Fishing with Dad was always an experience in patiently waiting for those fish to bite. As luck would have it, my Dad was an avid fisherman always ready to haul in that big one.
He had some good looking fishing poles and also two tackle boxes filled with a variety of fishing lures. I remember straighten up the boxes and looking at the unusual looking, colorful lures and jars of pink fish eggs.
One of my earliest memories is the time we had a large live catfish in a bucket of water in the bathroom. I guess he caught that one, too. Of course, when anyone went in to use the bathroom, the thing would splash in the bucket. I remember being afraid to use the bathroom with that fish in there. Of course, that only lasted for a day or so, then not sure what happened to that catfish.
That, also, brings me back to the memory of taking my young friend to a coffee house to use the bathroom. Well, they had a mechanical flower in there. When you opened the bathroom door, the motion would trigger the flower singing the song, “Your are my Sunshine”. Of course, he was having nothing to do with that singing flower and refused to use the bathroom.
But, back to the Fishing with Dad blog.
Catching the Big One
I remember going on two special fishing trips with Dad. The first one was going to the shore. There was an area where people would fish. We got up super early the morning of the trip. I remember it was still dark outside. Mom would pack us a lunch and some cans of soda. Well, Dad got his fishing lines in the water and then we waited and waited. The sun came out and it got hot. I pulled the two chairs together and tossed a towel over them to make a little “tent” to shield me from the sun. Dad chatted with a few nearby fishermen. Then, it was time to go. No, didn’t catch any fish that day, not even a nibble.
Another time, we tried fishing at a pay-to-fish place. I don’t remember exactly the location of the lake. We went to the far side where there was not too many people. We set up our fishing lines on a couple of large rocks waterside. On that day, we also baited small hooks and caught some small blue gills fish. Dad, unfortunately, got nothing. Perhaps the lake was fished out except for those easy to catch, blue gills, but I’ll never know.
Ending Notes on Fishing with Dad Blog
Fast forward years and years, when my friend was still very young. My Dad wanted to take him fishing, too. Unfortunately, with our quick visits, we never arranged the time to go fishing. I guess, that could have been a good memory that we missed out on.
So, as kids, did we ever, ever catch that big one? You know, the fish you talk about for years? No, that never happened, but we carry with us those good memories of time well spent with a fishing pole in our hands.
Fishing with Dad, nothing on the hook, but lots of good memories.
Update: 4-8-2024
Boy, do I feel silly. I actually spoke today with the third person on those fishing trips with Dad.
Apparently, from the shore fishing trip, Dad did catch one small fish. However, he left it in the water and a crab was thought to have pulled it off the fish holding chain.
On the trip to the pay per fish site, Dad caught six rainbow trout but one got away from him. On the way out, he had to pay $5 for his catch. The third person remembers thinking it’s a good thing that one got away. Otherwise, he would have owed six dollars. That was a lot of money at that time.
Whoops, so I am going to change the ending.
Dad was quite the fisherman and usually caught something on his hook. It was nice he took us along with him to enjoy nature and the joy of fishing.