March 26, 2011
Last winter the fishing bug hit Elijah as much as it hit me. Every day I would be greeted at the door with "Daddy, lets go fishing". To which my response would be: "Is the grass green and leaves on the trees?" My excuses were largely warranted due to lack of meaningful fishing in the area from November to May and the weather but I had to take Elijah fishing.
Finally, we got one of those rare March days where the temperature was warm enough to go outside and try our luck. I had already decided Auke Bay was the only place early in the year to take him fishing, so after a quick stop at Fred Meyers for some bait and tackle, Elijah and I were soon walking down to the end float at Auke Bay to try our luck.
It didn't take long before we were greeted with nibbles. Elijah got all excited and I hooked one. I was using my light spinning rod with six pound test, thinking it would be an easier rod for Elijah to handle. I didn't stand a chance. After 5 minutes of making no progress, I intentionally broke it off.
Elijah was bummed but I promised where there was one fish there is always more. I rigged up the bigger salmon rod and let it go to the bottom. Since I knew fish were there I handed Elijah the rod.
It didn't take long before Elijah was yelling he had a fish. The rod was way to big for him to hold, though so I showed him to hold the handle under his arm, turn the spinning wheel sideways and reel. He managed with some difficulty and I had to help him support the rod on bigger fish, but he did a really good job. He didn't have to go to far, only 60 feet or so, but he was really working. A smile from ear to ear the entire way up. When he saw the white flash he started jumping up and down. I grabbed the line and hauled in a Yellowfin Sole. He was so proud of that fish.
He was upset when i let it go but I told him that he had to let it go to catch another. After several fish he got the point. A little while later a group of tourists came by and watched. I answered all their questions and in return they offered to take my picture with Elijah when he caught his next fish. It ended up being one of my favorite pictures of the year and a nice fish too.
After about two hours of non stop action or around 20 fish, Elijah started to get cold, my hands were ice blocks because Elijah stole my gloves and we were getting low on bait. I told Elijah to catch his last fish and I would video tape him releasing it all by himself. I felt bad for the fish but Yellowfin sole are resilient, I am sure this fish was fine when it finally ended up in the water.
Here is a video of Elijah releasing his last fish.
As we were packing up, I turned around and Elijah had a herring in his mouth. I swear I did not put him up to it. I got the camera out just in time to get a quick video clip. He didn't like the taste and the herring blood freaked him out that he cut himself but it provided a nice video clip.
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