Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Gone Fishing
Monday was a holiday here in Canada. Pretty much everyone is off work and most stores are closed. It was a beautiful day so I wanted to try to do something outside. Owen and I decided to go fishing at Hog's Back Falls.
After about 30 minutes, we had gotten set up and we got a huge bite! We learned later on that it must have been a "muskie"... which are over a foot long. Of course, it got away... it was so big that it broke our fishing line.
A little while later, Owen decided to fill up the small cooler with water so that if we caught a fish it would have a place to go. While leaning over the river to do this, he fell in and it was up to his armpits! He was pretty upset and totally soaked and he wanted to go home.
I talked to him for a while... after all it was a beautiful hot summer day... it didn't really matter that he was wet. I told him that all serious fishermen fall into the river or lake several times -- they aren't afraid to get wet. So he decided to stay a bit longer... at least until we used up our worms.
We ended up staying about 4 hours -- and we had a great time. We caught 4 more fish... one was so small we decided to let it go. Owen insisted on bringing home the other three... we later identified them as a sunfish (or bluegill), a smallmouth bass and a rock bass. They were pretty small but Owen wanted to prove to everyone that he had caught them... I warned him that if we brought them home we had to eat them. He agreed.
A little while later we had three fish alive in our kitchen sink. The other kids were freaking out. I didn't particularly want to cut their heads off, and when Amelia's boyfriend offered to help, I said "great!" and stepped aside. He knocked them out with a beer bottle and then cut off their heads. I then tried to cut them into little filets to fry -- it didn't go very well but I did end up with a bowlful of cooked fish... which everyone tried a bit of.
I think it was a good lesson on where we get our food from - I think our society is too desensitized and separated from where meat and fish actually come from. It was also a good lesson to me on how it would have been much cheaper to just go buy some fish at the market!
After about 30 minutes, we had gotten set up and we got a huge bite! We learned later on that it must have been a "muskie"... which are over a foot long. Of course, it got away... it was so big that it broke our fishing line.
A little while later, Owen decided to fill up the small cooler with water so that if we caught a fish it would have a place to go. While leaning over the river to do this, he fell in and it was up to his armpits! He was pretty upset and totally soaked and he wanted to go home.
I talked to him for a while... after all it was a beautiful hot summer day... it didn't really matter that he was wet. I told him that all serious fishermen fall into the river or lake several times -- they aren't afraid to get wet. So he decided to stay a bit longer... at least until we used up our worms.
We ended up staying about 4 hours -- and we had a great time. We caught 4 more fish... one was so small we decided to let it go. Owen insisted on bringing home the other three... we later identified them as a sunfish (or bluegill), a smallmouth bass and a rock bass. They were pretty small but Owen wanted to prove to everyone that he had caught them... I warned him that if we brought them home we had to eat them. He agreed.
A little while later we had three fish alive in our kitchen sink. The other kids were freaking out. I didn't particularly want to cut their heads off, and when Amelia's boyfriend offered to help, I said "great!" and stepped aside. He knocked them out with a beer bottle and then cut off their heads. I then tried to cut them into little filets to fry -- it didn't go very well but I did end up with a bowlful of cooked fish... which everyone tried a bit of.
I think it was a good lesson on where we get our food from - I think our society is too desensitized and separated from where meat and fish actually come from. It was also a good lesson to me on how it would have been much cheaper to just go buy some fish at the market!
