Fishing!

Ha! I went fishing today! I caught three bluegill and kept them. I put back two other fish whose species I was uncertain of...and now I'm irritated. I think they were perch. There are pictures here. *sighs* I like the taste of perch, and they're less bony than bluegill. Oh well. I'll know for next time. I almost had a trout, but it got off the line just as I pulled it out of the water. Other than that, I caught a bunch of minnows and let all go except the one that got hooked in the eye. It failed the water-test (put it in the water and loose your hands; if it livens up and swims away, fine; if not, keep it). I'm considering boiling it and offering it to Dovi and the kittens.

This is the first time I've been fishing in two years, I think. I never went last summer. The one time Dad was thinking about going, something went screwy: quite likely, he was sane enough to realize he shouldn't be driving on the highway. But I'm quite pleased with myself. Despite having no real idea what I was doing, I managed to catch two meals' worth of fish. (Four if I'd kept those perch *mutters*) Though I did discover that I have no casting skills whatsoever. I wound up fishing off the dock and gently tossing the line out to likely-looking spots. There was a good-sized school of fish there when I started. They gradually drifted elsewhere, though. Between that and the massive crowd of people who started hogging the dock around noon, I decided to call it quits.

Oh, this is the very first time I've ever cleaned fish. I've seen Dad do it tons of times, though, and it wasn't that hard to figure out. Slice off head. Remove innards. Not much else to say, unless you'd like gory details about putting worms on hooks... That reminds me. I should let the rest of them go.