Family Fishing at Frankin Park

Last weekend, Gary and I took the kids of a fun, family fishing day hosted by Loudoun County Parks. It was my very first fishing trip. It was the kids first day of fishing as well. I have always thought that I would enjoy fishing.

When we arrived at Franklin Park, there were representatives from the fish and game department. They had rows fishing poles just waiting for families like ours to show up. They had a cooler full of nightcrawlers in neat little plastic containers. We helped ourselves and chose a spot to begin our adventure.
As we walked around the lake, we were greeted by a man in a shirt that had sponsors all over it. He had his photographer take our pictures and gave us each a do- rag and an autographed card. It wasn't until later that I realized that he was the one on the autographed card. I guess I am not so observant.
When we got to our chosen location, we opened up our container of worms and looked at each other. "this is why I used Power Bait." Gary muttered. I did not think I would be squeamish about worms.
(I never was, until we lived in State College, the Wormiest City in the World. Every time it rains, the worms come out. Not cute little garden worms like I remember growing up. Foot- long, wriggling, slimy, gross- looking worms. They cover the pavement. Since it rains A LOT there are always worms on the sidewalks and especially in parking lots. I lived in fear that I would get a flat tire and have to lie down in the worms to change the tire.)
Back to fishing... Gary bravely reached into the container of nightcrawlers and ripped off a one inch piece of worm for each pole, (as we had been instructed) and showed us how to put it on the hook. Then we practiced casting. This is particularly hazardous with 6 year olds who think they know what they are doing.
We got the hang of casting and watched other kids walking by with their catch, taking it to the scales for the fishing contest. The our kids didn't like the idea of waiting for the fish to bite. The kept reeling in seaweed. And we kept breaking off one inch pieces of worms to reload the hooks. I didn't get brave enough to touch them with my hands. I threaded them on to the hook in the container and then used a rock to chop them off.
I wasn't so good at casting and once smashed the floating ball thing. Jimmy and I took the pole back to the area where we picked it up, to see what could be done. The man in charge said "Just put it over there." and pointed to a pile of rods with tangled line, smashed floating things and assorted other problems. We selected a new rod and returned to the rest of the family. When we got back, Amelia told us about a fish she had seen swimming in the water.
Gary got a bite on his hook. This was very exciting! It got away. I'm sure he could give you the dramatic details of that experience.
About this time, the Amelia's fish came back. It was brown and about 5 inches long. I watched it for a few minutes and realized it was sick or something. It would have been easy to catch it with a soda cup or even bear hands, but we were fishing. We were going to do it "right." We dangled hookes with worms in front of it. I think I even touched it with a worm. It just hovered there in the water, trying to ignore us, or maybe just trying to stay alive.
We decided to turn in our poles and head over to the free lunch. We enjoyed hot dogs/hamburgers, beans, and chips (between bathroom breaks, Thank you Gary for taking care of that) and then rushed home to clean up and head over to cousin Betsy's wedding reception. (We got there in time to say hello, watch them drive off in a "tastefully decorated" car, throw rice and help clean up. It was nice to see relatives, even briefly.)