Friday afternoon, I got to the campsite around 5:30. By 6:00, me, Keith, Kaitlyn and all 3 boys were at the dam fishing.
Getting ready to go fishing :)
Gotta have the silly picture. Griffin is doing the
John Cena "U Can't C Me" move.
Keith baited all the rods and within one minute of casting, Griffin caught the first fish. It was a small catfish, probably about a pound. We threw it back and Griffin said he would come catch it again when it got bigger.
We caught two more catfish that trip. Fisher caught one, and it finned him when he pulled it in. That one was probably 3-4 pounds. He was a keeper. Jayden caught a fish called a drum. It was probably 4 pounds maybe. Keith made us throw that one back because he said it would make us sick if we ate it.
We headed back to the camp site around 7:15 or so and I started cooking supper. Keith and all of the kids headed out to bait and throw out the jugs while I cooked and after we ate, we headed back out to check them. This is when it really gets fun!
Jayden and Griffin fell asleep before we headed back out, so Keith put them in the tent and Kevin offered to stay at the camp site with them. Me, Keith, Kaitlyn and Fisher headed out to check the jugs. Kaitlyn pulled up one jug that had a deep string on it - one that rested on the bottom of the river. She kept saying, "there's nothing on here, Uncle Keith." Well, she was a little surprised when she pulled up that string and had an 11 pound catfish on it! We caught several more that were between 5-7 pounds and one that was probably 9 pounds.
Kaitlyn and her catfish
We had one jug that we had been watching all night that was in the middle of all of the other jugs. We checked the ones on the outside first and were going to check this one at the very end because of where it was. And, because we were picking on Kaitlyn. Keith and I kept telling her that we were going to wait until the next day to get that one. It was bobbing a good bit and she couldn't sit still for watching it.
Anyway, we pull up to this jug, and jokingly, I say, "Kaitlyn, I think I'm going to pull this jug up." Keith, more seriously, says, "For real. Your mom has never pulled a jug up. Let her pull this one." So I do. This fish just kind of ghosts up to the surface of the water. All I see is this head at the top of the water and it scares the mess out of me. I throw the jug back in the water and jump up and run to the front of the boat. I look at Keith and the look on his face is just priceless. His mouth is kinda frozen in a state of shock and his eyes are locked on that jug. When he gets his wits back, he leans down and pulls the jug back up and tells us to get to the front of the boat because he is going to have to sling this fish into the boat. He grabs it under the gills and slings. This is what he ends up throwing in the boat:
This fish is the largest fish that I have ever seen, much less caught. I was the queen in the eyes of all of the boys. We are still talking about the fact that I threw the jug back in the water, though.
All together, we caught around 12 catfish. We had a great time! I can't wait until next year's trip. Maybe I can catch an even BIGGER fish then. :)
