“The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable. A perpetual series of occasions for hope.” I read this sign in Florida somewhere and it is so very true!!

My experience with fishing before this trip was the odd day with my Uncle Jon. We went out on a pond once or twice. He is a very patient teacher especially as once when I was 4 years old I was very keen and over exited. First I stepped in the box of maggots and then I stepped backwards into the pond – he didn’t even shout at me. Come to think of it though he hasn’t taken me out since… However being a bit older I thought I may have a chance of catching something.

When we arrived in America my Dad had the idea of getting some Fishing gear, so we did. Someone recommended Bass Pro Shop to us, so in Ottawa we found one. It was a pretty special place. Covering every wall was one stuffed animal or another. Enormous fish tanks full of salmon and trout. An indoor archery range and even a sea plane hanging from the ceiling. We got kitted up. We got one tackle box full of lures, hooks, weights, line and more, a fishing rod each and a net. As the old saying goes “all the gear and no idea”.  I think we needed some help!!!              

LAKES

Our first location we went fishing was in Arrowhead Provincial Park in Ontario, we caught nothing.   However our next campsite was in Algonquin Provincial Park. The park had organized a fishing day for kids and a local man took us out on his boat.   Mum and I caught some perch and when we got back they fileted our catch and we cooked them that night. A really great way to start our fishing experience. In addition to that Charlie won a free tackle box in their competition. So thanks to Charlie we now had two tackle boxes.

Throughout our trip we have fished in various lakes and caught pike, bass, crappie, catfish, perch and more. We caught them in a variety of places such as Cane Creek in North Carolina. In Lake Audy in Riding Mountain Provincial Park, Canada we spent some time fishing – here we caught pike as well as getting covered in leaches, which put Charlie off fishing that day!!

RIVERS

Another location we have fished is in rivers. Such as Panther River where we caught trout and a lot snags (spent a lot of money on some new tackle after that!) however this isn’t the only place we have been catching river fish. When we got to Vancouver we went salmon fishing in the Fraser River. This was a big step forward in our fishing. Before this Charlie would never even have considered ripping the gills out of a salmon, ready for it to be eaten – let alone using the guts as bait to catch some chubbs too. I think one day of salmon fishing changed his mind. Between us we caught 6 or 8 huge and delicious salmon. Before we left we filled our freezer with the “fresh catch” as well as well as the sweet corn Barb and Norb had generously given us.

Charlie and I have done river fishing in lots of places and have had no luck as good as this.   In the Great Smoky Mountains a fisherman gave me a certain type of lure called a hairy bogger, which was hairy and looked like a bogger – still didn’t catch anything though!

OCEANS

Out of all of the places we have fished the ocean is on top of my list.  I hadn’t done much sea fishing until Florida, my Uncle came out to see us in Homestead which was a great surprise for Charlie and me. He had arranged for this fishing guide to take us out from the sunny Florida Keys, or not so sunny that day, the heavens opened on us however we caught lots of fish like: Bonefish, Permit, Grouper, Hogfish, Snapper and an eagle ray which I hooked and snapped my line (sorry no photos of that). He fileted them for us and we got to see the pelicans fighting over the guts of the fish.

After Uncle Jon left we went fishing in Key West on a hire boat and caught mangrove snapper, grunts and other various fish. We also fished at a place called Sebastian Inlet and I caught a sheepshead and some other small fish.

I have really come to like fishing and as Charlie says, considering I have no patience waiting for food I’m really surprised that I can sit for hours waiting to hook something and like the quote says “little occasions for hope”. When we get back I will definitely be asking my Uncle Jon to take me out fishing with him. I’m pretty sure that this time I won’t be falling in the water!!