on the line, while Jason tied on the grasshopper lure.

Sure enough, the trout powerbait was unsuccessful, but the moment Jason helped Koa cast out that grasshopper, there was a fish on the line.


Then it was Kai's turn. First cast, and a fish was on the line. Leland was so excited for her friends. It was so fun to see them all so giddy.


Finally, it was Leland's turn. As she reeled in the lure, you could actually see the fish biting at it, but not taking it in. The second time around, the same thing... a few hits, but no real bite. On the third cast, she got a fish! She was so excited reeling it in and walking backwards to pull the fish out. Then, just as the fish was nearly out of the water, it spit out the lure and took off (check out the unbelievable video). She was not as disappointed as I thought she might be. I think because of all the excitement going on.


We cast out the line a fourth time, and she quickly had another fish on the line. This time she reeled it all the way onto land. My daughter had caught her first fish! Leland is a fisherwoman! She was screaming with excitement. As you watch the video, you will also see that when the fish got on land, it got off of the hook and Koa said he wanted to "Bonk him" (put it out of its misery).


Leland was so proud of herself and has been talking about it for days. Before we went fishing on Thursday, I took her to the library as part of our full day Daddy-Daughter Day. There we got 4 books on fishing and she has made me read them to her each day. Each day, after we read the books, she retells the story about "catching her fish with Koa and Kai and Jason." When you ask her how big her fish was, she sticks her hands out in the perfect length and says, "This big."


Between fishing on Wednesday and Thursday, and Ashley being gone on Friday and Saturday, my week with her was a lot of fun. She is such a joy and I am so glad to be her Dad. Leland's fish story ended tonight when Leland and I skinned her trout and grilled it up. It was delicious and she ate most of it herself.