Fishing Part 2

Yesterday I didn't finish my thoughts on fishing with my dad. I actually had the following story in mind when I started writing yesterday and just didn't get to it. The first thing that made me think of this event with my dad, is me being on a trip with my son last week. I find it sad that as children we do not value the time we get with our parents, until later on in life. I am sure we all had fun at the time the activity was going on or remember the event, but do we really value the experience.


I remember going on the "boy's" trip with my dad, grandpa Mark and my uncle Lamont when I was around nine or ten. I loved going on these trips, but I don't think I really appreciated this event until now. Every late October we would go down to Navajo Dam to go snagging salmon. My dad and the other men went on this trip before I started going. I remember being really excited about being old enough to go with the men. I know for a fact that I never did appreciate my dad for letting me go. It had to be a big pain to take me on the trip with them. He had to teach me how to do it and also have me take away from his fishing time. He also had to hear me complain about how cold it was or being hungry. I am so thankful and appreciative that he took me each year.


I remember my first snag still to this day. My dad had always talked about how tough it was to bring in a salmon if you snagged its tail. Well sure enough my first one that I ever caught, I snagged it right on its tail. Of course I didn't know this until I brought it into shore. When I first caught it I yelled to my dad, "I got one". He dropped his pole and ran over to help. He told me how to pull up then reel, so your not fighting their swimming against you all of the time. I remember thinking that I would never get that fish in. My dad just kept telling me to keep going. At one point I asked him to take over and he told me, "no you need to bring in your first one son, you can do it." He was so confident in me and supportive it was awesome. Of course dad was always like that in life. When I finally got it in, dad gave me a high five and we took pictures. He also told me that I now had to gut that fish and any other ones I caught. I remember how big our smiles were that night eating my fish.