Fishing on Friday

I was off work on Friday and since it was supposed to be a nice day, my wife, her parents, Angie and I decided to go to her dad's farm he grew up on. His brother and his wife live there and still run the farm also. On the farm is a nice little pond which usually has good fishing. First we had to take Thomas & Rose to school and then take off, it is a little over an hour south of St Louis. It was sunny and probably 70s, but also very windy.

We probably got started fishing somewhere around 11:00 or so and had to quit around 1:30 in order to get back to pick up the kids from school. Not a whole lot of time to fish. The fish weren't really biting that much either. The pond mostly has bluegill and large mouth bass and also a few channel catfish. Normally the bluegill are jumping on your hooks and you will occassionally get a bass as well. The catfish seem to usually bit late in the day and are good size since the pond is rarely fished. We ended up catching 4 bluegill that were decent enough size to keep, Debbie's mom caught the last fish of the day, a 14 inch bass which we also kept. Right before the bass though, I caught a 24 inch catfish. It gave a good fight for a few minutes before I was able to land it. We didn't have a net along, so I had Debbie's father take the pole while I reached in and grabbed him and brought him to the shore. Since I didn't think I would be able to help clean the fish and since I wasn't sure if other people fishing the pond liked catching the catfish, it was decided to throw him back in. If nothing else it should be fun to catch him again.

There were also a couple of large snapping turtles swimming around in the pond. I figure these are the reason for why there just doesn't seem to be as many bluegill as in the past. It has probably been about 4 years or so since we last fished the pond though and we were told the pond "turned over" a couple of years ago also. In "turning over" it basically means there was a large fish kill in the pond for whatever reason. This could also be the reason for fewer bluegill, but I like to blame the turtles myself.

Angie had a lot of fun at the pond. With it being as windy as it was, we couldn't let her walk around freely and also because we weren't sure she would stay away from the pond either. She sat in our laps and fish with us some and also sat on a blanket and ate a little lunch as well. She also played with the worms when Debbie was holding her. Debbie got a couple of pictures of this as well. We also got a picture of Debbie's dad, Debbie and Angie in front of the old house where he grew up. It is no longer being used, but is still sitting on the property.

Tonight we went over to Debbie's parent's house for the fish fry of the bluegill and the bass. It was good tasting fish and of couse plenty of sides. The kids ate chicken, none of them are fish fans yet. We brought the dessert of ice cream drumsticks. The kids like their ice cream and Rose was crying (literally) when the ice cream man drove by our house and we didn't stop him.

I was supposed to play softball Friday night, but it got rained out. Just as well since I am not really good anymore and am just a backup on a team.

I did get a run in today of around 5 miles. It took around 1:04 and a few seconds. I don't have exact numbers because my Garmin screwed up on mile 3 and 4. That happens at Woodson Park once in a while, there is a government office there and I figure they have a lot of satellites and stuff that cause transmission problems for the Garmin. It was about the same story, first couple of miles were tough and then it got a little better and then just finished up the run for the last mile or so. The 3rd & 4th miles were probably my best and of course that is when the Garmin screwed up. Not sure yet if I will get a run in tomorrow, I would like to but we have a B-Day party in the afternoon to go to so, not sure if I will be able to work one in.