
It's six o'clock in the morning and I feel a little persons hand touching mine. I quickly jump to see what is the matter and it is my daughter waking me up. I ask her what is wrong and she tells me "It's time for fishing dad." I tell her to go put on some warm clothes and get her fishing gear ready while I stagger out of bed and start getting ready. In no time flat she is back down in my room with her clothes on and fishing gear in hand. Then I hear the two boys wrestling around and I know its time for a wild and crazy day. We get up and have donuts for breakfast. I load the gas guzzling truck and prepare it since we will be taking some friends with us. It's just me and the kids and I am just starting to know why my wife is so tired at night when I arrive home. It is only seven o-clock in the morning and I am running around the house like a chicken with it's head cut off gathering items, mediating fights, and trying to get myself put together. Ten minutes to eight rolls around and we are in the truck and ready to go. Little did I know that this was going to be a very eventful and crazy day.
Picture a clear day, with the water so still you can see a reflection of the beautiful scenery around you. You can smell barbeque grills going and a bunch of fish jumping and waiting for that right worm to float their way. You hear children laughing, playing, and enjoying their time at the lake. Well that must have been the dream I was dreaming before getting woken up. Because our day was so much more eventful....
We arrive at North Crow Reservoir to enjoy the free fishing day that the Game and Fish has set aside for people to partake in. We find the rest of our party and start scouting things out. We first start off on the south side of the lake and it seems a little windy and not a lot of people catching fish. We load up the kids and decide to go to the north end to see what its like over there. We arrive at the north end and find out that the wind is blowing right in our direction. Every time we cast out into the water it blew right back in our faces and we never seemed to get out more than five to seven feet.

This obviously is a problem and its turning out to be an unsuccessful morning. As we are deciding what we can do for the rest of the day I decide to start setting up the fishing poles for my wonderful young fishermen. I got the first pole set up and ready to go with a worm and bobber. Pretty easy I thought. Then, while I am setting up the second fishing pole I realize that my daughter is attempting to fish on her own. One part of me thinks great she can do it on her own. Maybe I can focus on the younger two kids. The other side of me thinks, man that line is going to get tangled any second I better get this second pole finished or I am going to have some un-happy campers. Just as I am thinking that I look up and Spunky is pulling handfuls of line out of her pole because she got a snag. I ask her to wait and she tells me "no dad I've got this." I allowed her to try and figure things out and it just got worse and worse.
I managed to get the second pole fixed and ready to go. J-Bird states that he is going to go fish but that he would like me to cast for him and he can take care of the rest. So I walk over and show him how to cast the pole. That worm sailed the the air and landed right in front of my feet. I reel it in a little and I try my second attempt. This time it lands in front of J-Bird who happens to be right behind me. This wind is really whipping and it is starting to drive me crazy. Finally I get the worm out in the water and I turn the reigns over to J-Bird. Meanwhile my lovely Spunky is still get more and more tangled. I turn to help her out and I realize that it isn't to bad and that she actually has made some progress in fixing her line. As I am fixing her line I hear "Chad do you want me to put sunscreen on your kids." I think to myself how could I have been so into fishing that I forgot to put sunscreen on my kids. I quickly answer yes and all my little monkeys go over to receive their first bath in sunscreen. I finally get Spunky's pole fixed and I turn around to see what J-Bird did with his pole. There I find my little hobbit wrapped up and tangled in my pole which happens to be next to J-Birds. G-Baby is just walking around with his pole whacking things and he is getting more and more wrapped up in this line then he would like to be. I quickly grab him and realize that I have caught a

whopper. My fishing lure has embedded itself in G-Baby's pants and I have to have someone with pliers yank the hook out. This is getting better and better. I think to myself what have I gotten myself into. We quickly get him unstuck and he goes on his marry way drinking juice and eating donuts. Then I get back to Spunky and J-Birds poles. Both seem to be running ok and I have a brief second to throw my line out a couple times. That's when I hear G-Baby smacking things with his Spider-man pole. I look back and it appears that my child has turned into a knight in shining armor and he is defending his territory with his fishing pole. I put down my things and I decide to go help him. I can tell he has been in the donuts cause there is a white ring around his mouth full of powder and he is portraying a lot more energy than we started. As I approach him I see a fishing line wrapped around his legs and around a trash can that seem to be the arch enemy in question. I also see his pole is somewhat wrapped to his person. I start to silently scream in my head " how many poles am I going to have to fix before we start catching something." With the help of others we are able to release the evil trash can and my little hobbit from the treacherous fishing line and I make an executive decision with the help of others to move locations.
We decide to go down below the dam where there are some beaver ponds. These ponds seem pretty promising and I am just praying we can catch something before the kids start feeling like they want to go home. This time I decide to pull out two poles. We walk to the west end of the ponds and we start casting out into the pond. I notice that Spunky is doing really well so I take the boys and we start fishi

ng nearby. First couple of casts and we are fighting fish left and right. G-baby brings in the first one. Little Grayling only a couple inches long. Then we cast out again and J-Bird catches another Grayling approximately the same size as the first. My friend Avery casts out and lands a small Brook Trout. It's then that I think things are starting to turn around. I guess I thought wrong. We decided to move back to the original pond where we parked and we set up shop and started fishing. As I was setting up another pole I see a child run right by me and I already know whats about to happen. As I am slipping this worm on the hook in about .5 seconds the hook, worm, and line are ripped out of my hands and dangling around Spunky's foot. By now I am like a tea kettle ready to explode. I try very well to keep my composure and I start setting up the pole AGAIN. As my water was starting to boil I remembered that the kids haven't had anymore sunscreen so they go to Darcey for their second bath. I finally get the poles set up and start fishing. Soon I hear "dad, dad, I caught some fish." I think to myself how is this possible since I am the one with the pole and no children are around me. I turn around and all three of my kids are running around the wilderness with Swedish Fish in their hands. I immediately start laughing and I realize that I am putting a wrong spin on this whole day.

I quickly grab my kids and give them a big hug. We walk over to the pond and we start catching fish left and right. It was that moment that I was reminded of a very valuable lesson. We must teach our kids in their youth. I was there to catch fish and only catch fish. I was too wrapped up in the poles and fishing that I didn't take time to realize that no matter what, my kids were having fun and enjoying their youth. I didn't take the time to teach them how to set up their own poles and

I certainly didn't have the patience necessary to help them succeed as fishermen. It didn't matter to them how poles got broken or damaged they were there to have a good time and catching fish was a bonus. They did what kids do best and they enjoyed their time and didn't worry about other things. To see a child's eyes when they catch a fish is purely amazing. They are so excited and engaged in the task at hand. They were enjoying the nature and freedoms of this country. After I realized that my kids had reminded me of a valuable lesson my attitude changed and the rest of the day went by great. Even though we had some friends lock their keys in their vehicle while it was running and another had locked himself out of his house we didn't let the things of this world bother us. We came together and fixed the problems as a group and made the most of the day. The food was great, the fishing was great, and there is No Greater Joy then to see my kids enjoying their time in the outdoors regardless of the conditions.