Nice Catch!

Oh how we've tried!  We've taken the girls fishing many times, but have never had the experience amount to anything other than frustration and lessons in patience.  I had read about this Tahoe Trout Farm which is geared towards kids and promises a catch within minutes of dropping a line.  Forget Pinecrest where the fishing is truly a sport, THIS is where we needed to take our kids!  The place provided all the gear, bait and licence for free.  All you had to pay for was what you caught.

The owner, a friendly man named Jim who introduced himself to us as a grandpa, first came to talk to the girls about baiting, fishing, netting and cleaning.  Then he got them a "Tom Sawyer" fishing pole (aka long pole with a bobber and no reel) and showed us around his ponds, pointing out where the bears come to steal his trout!

Dave taught Ella how to bait a hook with the worms she chose.

Then she dropped her line in the small pond stocked with fish.  The water was clear, so we could see each fish who took a nibble.

And sure enough!  Within minutes she had her first catch-- an 11 inch trout which she named, but whose name I've forgotten (for the best, since he was put out of his misery by being clobbered with a metal club shortly after this pic was taken!).

Next up was Delia, who chose salmon eggs as her bait and who caught a 12 inch fish even faster!

After our fish were caught and killed, we brought them to be cleaned.  The girls surprisingly enjoyed watching this process.  They remained calm and happy throughout this experience.  I'm actually shocked, considering there were named and befriended fish hanging dead and gutted on a pole by the end of this morning!

We're catch and release kind of fishermen, but that was not really an option at this farm.  However, they do have this great donation program which still gives you the experience of fishing and then the opportunity to donate the fish you catch and pay for to the local homeless shelter for dinner.  This was a perfect option for us, since we don't really eat fish and weren't particularly interested in keeping dead trout in our lunch cooler all week.

This was a fun morning for us and added another "first" to our Summer of 2013 list: first fish ever caught!