© irene waters 2016
We hired a boat for a couple of hours. It was a beautiful day despite the cloud cover. For winter, it was warm. That alone was enough to make you smile. We pulled up near a sand bar where a man was already fishing. Probably he lost his smile when we arrived. My youngest nephew insisted he wanted to fish. In reality he wanted us to fish and whilst he would go visit the fisherman on the island. Off he went making friends with the man’s dog, shouting across that the fellow had caught lots of fish. His buckets were full. He had three lines going and we saw him pull in a huge fish and an undersize whiting within minutes of arriving.
© irene waters 2016
I was the first in our boat to get a bite but it was my brother who caught both our fish.
© irene waters 2016
The first was an undersize flathead, we were informed by the fisherman in the other boat.
© irene waters 2016
I had thought it was a catfish with poisonous barbs so the towel came out to hold him with. Removing the hook was a horrible process. We felt like torturers but our smiles were wide as we threw him back in and off he swiftly swam.
© irene waters 2016
Our next fish bent the rod and put up a battle. A whiting of legal length. We could keep it. (Again we had to thank the other chap for passing on his knowledge.)
© irene waters 2016
My youngest nephew was thrilled. He was going to have the entire fishing experience. But who was going to kill it and how do you kill it. My older nephew argued to release it back. “No” insisted the younger. We looked at the knife and then suggested he might like to do the deed. At that point the hook was removed and the fish thrown back to probably be caught later by the chap on the sandbar. Would it be that silly? At least we had smiles on our faces.
For 
Reflections and Nightmares- Irene A Waters (writer and memoirist) 
We fly fish and if you carry needle-nose pliers, unhooking is easy for both parties involved. We always catch and release. Looks like a fun day.
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I’ll remember that. I was thinking next time I might ask for hooks without barbs. It was a fun day.
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What a great aunt and uncle you are – what wonderful experiences you’re giving those boys.
🙂
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You do things with kids that you put off doing as an adult. A lot of fun.
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I wish I had someone to take me fishing. I’ve only gone three times. Two were to a trout farm that was stocked with fish. My daughter and I took my grandson but neither of us could get the hook out of the fishies we got so we had to call the owner to come do it for us! But it was fun and come to think of it, we haven’t taken the younger one so maybe we’ll do that one day soon.
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Yes it is getting those hooks out and killing them that I find hard to do to Corina. Kids love it although they get bored so easily. A trout farm stocked with fish would make it more of a sure bet to catch something – then having the owner do the dirty work sounds like a great fishing trip to me.
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