Fishing with Maddie is always more fun than I expect. As soon as we had a few days without rain I got the question. “Papa, can we go fishin’”, as if I would say no. So we plan out a trip, well, I plan our trip. Living in the Sacramento area there’s lots of places to go. But, I settle on a county park that has a lake and stocks it with trout, catfish and (oh yippee) carp. If you’re a kid, you get excited about carp. Most fishermen however consider them garbage fish.
I spend the evening before texting my daughter about, clothes, lunch, juice boxes, sun block etc. 10,000 texts later I think we’ve covered everything. Then there’s her pole (a cute little blue and pink Barbie pole that doesn’t cast worth a darn) and my pole, tackle, lunch, cooler, folding chairs and bait. Phew, I’m beat, now I need to go to bed.
So mom drops her off, its a couple hours later than when I would normally go fishing. Trust me, any fish you miss at sunrise are worth not having a grumpy kids to deal with. I got the van packed, poles, tackle, lunch, folding chairs, and extra clothes, go give Noni a kiss and we’re off.
It’s a short drive to Gibson Ranch. It’s a county park with a lake they stock regularly. Plus as we’re driving through the park there’s horse, goats, llamas and a pot bellied pig. We park and I become a Sherpa. As we walk to one of the fishing docks, I get a lesson in ducks and geese. “Papa, do you know why those geese have a bump on their nose?” “No Maddie, I think it’s just cause that’s the way they look”. Then she says “is this goose poop or duck poop?” “I think it’s goose poop, why?” she says “They sure can poop a lot”.
We get to the pier, setup the chairs, setup her pole and get her cast out, that’s when it hits me. Barbie rod and reels don’t cast for crap. We can’t get it more than 5 feet from the pier. So, I cast out. Maddie says “I think I got a fish” “No Maddie that’s just the wind making your bobber bounce.” She say’s “oh, ok. Papa after I catch a fish you can catch one.” (Ah, the optimism of youth).
Soon we have to do a bait check, her worm looks kind old and grey. So, I change bait for her, she thinks the worm threader is cool and wants to try. “Worms are hard to use cause they’re squiggly” “Yes, Maddie they are.” It heats up and the fishing is real slow, so after a couple hours Maddie decides the playground across the lake is too much of a temptation. But before we can leave Maddie has to set the worms free, well actually she decided to give the fish a free meal. She takes the cup of worms and walks around the pier dropping the worms, one at a time every couple of feet, until they are all gone.
We go to the playground, then after about an hour she wants to fish some more. I explain there are no more worms but, she knows there’s Power Bait in the tackle box. “Papa can we pleeease go fish from a table, pleeease?” Fine pick a table, I drag out the poles and tackle box. “Papa the table is too far from the water, I need my chair” Silly me, I should have realized. Ok, lines in the water and “Papa, I’m hungry can I have my sandwich?” Ok, back to the van to get the cooler, she gets her sandwich and sees the chocolate bar in the cooler. “Papa, what’s this?” she says in the most demure manner possible. I say “that’s a candy bar I brought” “Papa, is there anymore?” she asked. “No, I only brought one, but it’s big enough to share with you” “Oh, Okay”. She eats her sandwich waits and says “Papa do you want your candy bar now?” Of course I do.
The fishing is terrible but she won’t call it a day. She drags my stringer out and lasso’s her chair, then she ties up her chair. Then she discovers some chocolate that melted on her shoe. She picks up a goose feather off the ground and heads to the waters edge using the feather like a brush cleans her shoe. Then she comes to me and says “Papa why did they use plastic to make the goose feather?” I explain it’s the quill and before I can finish the explanation, she’s on to something else. We (okay, I) decide to call it a day load everything back in the van one more time. Before she’s even buckled in “papa, can we go fishing, next week on your day off?” So, I’ll chalk this trip up as a success! But we both agree she needs a better rod and reel, I wonder if I still have my old Zebco 303?
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