Catching Nemo

Obviously Megan's threats have spurred droves of blogs from each of the members of La Familia Estraton!!

As some may or may not know, I have recently picked up a new hobby or two. The one of which I would like to blog today is FISHING! As you all know, the Strattons have never gone out hunting or fishing, with the exception of Dad, when he was a little girl. I've never quite figured out why it is that Dad withheld these experiences from us; it's just sufficient to say that he did.

A month ago, I was invited to go fishing with a couple of co-workers, Bryce and Garin. Since I had never been, I was inclined to decline the invitation and did so by saying I had never been and did not have any fishing gear. Indeed, the only things I knew about fishing and the associated gear were recently learned while my assistant scoutmaster taught our scouts the things they need to know to get their fishing merit badge. (Thank goodness that I actually paid attention and knew the difference between the rod and the reel!) That didn't deter my co-workers, as Bryce said he had an extra rod and some lures (these proved to be much less effective than Strong Bad's use of jigs and lures) and all I would need was a license. Since I was going to need to get a license to go fishing with my scouts, I figured why not. We had already spent the morning golfing and as it was the 3rd of July and no respectful real estate agent was in their office, we had nothing else to do the rest of the working day.

We headed the right-hand fork of Hobble Creek and fished for about 3 hours. I managed to catch 3 fish (they were 8" or less brown trout) and lose one lure. I learned the ins and outs of fishing, including how to tie the right kind of knot and how to cast (this takes some practice to be accurate). Creek fishing is quite nice as you walk right up the creek, which keeps you cool on hot summer days. Needless to say, after one outing, I decided I could like this new hobby.

Much to Michelle's dismay, after this one outing, I went out and bought myself a rod and reel, some lures, and other required paraphernalia. My next outing was later in July, when Bryce and I met early in the morning to fish on the Spanish Fork/Diamond Fork rivers and eventually Thistle Creek. This was a less fruitful day of fishing as I only caught 1 fish, but it was the largest one yet (probably 10" and very skinny - brown trout). Even with catching only one fish, I still enjoyed myself and my new fishing gear.

Since mutual was going to be on Friday, my assistant scoutmaster, Jason, and I decided we would use Tuesday night to go fishing. We left around 5:30 and headed to the Middle Provo River (that's east of Deer Creek) and started fishing around 6:20. It was slow going for the first while, but I did manage to catch a small brown trout (6"). Up until this point, I had released all fish that I had caught, which is a pretty smart thing to do considering I'm not one to eat things of the fish variety. However, I had pre-determined that if I caught a good-sized fish, I would keep it and give it to Dee and Lorraine, who like eating things of the fish variety.

Until about 8:30pm, when it is starting to get dark, we didn't have much luck. Jason started using worms and caught a fish or two. I continued using spinners, which is what I am used to, and finally caught a good-sized fish (a 15" brown trout). Since I had always released my fish, I was a little unsure as to what I should do. Jason was about 100 yards downstream from me, so I held my line by the lure with the fish dangling down and started heading downstream, yelling for Jason to tell me what to do. The fish managed to free itself from my hook and flop down on the ground. Fortunately, I was far enough away from the water that it couldn't escape. I realized my only choice was to reach down and pick the slimy, squirmy thing up. I learned there really isn't anything special you need to do other than put it into a plastic grocery bag and continue fishing. Since I didn't know about the grocery bag thing, I just laid it on the rock and went back to my fishing hole.

I didn't manage to catch any more fish in the last half hour, but I did lose a lure and then tied on a new one in the dark. (It is quite challenging to get the line through the small loop on the lure and tied correctly in the dark!) We headed back to the car and home around 9:45pm, making it through Provo Canyon just before 10pm, when they close the road. Jason showed me how to clean my fish, which will probably be my least favorite thing about fishing, and I put it in a ziplock bag and gave it to Lorraine to cook up for their Wednesday night dinner.

Just to prove this isn't just another fish story, here is a close up of my fish next to my ruler. Note that the ruler is a 15" ruler. You can count the hash marks if you don't trust me.