It Doesn't Get Better Than This!

So it’s Easter Sunday. Church is done and Lindie, Raegan, Ryan and myself are at the park walking the dog. The weather is absolutely beautiful and none of us are looking forward to being inside so we decide to pack up the truck and head north to the high country. Of course I maneuver this little trip into a fishing trip for the kids and direct us up to one of my favorite little fishing holes, Bear Flats on Tonto Creek.

We didn’t get there until about 1pm. Parked the truck and basically ran down to the creek. I didn’t even take a fly rod for myself, just a couple of poles for the kids. This was the first time the kids had the opportunity to really fish. We let Ryan go first and within just a few minutes he had one on the line. You should have seen the look on his face and how excited he was. Raegan was next and the same thing. In only a minute or two she was reeling one in too. These kids were so excited. We were dancing around and high-fiving each other like a bunch of hillbillies. Then Lindie got in on the action and the same thing. She had one on in no time. The kids took turns by one catching the fish and the other netting the fish. They caught about 4 or 5 rainbows each. They learned a little bit about how to handle the fish, take the hooks out and place the fish back in the water so we can catch them again. All in all we had a blast and I was exceptionally proud of both of them.
(<--Lindie's Fish!!!) And then….it happened. I could see a huge fish in the creek but was unable to do anything with it earlier. Lindie and Raegan walked back to the truck and Ryan and I stayed there because I really wanted that big fish. This may have been the same fish I hooked two days earlier but couldn’t get to the net. Anyway, Ryan and I messed around with this dude for about 15 or 20 minutes and finally he took the bait. He put up a great fight and I hurried him to the net. Just at that time Raegan was walking down the road and we yelled at her to bring the camera. She ran the camera down to us and we got a few pics for the scrapebook. It ended up being about 15.5 inches and was FAT! Absolutely beautiful rainbow. We placed him back in the water, gave him a little time and off he went. I don’t know who was more excited about this one. I think it was me.

After that we headed back up to the truck to have a late lunch, talk about our fish catchin’ and hide some Easter eggs. Yes, my thoughtful wife brought eggs for the kids to hide and find. I brought salmon eggs – she brought Easter eggs. Huh. So we ended up taking turns hiding and finding Easter eggs for a while in the forest and it was a blast. Except, Lindie and I kept forgetting where we hid some of the eggs and had a hard time finding them. It was a great day fishing with the kids, a great Easter and a great big ol’ fish I caught.

Here are some other photos from the day....



The End.