more fishing!

Well, today the City of Euless was having a Junior Anglers day at the city park pond in our neighborhood. Since we can walk to it from our house and thought Sophie would enjoy it, we got there right as it started at 9am. It was already hot, but there was a good crowd at the pond, which is maybe 1-2 acres. They had stocked it with 500 pounds of catfish, provided tackle and bait, and were having contests throughout the event.  All I hoped was that we would just catch something.  The previous time we went to the Bass Pro Shop fishing pond, we got skunked.


So, I'd cast out, then Sophie would wave the pole around pulling the line in and hitting us with it.  But after a few minutes, she got bored of the fishing and was playing around in the chair and the grass.  Probably the 4th or 5th cast, I went to reel in the worm and found a little perch on the line!  It was pretty small (normally a bait-stealer), but we paraded it over the measuring tent:  5 inches.  Not enough to place in the 6yo and under class.  (Unfortunately, the battery in the camera died after we got this pic of her landing it.)

After that, we moved across the pond and set up our chairs in a little bit of shade we could still find.  The pond had a lot of grass in it, but I cast out in the middle and left the rod against a big rock, not expecting much.  But as soon as I sat down to have a drink, I saw the line going out!  Sophie and I ran over to bring it in.  I could tell this one was much bigger and thought we might have a shot at the current record of 17".  It stayed deep and pulled pretty steady, which is usually how you know you have a catfish.  I was holding the rod and trying to get Sophie to turn the crank, but she couldn't turn it because the fish was pulling too hard.  She kept saying "help!" (which sounds like "help-ah!")  When it finally came up, I was surprised to see it wasn't a catfish, but a nice-sized bass!  Sophie was real excited.  There was such a big difference in the two sizes, that it was clear to her this was a much bigger deal, I think.  I grabbed the fish by the lower jaw and carried her and Sophie around the pond to the tent again.  We got lots of attention, and Sophie was emphatic about telling people, "Yes!" when they asked if she caught that fish?

It was a decent bass, and at 14.5" was legally a keeper in TX, but not in the running for the trophy.  They didn't weight it, but judging by the TPWD calculator, it was about 1.5 pounds.  We said bye bye to her and released her back in the pond.  The funny thing is that we didn't catch any of the catfish they stocked.  I saw one other person catch a smaller bass, but everyone else was cats.  Most 16-18", and I think the leader was 22".

After that, Sophie and Stephanie went to check out the tent the library had set up and the playground, and we went home after that.  We'll definitely do it again next year, but I may have to get some worms and take Sophie back more often.  Or get out there early tomorrow morning...