After work Friday Jon and I filled the van with clothes, food, fishing gear and lots of girls then headed up to Big Lake to meet up with Stooks.
The nicest weather we had all weekend was probably the first couple hours we were there. We unpacked some grabbed a few things and went out on the boat.
We did some cruising around and checking out the lake and looking for fish.
Then we got busy setting jug lines.
This was a slightly new fishing technique for Jon, Stooks and I. We tied an empty gallon jug to a 10 lbs weight with 2 hooks in the middle. Then we put chicken livers on the hooks, sank the weight and let the jug float at the top.
We ended up with 5 jugs in the water with 10 baited hooks. We also added a trot line running from the dock to the shore with another 10-15 baited hooks on it.
It was a little rough dealing with hooks, knives, livers, fish and open doors on the boat with 4 little girls but there were no injuries or anything so we were all happy.
That was about it for Friday, we set up beds and get settled in and then had some beers and hung out on the deck. We checked all our lines before bed and had 2 good catfish on plus a small one and a painted turtle.
In the morning I woke up to the sound of rain. I went right back to sleep and all the kids slept until 9:30 or so. Once up we got some breakfast cooking.
Then got busy eating
Even though we were stuck in the house we had a good time.
We read books, played ipad, built with blocks, and did gymnastics/acrobatics with the girls teaching them to make human pyramids and other stuff. After noon it really cleared off and got sunny again. It was still cool outside but we were ready to get out.
First we checked on the lines. We could tell from the house that something was on our trot line.
One we were ready we pulled it up
It was a big, heavy angry snapping turtle.
We talked a bit about how none of us had ever eaten turtle and how big and meaty the legs looked but ultimately we decided to cut it free.
The minute it hit the water and swam away we started to wish we had tried to eat it. We also pulled out a little catfish that we let the girls pet and then toss in the lake.
The sun came out and the kids and I were excited about getting in the lake. I expected it to last about 2 minutes as it was pretty cold and windy but actually the kids loved it.
Pumpkin was just tall enough to touch the sandy bottom but for the most part I was very busy catching kids and then passing them to Jon on the dock so they could jump in over and over while Stooks took pictures and tried to keep too many from jumping at once.
Eventually we got out and the kids warmed up and dried off playing with chalk.
Then we took the boat back out
and pulled in another 2 catfish.
One was too small and we tossed it back but the other was a good one.
We taught the big kids a bit about cleaning a fish with this one.
We had eaten a big breakfast and mostly skipped lunch so we were hungry and eater to cook up the fish.
We seasoned them with taco seasoning and grilled them with corn. We also had slaw and beans.
It was great
That was about it for the day. We ate a bunch and then got all the girls in the bath and in pajamas. They were tired and headed to bed after that. We had a little fire and hung out with some beers but the wind was really cold and we were pretty tired too.
In the morning we slept in till 8:30 then got busy washing sheets and towels and cooking breakfast.
We ate and cleaned and packed up. We had hooks in the water still so headed out to retrieve them and go for a little ride around the lake.
Mostly we pulled up empty hooks but one line was really heavy. Once I got it up we found the biggest catfish of the weekend.
We kept it and took it back. We got the boat packed up and the rest of the hooks and then cleaned it.
We got 2 nice big fillets from it.
By the time we were ready to go it was past lunch and the kids were hungry. We fed them some quick leftovers then hit the road.
Once home we checked on Heath and her new do.
Then we unpacked and headed over to Minor Park. Berry and I ran a few miles while the kids played at the playground. We all walked a bit then headed home for dinner. Heath and had tacos w/ the rest of the fish meat and they were great. The kids had some leftover pork steak in their tacos.
The rest of the night we did a bit of cleaning and putting things away and then everyone got to bed early.