Bringing Home a Baby Lobster, aka, Mighty Crawdad Hunters

During the Summer we heard a rumor via one of the guys, (Jared Williams…do ask Jack about him sometime, its worth the monologue) that there are crawdads in the canal…lots of crawdads. Crawdads to the point a determined group could fill a 50 gal cooler with little trouble and have themselves a crawfish boil…. We were intrigued.

Well the canal was shut off mid-October so we waited a few weeks for the level to drop to the ‘large pools’ phase, slipped on our rubber boots, grabbed a net, and went to go see if the rumors were true.

(Note: I know it looks like a grimace, but the is what that is Jack ‘smiling’ for the camera…I’m a bit terrified of what his school picture is going to look like.)

Turns out Mr. Williams was spot on in his assessment. Not quite sure if we could have filled a cooler (perhaps up closer to the head gates where density would be higher you could….we are many many miles downstream) But there were enough of them for easy pickings and a good time.

Watching the kids try to work up the courage to pick one up brought back memories of summer days and family reunions turning over rocks in the river at Lewisville Park. Kevin and I jokes we should get some chicken bones and come back after dark when the kids were in bed (right Julie ) ala the Lost Lake/Bonaparte technique.

30 minutes and 4 pairs of soggy boots later we have a good mess of Crawdads. Many of them were good-sized too. Emilie was a bit dismayed we were going to boil them ALL and was allowed to keep one. The following day we returned it to it’s ‘family’ in the canal.

Both kids were pretty adventurous and tried a sample. Emilie actually really liked them. I’m thinking next year we go prepare and try for a full on crawdad boil. What do you think?

In the meantime, I kid you not, Emilie is writing letters in bottles to them and taking them carcasses from leftover chicken…..All creatures great and small, fuzzy, slimy, or scaly that one.

Salvage Fishing

Several of the fishing holes down in Hagermann have a carp problem. State Fish & Game has a plan to deal with that problem which involves a rotation system of draining certain ponds every ‘X’ years and killing the Carp with Rotenone (did I spell that right?). The catch being Rotenone kills all aquatics species (Frogs, Crawdads, other fish species, etc.) not just Carp. Therefore the open the ponds to be treated to ‘salvage’ fishing for a month or so prior to treatment. There are no limits and no restrictions on how you can catch the fish (except for electro-shock, poison, or explosives). The only species you can’t ‘take’ are White Sturgeon which the local Hatchery raises in the ponds. They make every effort to round those guys up prior to treatment and re-release them afterwards. Needless to say it’s a good opportunity to go have some fun with the kids so that is what we did.

By this point the ponds are getting pretty low and most of the big fish are gone, but that doesn’t mean there is a shortage of fun. Yesterday you couldn’t toss a line in the water without hooking into a feisty Crappie or Bass. In fact you really just had to lower your hook about 10” into the water, no casting required, and something would grab hold.

The kids had a great time reeling in, but even more fun throwing the fish back in the water. I mean, none of these monsters were big enough to take home and eat or anything.

The other fun thing was that there were tons upon tons of half-grown tadpoles. Watching Jack and Emilie try to net them was pretty darn entertaining. Salvage fishing is open until September 30, so hopefully we get to make it back at least one more time. It would be about perfect to take along some waders and one of those little two-person rafts and see what kind of fun could be had.

First Fish!

We have another fisherman in the making folks!

Despite the wind (I mean really, the wind never stops blowing around here) we took the kids fishing again today and Emilie caught her very first fish!

It was a nice 11 inch rainbow trout. But wait, there’s more. As she reeled in her second fish (in about 5 minutes time) the trio of 8 to 10 year old boys sitting nearby seemed to get a little jealous. The two year old was on fire and they were getting skunked. I think Emilie’s luck came as a direct result of her lack of experience. She’s so slow at reeling that the fish have more than enough time to think about biting the hook. Both of her fish had hooks that had been pretty much swallowed.

Jack caught two fish as well. Though it’s a bit wild (Everybody should duck & cover when he goes to cast) he’s getting better at getting his line in the water. Reeling he’s got down pat. Today Kevin gave him a bobber  and Jack seemed to enjoy being able to pinpoint where his hook was. Emilie enjoyed the bobber too. She’d holler “BALL” and jump up and down on the bank. She had me so nervous that she was going to fall in. Once we got Jack to pause and wait a minute or so before reeling in, he landed two nice rainbows. One of which was pretty much flung right out of the water and smack into my face….I mentioned he was a little wild didn’t I?

Add today’s catch of 4 to the one caught last week and it’s looking like Trout is on the menu for dinner this week.

Gone Fishin’

Spring seems to be taking it’s sweet sweet time arriving around these parts (No kidding, it snowed yesterday) and cabin fever is in full swing. Honestly we are all itching to get out and play in some warm sunshine. After the incident at left it was decided that next decent day we had a fishing trip was needed.

Well, we waited patiently and the weather actually got cooler rather than warmer. Being the stubborn people we are we just waited for the next break in the wind and rain and went for it.

There is a little set of ponds about 10 minutes from the house called Filer Pond and it’s a great spot for kid fishing. Mostly because there is a 12 and under kids only pond that is stocked regularly by fish and game. It couldn’t be more perfect for beginning fishermen.

Jack cracks me up. See Kevin keeps most of his fishing tackle in gallon Ziploc bags and/or small plastic cases sorted roughly by fish species. Then he has a backpack in which the stuff you’d take on every trip (weights, extra line, pocket knife, etc.) is in. Want to fish for trout? He just plops the ‘trout fishing’ bag in the backpack and we’re ready to go. So Jack sees Kevin’s bag and therefore has to take his backpack complete with Blue Puppy and the jar of worms he and Kevin had dug for earlier. You would not believe how excited he was to “take his worms swimming!”

I won’t forget Emilie, she went along on this trip too. She had to take her backpack because big brother had his…obviously. Though her bag featured colored beads and some un-inflated balloons. About 10 minutes into fishing she got cold. With cold comes whiney, so she and I sat in the car and debated seeing how far the boys would jump into the pond if we randomly honked the horn (we resisted. Too cold for people to get wet…..on this trip).

Patience is not Jack’s virtue. He reels in (his favorite part of fishing) as soon as you get his line casted. Therefore the fish better be fast and darned hungry if they want to catch any of those amazing swimming worms. Thankfully luck was on our side and last cast of the day Jack managed to snag a nice little 9 inch rainbow trout.

So here is Jack with his first fish of the season. He wouldn’t actually hold it because it was too “slippery”.

We gave Jack the choice to take his fish home or throw him back. Jack opted to take him home and “put him in the fish tank.” (Yeeeeah, we’re still working on explaining the whole “you catch fish to eat them” thing.) He insisted on having the fish ‘sit’ next to him in his carseat on the ride home.

I foresee much more fishing in our future. By the end of summer there should be two more little fishermen well on their way to becoming proficient anglers.