Fishing Fever, It's the Best Kind

Life's most relaxing and thoughtful times for me have been spent fishing. My grandpa introduced it to me when I was 3 along a river bank in Des Moines, I didn't actually participate but watched the happiness it brought him and how as he worked the bait he would share stories of his father and his first fishing expedition. At one point a gust of wind carried my little straw hat into the current ( yes my head was small at one time) and "Pop Pop" tried his best to snag it with his cast to no avail. Before I could shed a tear he explained "Sometimes the fishing fairies need hats" and I was alright with that. Many years passed by before I fished again, my father and stepfather weren't big on it. Low and behold one day my two older brothers loaded my little brother and I into the car and took us fishing. It was an adventure extraordinaire, the gear wasn't in perfect working order and my brother Joe's reel would malfunction, twice he caught a fish and couldn't reel it in, next thing we knew he'd go running into the woods to take up line and I swear it looked like those fish were water skiiing. Moments later, as my brother phil and I were preparing our line, something hit me in the side of the head. I looked to see if phil was alright only to find he had a treble hook stuck in his nose, to make matters worse, Joe, who had made the errant cast, thought he was snagged, without looking was whipping the pole to get it loose. Blood was running down the line and I was near fainting. Eventually a trip to the emergency room became necessary to cut the hook out. These are but 2 memories, I assure you I could fill a journal. Most of all, put the electronics away, load the kids up when it get's warmer, even if you don't get a bite you will have spent some priceless time with those little ones that grow all to fast.