[I Love Life On The Farm: Fishing and Canoeing Edition] [Find the tour of the grounds here.] [Find the Barn Door Edition here.] [Find the Barn Animals Edition here.] [Find the Caves and Cows Edition here.] [Find the Chicken Edition here.]
During our driving tour of the grounds on Friday, we stopped at a river bank to check out the water. It was so peaceful there, with the sound of rushing water in the distance and birds flying and the occasional fish making bubbles in the water.
Hold that camera tight!
Jack told more stories about how he originally wanted to build the farm house where they'd have a view of the water.
We took a few pretty-background pictures before heading back to the house for the pool table delivery.
We decided to come back after lunch to try to catch some of those fish we kept hearing. Chris got the rods set up for us.
And then Chris, Doc, and Allison waded out in the water to have a go at catching fish. I sat on the bank and took pictures.
Things were kinda slow going.
At least I had entertainment on the bank with me.
Finally, after not much happening at all, Doc reeled in a fish! A tiny one, but a fish nonetheless.
Satisfied, we called it a day with the fishing.
Saturday, the plan was to get up and head out canoeing around 9:00 or 9:30. Around 1:00, we finally made it to the load-in area of the river. That's one of the things I love about the farm - there's really no reason to hurry.
The guys carried the canoes out to the water and got us all loaded up. Jack made sure we had everything and sent us on our way.
We put all the manpower in the back of our canoe.
And I just enjoyed the ride up front.
Allison rode up front in the other canoe.
Chris did all the paddling in the back.
We quickly canoed to an area deep enough for fishing. We hadn't even had our poles in the water for five minutes before Doc reeled this in!
And then about two minutes later he had another one, and it was big! Why do fish like him so much?
I demanded that he hand me the pole so I could get in on the action. It was super exciting when I hooked my first fish! It tugged and I reeled and it swam and I pulled and I finally got it up to the boat so Doc could pull it up. It was pretty big! And my first caught fish in my adult life. Doc took it off the hook for me, and just as I was getting my camera ready so he could hand the fish over for a picture, the little sucker bit him and hopped back in the water. Darn. Lesson learned: always hold your fish over the boat, not over the water.
We stopped down the way to get out and do some fishing. Chris taught Doc how to use his fly rod. That's pretty fun to watch. Of course, with Doc having the magic touch that day, he had a fish on that rod in no time.
Doc wasn't the only one catching fish, Chris had several too. I guess it's not as exciting for him, though, since he fishes all the time. He kept throwing them back in the water before I could get a picture. Allison managed to get a photo of one of his catches.
We moved on along the river. This was my view from the front seat...so pretty!
Chris and Allison sailed ahead of us while we hung back to do more fishing. At this point, I was determined to get my picture taken with a fish. Doc kept offering to let me hold one of his for a picture but no, that was not going to do. I would catch my own fish and I would get a picture with it, dang it.
I finally caught another one. Reeled it in from far away and just as I pulled it out of the water it jumped off my line.
Rinse and repeat. The next fish I caught did the same darn thing.
Doc told me I needed to pull hard when I felt a nibble so that I'd hook the fish really good. Oh, it was on. We were in the last bend of the river before getting out when I felt my nibble. I yanked my pole back HARD! Got 'em!
I was excited. Such a thrill. I could get into this fishing thing, but only if it's guaranteed that I'll always catch something.
You want to know the coolest part about my fish? As I handed him over to Doc to unhook him, we saw that he didn't even bite my hook. I hooked him through the nose! The hook wasn't in his mouth at all. Oops. The absence of the hook in his mouth did not mean his mouth was empty. As Doc laid him in the boat to grab some pliers, the fish coughed up another fish that he had in his mouth! Oh yea, my fish counted as two!
It was ok for us to end our canoe trip then. I was happy.