FAMILY TRADITION

We all know how much Dad loved fishing, and since he gave me luck on opening day of hunting season, I decided to try out opening day of trout season (I have not been fishing in about 10 years)

Cousin Stoney thought it sounded like a great idea and decided to come along and spend the night so we could throw our lines in at midnight.

We got to our spot and set up camp. Of course it was suppose to rain so we wanted to at least stay dry.
Then to make sure Dad was with us we had to have "a few nips of JD"
Then we hung out by the fire and talked about the old days, ate some chicken, and waited for midnight.
Finally we threw our lines in, and after hours of wondering why we couldn't get any bites...
I finally caught the dreaded sucker fish.... YUK! Then Stoney hooked a monster, but we lost it after it snapped the line.

We finally landed our first trout around 1 pm, only 12 inches or so. We were all packed up, around 4:30, when I went to grab my pole and head home and IT HAPPENED...
The one we had been waiting for... LEWIS THE LUNKER! (as Stoney referred to it).
This is by far the biggest fish I have ever cought. 25 inches long and 5.8 pounds of beautiful rainbow trout!

I know Dad was with us for this trip. We had a great night, very little rain, and tons of fun. Not to mention that we were ready to leave 3 hours before this when 2 of our friends showed up so we hung around a little longer :) Stoney and I decided this will be a new family tradition of camping out on opening day. Thanks Dad for the reminder that you are always with us!!!