Fishing with the Cub Scouts

September 8th - Tonight for Cub Scouts we went fishing! I hadn't been fishing in over 20 years, so it was fun to catch some fish! I had to refresh my memory on how to take the fish off the hook, but after the first time, it all came back to me! :O) It was sooooo much fun!

The Scouts

Picking out a pole.

Oliver and his fish!

Oliver

Getting a new hook on the line.

My first fishing excursion in YEARS!!!

I can't believe that I could do this with my severe gag reflex!

Ollie and Bishop Jolley

Cameron & Zack

This is my favorite picture of Ed! This was the FIRST fish Ed ever caught!!! So proud!!

Cub Scouts and Fishin' with Uncle Bryan

Well, since Oliver is officially 8 years old, he's now ready to begin the Cub Scouting program! He will start on the Wolf Trail and have a year to earn his patch! He's very excited to begin this new adventure.

One of the electives in the book, is about fishing, which he LOVES to do, but doesn't get to go very often. My brother, Bryan, was visiting for the week from Chicago and so they planned an afternoon of fishing on Saturday. They were going to get up at 8 am and go, but it was raining out, Oliver had gotten up and was pretty bummed that they weren't going. Bry said that if it cleared up, they'd still go before he left to go back home to Chicago. It cleared up outside and Oliver looked out the window and yelled, "It cleared up! We can go! We can go!!". As you can tell, he was VERY excited to go with his Uncle Bryan! He picked him up at about 11 am and went to George Wyth State Park for a few hours. Oliver came home and told me that he caught eight bluegills! SOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!! A few days before, Bry had gone trout fishing and had some in the fridge, so that day mom fried it up and Oliver tried trout for the first time. My mom said that she didn't think he liked it as he only ate three little pieces! When he got home he informed me that it tasted like chicken! HA!

He LOVES spending time with his uncles! He told Grandma Palmer today that he loves his Uncle Bryan because he takes him fishing and he gets lucky because he actually catches some fish when he goes with him! He loves his Uncle Chad because he plays video games with him and he likes action figures! I think it brings both of them back to their childhoods and they love to share that with Oliver! HE LOVES IT!!! :O)

Hook, Line and Soggy Bottoms

Back in the beginning of April, my brother invited us, especially Oliver, to go trout fishing with him near West Union. We packed a sack lunch and started on our journey. First, we stopped at Hank's for some bait. As Bry went in, I saw a vending machine with LIVE bait in it! That was certainly a first! By the way I just loved the large hook hanging from the sign.

After an hour or so we finally arrived and saw that the first road was gated closed. We drove up the hill and stopped when we hit another gate that prevented us from going any further. Bry said that we'll just have to hike the bluff which was called the "Backbone Trail". So we loaded up our food and fishing gear and headed down the path. On the way down Ollie found a feather, we saw some different birdhouses and we even saw a garter snake that Bry tried to pick up! It was a gorgeous day, but oddly enough there was still some snow on the ground!

Eden found some deer prints in the mud.

I have to admit that some places were a bit scary! At first we had lots of leeway on both sides, but there came a point where there were dropoffs off of each side of us and little to climb across, I'd say it was about a foot and a half wide. Yeah... I was thinking, "I'm going to plunge to my death right about now!". Mom was getting dizzy at times so I let her go ahead of me so I could help her across the tricky parts. The kids did just fine with the help of Uncle Bryan!

Here is a peek at how high up we were!

Bry and Ollie

Ollie fishing.

Oliver did a pretty good job at casting, but one time it flew back and missed my face by a couple feet! We ate and then the boys fished for a bit. I got my camera and took a walk a little further up the creek. Everyone soon followed and I got some fun shots!

Eden and Grandma being silly!

Me standing by a HUGE rock embedded in the side of the bluff.

Oliver and Bry traveled further up the way and Bry found a fallen tree that he thought would make a nice perch to fish from. I was taking pictures a few feet away, but one moment I saw him standing on the tree and the next moment I heard a huge splash! He must have lost his balance and down he came! His wallet, his phone and himself were all equally soaking wet!

Bry tromping out of the water to dry land!

Needless to say we were done for the day and never caught a single fish! I guess you could say that my brother was the biggest "catch" of the day!