Fishing for "reel"!

As you know, my kids have wanted to go fishing for quite some time.

 

I really like to fish, too, but we don't own any fishing gear (except for worms).  There's also that little problem about taking the fish off the hook. 

I'm not so crazy about that part.

So, they usually get to fish once a year when we visit our friends at Enemy Swim.

 

Well, all that changed a few days ago when Grandma Melius was walking by a dug out near our alfalfa field and saw "Godzilla" the fish jump out of the water.  She decided he must be caught.

 

Great Grandma and Grandpa Neises (the professional fishers of the family) were called in as reinforcements.

 

The kids and I were up for the adventure, so we loaded up the minivan and set out to catch the "big one" yesterday morning.

 

The kids had tons of fun learning how to fish for "reel."  They caught on to casting and reeling right away.  Great Grandma, Rachel and I observed for the most part.  As it turned out, the bullheads were biting, so there was quite a bit of action!

 

  Teresa got the award for the first catch (she caught 3), Nathan got the award for the most caught (10), and Landen won "The One Who Got Away--Twice" Award.  The poor thing had a big fish on his line twice, but didn't get to claim either one.

 

But, fortunately unlike so many other fishermen in the world, he has proof of one of his "almost" catches!

 

When Rachel got braver walking through the reeds and this was the view I most saw of her, we left to play at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

 

They never did catch Godzilla, but he's not going anywhere.

 

He's just getting bigger.