Cayuga 6/26; Lessons from Life w/ pic.

[chowder]

On Saturday I was taught one of life's precious lessons from two 14 year old kids, an electrical problem and a porta potty. My son 'T-bone' and one of his buddies Matt wanted to go fishing on their first day of summer vacation. I'll admit I was whipped from a series of 16 hour days in the tractor trying to finish 2cd cutting and I really wanted to spend most of Sat. napping but when your kids want you to take them fishing- you just gotta pony up and do it!

So I get up at 3:15 am (normal 'dairy' time) and rip through 3 hrs of managerial and semi manual tasks, get the kids up and head to the lake. The boys had managed to stay up half the night eating chicken wings and pizza bites so they were in prime condition. I get the boat in the water and get it started up and off we go out of Long Point at about 9:00 am. I get into 225' N of the point, shut down the main,start up the kicker, hit the AP and set some rods. I look at the screen and it's off! I had had some battery issues the last time I was out but charged em b4 going out. Long & short we got no electronics, and no riggers- so much for me impressing these guys w/ an awesome day of fishing! Well, the kicker was running so we decided to fish 'blind' for a bit. I got frustrated and couldn't really get much going and then the boys began to feel the combined effects of little sleep, and too many chicken wings and pizza bites. Neither one wanted to dampen their pride w/ an open air porta potty experience but eventually it became a necessary evil. Without out going into gross details I will only say that these guys totally depleted my stash of bags for the "luggable loo".

When it began to rain I figured we probably out to head in before another disaster occured.

But what happened next was beautiful! Relieved of their pressing issues, the boys rallied, I somehow found a way to fish with what we had, we drank some ginger ale, teased each other mercilessly, lost a nice bow behind the boat, and bonded in way that I just don't think would have been possible if everything had gone smoothly. We got back to the launch and the boys wanted to know when we could go again, "Tomorrow Dad, can we go again tomorrow? ". Once again I learned that when we go fishing, the fish are not really what we are after...

My son Tristan,'T-Bone' ( on the right) with his buddy Matt on the left

[snupytcb]

and just when you thaought it was going to be a bad day. my daughter is only 2 but i am looking forward to those days.

[Reel Doc]

WTG Dad! Save the memories for when Tristan's kids come fishing with Grandpa....oh willl you have a story to tell

We never made it out Sunday...little league rainout makeup game and end of season awards picnic. The kids gathered some hardware for their performance, so no bad days for this Dad.

Greg

[ray koziatek]

Yup yer right with the "fish are the bonus theme" ..

ya better get in those days togeather while you can in a few years.

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.He'll be old enuf to run the farm by himself and youll be fishing alone again..

[Mower]

Great story and yes I agree w/ the quality time spent. Often my wife and I really only get to talk about things on the boat. The hectic schedules of work weeks just take their toll. She has mentioned more then once that the most relaxing times are when fish only cooperate alittle in stead of alot.

Andy you should have called me, I would have let you ride my coat tails and fished the inside or outside of me and the radio could have been your depthfinder/ gps/ downspeed. the only problem is you have to share a few of your secrets to get the boat on the fish?

My father does it all the time.

Mower

[tcon]

Way to go Andy...those time are the ones you take into old age!!

[Zebedee]

Great post! You had me laughing pretty hard!