the joy of fishing

I have been fishing since I was able to hold a fishing pole. Being raised in the south I am a true country girl. Before my husband and I got married, we would go out and spend the whole day fishing. We spent hours casting in a little John Boat that was barely big enough for the two of us.

Our children enjoy fishing just as much as we do. Since the weather has gotten warm we have been busy fishing, and I have been BUSY cleaning fish to put in the freezer for a fish fry.  I love watching their expressions when they catch a fish. No matter how many fishes they catch it’s always like catching one for the first time!  My eldest daughter is thirteen and her expression was priceless – the last time she remembers catching a fish she was eight-years-old.

I really didn’t want to clean all the fish the kids caught because most of them were small, but they wouldn’t have it any other way!  So I did toss the three smallest ones back in the pond when they were not looking.  You should have heard their reactions when I had to clean them.  Yes, I mean scrape their scales off and gut them.  Don’t worry I will not share all the gore with you unless you really want to learn how to clean a fish.

We have been blessed with a beautiful home with a large pond stocked with fish of all sorts.  The fish we caught were mostly Bream and Bass.  Unfortunately a few got away, but I still put thirteen in the freezer.  I believe they caught twenty-one fish in all, but they tossed several back before I told them I would clean them if they caught enough.

Do you know what to do once you catch a fish?