Charging into the holiday

Baby steps. Baby steps.

HannahC has been making a load of noise about going fishing. I myself am not much of a fisherman, given that I have caught a grand total of two fish in my life, both perch caught when I was about 10 on my first fishing outing off a dock in a marina in Sodus Bay where my sister and brother-in-law used to keep their sailboat. Then, no more fishing until about two years ago when StinkyJ took HannahC and Me, CherkyB fishing at a lake that had no fish whatsoever. We went again a year later just to make damn sure there were no fish, and that's the sum total of my fishing experience.

But, along the way, HannahC and I managed to pick up a couple fishing rods and some gear, as she declared that fishing was one of her most favorite things to do in the whole world. So now I need to take her fishing despite not really knowing what I'm supposed to do if we were to actually catch any fish. Like, do I bite the heads off at the lake, or wait until I get home? And is HannahC supposed to cover herself in the blood of her first catch, or is that only for deer?

I do know that most of the lakes around here have a 15" limit on bass. I'll have to figure out what a bass looks like. I assume that 15" is measured before I bite the head off.

As a Good Father, I have been doing a little web research about where to go. I found this page, which has been particularly helpful. Today, I decided to check out Riverbend Ponds, as I drive by there a lot on the way to the koi store. Riverbend Ponds is a big open space preserve with a whole bunch of lakes/ponds in it as well as a river (the preserve is at a big bend in the river, oddly enough), and all are open for fishing. The ponds have enticing names like, "Bluegill Pond," "Trout Pond", "Turtle Pond", and "Big Pond" (which is the biggest, duh).

I ate lunch not too far from there today, so I swung by on the way back. I parked by Big Pond and started walking, scoping out fishing places. There were a lot of places I though seemed like good prospects. Within five minutes, I had seen a turtle and a very large fish near the bank. This was good, as now I was sure that there were actually fish in the lake, unlike StinkyJ's favorite place. That was the only fish I saw, but I did see signs of other fish, such as a blue heron sitting on the boardwalk and a bunch of signs that said "fishing access" and a guy fishing.

This being Fort TomCollins, people are friendly, so I decided to chat with the fishing guy. I said, "Is this a good place to fish?" to which he replied, "I dunno. It's my first time here."

Friendly is not necessarily the same as useful.

I walked all around, inspecting the place, and I determined that the northwest corner was probably the best place, as they had Trout Pond" and Turtle Pond" very accessible for fishing with what seemed like miles of shoreline with lots of peninsulas and structure and benches on which to sit, and there was a floating fishing pier in Turtle Pond, and both were pretty close to a parking lot that had an outhouse. I worry, of course, that on the weekend everyone thinks this is the best place in the world to fish. We'll head out there tomorrow morning to check it out and then hit the sporting goods store to pick up a few items that StinkyJ used to supply as well as a license for me.

HannahC is determined that we pick up a fishing kit for MaxieC, but he's only three. Someone's gonna lose an eye. I may pick him up a kit, but just not rig up a hook on his line. He'd probably have a great time with just a bobber and a sinker.