April 17, 2012

Gone Fishin'

  Today was the 5th grade fishing field trip, which I was able to attend and chaperone.  I have never been so afraid of a hook in my life!  

   We loaded the bus at 8:15am and headed to Lake Selmac in hopes of catching the big one.  We got there and they had poles waiting.  We rigged them up with our bait, and cast our lines!  All but Arthur.  He did not want to stick the worm on the hook.  He squirmed and tried to get me to do it.  I told him if he was the one fishing, he had to bait.

   He finally did it after some girls told him to "man up, and stop being a sissy!"  

  We were all having fun!  Or so I thought.....

   The thing about kids and fishing, is that they do not have the patience to let their line sit for any longer than 30 seconds.  It was cast out, reel in, cast out, reel in......

Finally someone caught a fish.  It was a nice Blue Gill, and they bagged it and went back to fishing.  

   Then something happened.  It was like a call went out to the other side of the ramp that said, "come over here!  We have fish!"  

   Our side of the ramp got really crowded, really fast.  Fish lines were crossed constantly, and for a while it seemed like all I was doing was untangling fish lines!

   It got a bit crazy until Jared hooked himself in the cheek.  He was very calm about it, and called the teachers over to evaluate the situation.  I took tension off the line, (he had his sinker hanging from it) and a dad bit it, to release him from the pole.  

   After getting him out of the crowd and looking at it closer, we discovered that the barb was in his cheek.  We would either need to pull it out or push it through.  We decided to pull it out as it was closer than pushing it through.  Jared was a champ the whole time.  We doctored it up and he continued fishing... With caution.  

  A new message seemed to go out to the kids.  "Move away from each other, you could get hooked!"

  Kids started spreading out, lines didn't get crossed and more kids caught fish.  It was the perfect balance.  

  Except for the casting.  Kids casting can get a bit crazy!  There were several jackets hooked and pulled. I almost got knocked and hooked by more poles than I care to remember.  

  The problem is, kids don't stop because their line is stuck. They keep pulling, and ripping jackets, until they figure out that they are stuck to someone.  

  So overall we caught some Rainbow Trout and some Blue Gill's.  It was the most fish ever caught on the fifth grade field trip, and the kids did have fun.  I had fun!  I will also take my kids out fishing more often so maybe they can learn some patience.

  Tomorrow, I will go to Science Works with the first grade class and I am sure to have some stories to tell!

Do you have any fun fishing stories?

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