The Pleasures of the Trail

Time to get the kid out. We used nightcrawlers that, believe it or not, survived all winter in the fridge. Maybe that's why the fish turned up their noses at them.

But when the fish don't bite you throw some rocks and then head for the pleasures of the trail through the spring woods. You might think you've stayed in pretty good shape over the winter until you try to keep with a five-year-old.

Recipe

A little lake, worms, bluegill, woods, sticks, a trail, tiny frogs, and a great kid: the recipe for a perfect summer evening.

Go Green

Sebastian is home again and it was high time to get back on the water. We drove over to Griffey on a hot July afternoon. We rented the little white rowboat instead of the canoe, and headed for the shady bank on the other side of the causeway. Two fishermen were standing on their bass boat flipping lures under the bridge. They gave way and one of them looked down as we passed and asked, "Gonna smack'em today?" Yes, sir. Gonna smack'em.

We were feeling confident because we had the bait they can't refuse: green nightcrawlers.

I was looking for beemoths at the convenience store bait cooler, but all they had was nightcrawlers--and green nightcrawlers. I'd never heard of green nightcrawlers, so I opened the container to take a look. As soon as Sebastian saw them he was sold.

We put a big green ball of nightcrawler on the hook and cast it into the shade and got an immediate pull. But Sebastian missed it.

After a few more misses he asked if he could see the worms. That was pretty much it for him fishing. I took over and always had a fresh half worm when I needed it. And he had fun slipping whole worms into the water as either a great escape for the worms or an act of charity for the hungry fish. Or because it was cool to watch their eery green glow disappear into the depths.

I was doing the fishing, but that little bobber stopped getting any action.

But we had fun. Sebastian really enjoyed getting up on my lap and rowing the boat.

We eventually got a nice pull on the line, and the green worms finally brought a fish to hand. Really, after the excitement of green bait, the fish was a bit of an anticlimax.

We were hot and tired and decided to head for home. Sebastian switched to the bow seat and captained us back to the dock. Proper responses to his commands, he informed me, were either "Aye aye, Cap'n!" or "Yes sir, Captain!"

We had a memorable time, and once again Sebastian showed me that there's more than one way to have fun on the water.

Leveled Up

Sebastian is gone for a few weeks visiting his Dad and extended family in Washington. Before he left we took one more fishing trip to Griffey. This time we rented a canoe.

Once we were under the bridge and over on the shady side he quickly picked up a bluegill.

Then he got distracted. He tried to catch water bugs, and spied bluegill finning by just under the surface. He grabbed handfuls of weeds to see what was inside them. He tried to catch damselflies out of the air.

While he was playing in the lake I baited up and cast out for him. I called him whenever the bobber went down and he took over the rod. We missed a couple of fish doing that. Then I made a cast and the bobber plunged as soon as it hit the water, so I set the hook. I saw a flash of silver and knew we had something special. I handed the rod to Sebastian and he started to crank. His eyes lit up when he felt the heft on the end of the line.

He shlepped the fish into the canoe.

His very first bass! Nice job, Sebastian! I'd say you just leveled up.

I paddled on down the shoreline. A breeze sprang up and it was hard to fish and keep the canoe where I wanted it to be. So Sebastian got distracted again. He began to practice pinching off pieces of nightcrawler. He was good at it. I always had a nice section ready when I wanted it.

Then we saw a fat water snake and chased it in the canoe. Sebastian grabbed some worm pieces and threw them in the water for the snake. I thought I saw a big turtle head poking out of the water, but when I paddled nearer it turned out to be a stick. Sebastian threw in some more worms for the real turtles, wherever they might be.

When he started throwing them in for the fish I figured we were going to run out of worms pretty quick. It was about time to head in, so I asked him if he wanted to fish a little longer or call it a day. He was ready to head for home. We decided to give all the worms to the fish, and dumped them in the lake in one grand gesture.

As I paddled in, Sebastian got distracted again, gazing into the wonderful, mysterious depths of that other world beneath the surface.

Hurry home, Sebastian. We'll go back and explore that world some more.