With my oldest son being involved in high school soccer and summer workouts, it has been a challenge trying to find a time for us to go on any trips. However, we had a small window in our schedule last week and I decided to take them to Roaring River State Park to do some camping and fishing. Both boys had visited the park before but they were so young, they barely remember it. I was hoping to help them catch some fish, learn some camping skills, and create some good memories.
We arrived last Friday at approximately 3:30 for our one night stay. We dropped our things off at our campsite and then headed to the park store to buy our daily tags. After everyone was legal to fish, we rigged up some rods and hit the water. The fishing is what you would expect during the middle of the summer, in the middle of the day, and on the heels of a holiday. The fish were picky, spit out flies quickly, and just lethargic in general. We ended up having to do some sight fishing as a result and we all missed a lot of fish but also caught a few that felt extra rewarding because of the conditions.
We took a break in the late afternoon to visit the mouth of the spring and hatchery. The boys and I marveled at the brood stock, read about how the spring has not been completely explored by scientists, and walked a good portion of the spring so they could get their bearings a little. We next headed to a swimming hole for Cody to play in the water. While he was swimming (and within my sight) Mason and I fished a little stretch of water at the start of the catch and release area. Mason was over fishing because he doesn't see the point in catch and release fishing. He says that it doesn't have a point and thus, doesn't give him any purpose. While I disagree, I can see his point. Anyway, I ended up catching quite a few fish that hit aggressively and Mason helped me out by netting the fish. I brought the net so the boys felt useful and it kept their boredom at bay...slightly.
The sun was setting and I decided to take the boys to the part of the stream that was considered the end of the park. That's when disaster struck but I'm going to leave that story for another day. It's a roller coaster of a story but stay tuned for this in the coming days.
We then headed to our campsite where Mason went to work. Earlier in the summer, he told me that he wanted to go camping and sharpen some of his camping skill. I respected this request greatly and inquired about which skills he wanted to hone. He told me that he wanted to set up a tent and start a fire by himself. He didn't elaborate any more than that, as teenagers will sometimes do, but I was all to happy to afford him the experience.
Mason did a great job setting up his tent and starting a fire with a minimal amount of help from some lighter fluid. I struggle with fire starting sometimes and I carry no embarrassment about getting a little help from a foreign substance. Finally, we hit the sleeping bags for night of comfort and deep sleep. That's sarcasm in case you missed it. Mason and I slept terribly while Cody slept like a baby for some reason. The only reasoning that I could find for this is that maybe since his is small, he doesn't feel like the ground is as hard?!?! As you can see in the picture below, maybe sleeping on a sandal helps. Anyway, we were up at 5:30 so we could be on the stream when the horn sounded at 6:30.
For me, the fishing was GREAT. I put a few fish on a stringer to take to my dad and let a few go as well. Mason, who decided to go further downstream, had a different experience. While he did manage to catch and keep one fish (which I was very impressed by), he was frustrated by the multiple fish that he missed and the knot that he had acquired. He was mad, and I understood because I have been in his shoes. After he cooled down, I offered to make some longer casts for him and handing him the rod to take it from there and he agreed. He then proceeded to miss 3 fish and return to the state of frustration that he had found himself in earlier.
At this point, I decided that we needed to do something different. Mason was ticked off and Cody was bored. I decided that it was time to change things up and we headed to the fish cleaning station. I figured that this would be a good skill for them to learn and would get them off the water for awhile. While Mason remembered his teaching from a year ago, Cody had never cleaned a trout before. On the previous day, he expressed his excitement to gut a trout. However, after watching a couple of fish get cleaned, his tune changed. When I placed a knife in his hand, he wanted to participate even less. After some coaching and coaxing, he ended up cleaning 3 fish. There is not a chance that I will allow either of my boys to be scared of touching or gutting a fish. I won't force them to fall in love with fishing, but I refuse to let them be squeamish about those endeavors.
We fished a little more as we walked up the stream and I started to realize that our time was almost done. Neither wanted to fish or net fish and they had seen the entire park. They were ready to go home, and even though I wasn't, I didn't want the end of the trip to end on a bad note. We broke camp, loaded up the truck, and headed home at about 10:30.
I've learned a lot about taking my kids fishing over the last decade. I've learned to help some but not too much. They are going to have a learning curve that I can help shorten but not take away entirely. They have to learn from experience, just like I did. I've learned that they can't stay on the water as long as I would like, but I have to be okay with that and cater to their needs. Finally, I've learned that fishing trips need to include things other than just fishing. Their attention spans are short and they are curious about other things. While I cannot categorize these statements as applicable to all kids, I know that these are facts that I need to keep in mind when I take my boys fishing.
I hope the boys enjoyed the trip as much as I did. It gave me some special memories but more importantly, I hope it gave them better ones. I'm not bragging when I say that I can catch stocker rainbows fairly well. I've been doing it for over twenty years so I should be good at it by now. This trip was not for me to inflate my ego but rather give them a positive experience in the outdoors. I had to remind myself about that a few times and check my wants and desires at the tent flaps. Only time will tell if this trip made an impact on them but I hope that they smile when they think of our trip. I also hope they learned a few things that they might be able to use later on in life. We are fortunate enough to not NEED to know how to catch fish, clean fish, and set up at tent but they are good skills to have in case. Hopefully the boys find acquiring those skills useful, and more importantly, fun!
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