M - Fish Breath

On Saturday morning, Noah likes for me to wake him up early so that we can go fishing together. Unlike his mother and sister, and much more like his father, he's a morning guy. He almost always wakes up bright-eyed and raring to go...especially when fishing is involved.

This Saturday was no exception except that we didn't really get an early start. I fell back asleep on the couch after getting up to cook breakfast and Noah woke me up at 0715. So THEN I cooked breakfast for both of us and we ate out on the deck. Afterwards, I was brushing my teeth before heading out to the water and Noah, with his shoulders shrugged and palms turned upward, sheepishly said "I don't need to brush my teeth since we're going fishing cause my breath will just smell like fish anyway." Who can argue with logic like that. Thus, we quickly gathered our gear, loaded up the boat, and headed out for a morning of excitement and adventure.

It was a great morning of fishing. Noah has recently converted to plastic worm fishing with me instead of only using earthworms. For those out there that are considering taking your kid fishing, it is SO easy. Go to Walmart, get a dozen worms for about $2, get a $6 Scooby Doo pole, find a puddle, cast. Perch seem to spontaneously generate in Oklahoma puddles. They are SO easy to catch and provide great entertainment for the kids. There are many public fishing ponds in Oklahoma City and Edmond. Take your kid fishing!!

Noah is a VERY competitive little dude. Not that he keeps track or anything but we weigh every fish, including the 8oz perch, and he finished the morning ahead of me by one ounce. He is quite a good little fisherman and can cast in places many grown men can't. More importantly, we love to spend time together on our little boat just hanging out, even if the fish aren't biting. I'm pretty sure Katie will be right there with us some day when she gets a little older. If not, I'll be just as happy trading my fishing pole for a tea cup and the occasional princess tea party. Whatever it takes, ya' know.

I'll wrap up with some other pictures of our weekend.

Here is the beaver dam that rests on the side of our creek. We actually saw a BIG fat one swimming around the entrance on this particular occasion. I keep telling Noah that at whatever point the beavers start finding the good trees they are going to have to 'go away'. In Oklahoma you have to have a beaver license to help them 'go away' so I'll have to cross that bridge when time comes.




Sunday afternoon was either to be used for mowing or crawdad fishing so guess which idea won out? You can't be afraid of a little moss to hang with this young man. He can slodge right through just about any terrain you can throw at him without a second thought (i.e. he'll follow me anywhere). There is a much greater spiritual example to be drawn from that statement, of course! Actually, crawdad fishing and creek forging are not bad options when it's 100+ degrees outside. It's not a bad way to keep cool...except for the really shallow moss water that feels like a hot bath. MommaBoz is likely really grossed out about this point in the blog.

Since the crawdads don't appear to have fared too well in the spring and summer rains, we turned our attention to rescuing baby bass that are living in a rather large and refreshingly cool pool of water in a shaded part of the creek. If we'd brought our cast net we would have been much more successful in our endeavors. Even so, we had an absolute blast catching them with a little minnow net we had laying around the house. We put our catch in a bucket we brought and took them back to the pond where hopefully they'll grow up to be big bass and bite our hooks later in life. We are planning to go back to this spot later in the week and get as many of the rest that we can before the puddle dries up and they all die. At this point I think we are just in competition with the snakes and raccoons who are also likely eyeing the little fishes.

Well, that's the Bosley men weekend report. As far as I know, there were no frog mutilations reported by the women of the house.