Rocks were not the only thing jumping at Wolf Creek Dam

[BigPoppy]

Hey Guys, we had a great week end of fishing and surpurprises all around. My wife of 29 years as of 35 minutes ago, and I took the daughter and the 2 granduaghters to the trout hatchery for our semi annual trip. I had noticed that when I made our campground reservations that there was only two campsites open. I did not think to much of it. We arrived on thursday and started scouting the river and doing some wade fishing which is realy going great by the way. We were not getting any wall mounts but alot of fish and a alot of slots (hey guys file off the barbs and use cheap hooks let the slots live!) The big surprise was Saturday morning was the annual Catch a Rainbow Kids Derby there were thousands of kids and parents alike swooped down in that sleepy little bottom after those fish and no one went home with out a fish. They all also recieved a prize of some sort many of the smaller kids got rods and reels, tackle boxes tents and there were bike give aways free food candy and gift packs. The hatchery folks released 3500 of the nicest rainbows you have ever seen in that liitle 1/4 mile creek and the 4 kiddie pools for the toddlers. Each toddler got to catch one fish and recieved a medal and a new rod and reel. the rest of the kids were broken down by age groups and given a time slot on the creek to try for their limmit with a trophy for the big fish in each group one young man in the 6 year olds got a 4 1/2#, on average they were 1 1/2#. The folks down there did a great job on average each group caught around 200 fish each cycle so at the end of the day and on sunday there were still a lot of nice fish to be caught out the creek. I know we will not miss it next year if the good Lord is willing. It was a great day to see all of those young folks catching fish and all of the adults getting along and sharing the day. That morning on that little piece of earth and that small ribbon of water there were no color lines other than rainbows on the fish, there was no Iraq,no terror. no election. Just hundreds of children of all ages from all over the world gathered right there doing one of the oldest traditions of man kind in it's most basic form we were gathering food as a tribe of men again, in a more modern light we were there sharing with our children and our grandchildren a pass time that can cost a fortune or a dime you do not need anything more expensive than a few hooks and some line, or you can spend a fortune because you need just one more toy, that other lure you friend had that tore them up that day. But more importantly we shared with them the time it takes to get ready to go there to be there, and the time it takes to get back from there. Then before you know it you and your family have had one of the best days of your life with out really trying, and sometimes the fish that you missed is the best story to be told over and over again when you get home. So some of you super fast bass masters slow down take a kid fishing you might learn something like cherry lemon gummy worms will catch a bass if the water is not to warm.

Dennis

[Chubminnow]

There is nothing more satisfying than getting back to basics...simple basics. Your words were great to read...thanks for posting them here for public viewing.

[mhall]

Nice post....

[fishing4kids]

Awesome post Big Pop

[troutcrazy]

Enjoyed the post and I'm glad you were encouraged by the event.

[MsgMills]

Now that was great, ashame both my boys don't have the patience they had when they were 2 & 3 years old when fishing.....