Fishing! 06/24

Toward the tail end of June we set out to find some decent fishing. We drove to Fenton Lake in the Jemez Mountains, again, about 1 - 1.5 hours away. It was absolutely gorgeous! I am grateful that although we don't live somewhere with much greenery, that at least we have options somewhat nearby for a change of scene. 

I will say that I expected the lake to be bigger. It wasn't very large and by the time we left, it was pretty crowed. It was similar to Payson Lakes in Utah. Still, better than the community fishing ponds. 

Don't let the coats in the next couple of pictures fool you. It was a little bit chilly in the morning, just enough to be considered jacket weather (though Ryan would clearly disagree.) But all we had for the kids were coats. They lasted for an hour or so and then they peeled them off. 

The kids did great. They caught quite a few! Thankfully we were able to let most of them go.

It didn't take long for Devry to start wading in the water and try as we might, we couldn't get her out. So her jeans and shoes were drenched. Eventually we got the pants off and just let her go. 

This picture is hilarious and terrifying to me. The boys had been cleaning the fish when P had another one on his line. They went to reel him in and Devry tried picking up where they had left off. As soon as we saw it the knife was safely removed, but still. Quite the picture there, right? Haha

From there Ryan wanted to try fishing the nearby stream. He much prefers stream fishing to lake fishing, but we passed a few people on our way in that I believe had already tried most of it and likely scared everything away. It was really pretty though!

We walked for a long way and I did my best to keep up. I had actually had the flu a few days previous that nearly killed me. I am normally pretty good within 24 hours, but this bug kicked my trash. I didn't want to miss out on the family fishing trip, and I did feel quite a bit better, but by about this point I was not doing so hot.

We headed back to the car and drove "around the corner" to a fish hatchery where only kids are allowed to fish. Ryan helped Pierscen set up and he was pulling them out of the water one after the other. It was incredible!

It was a fun day for wildlife too. We saw some redwinged black birds, a mama duck with lots of ducklings, and a muskrat came cruising along as well. That was really neat! 

From there we drove a tiny bit farther up the canyon to find a good spot for the kids to practice archery. They had a great time! Pierscen is quite the shot. They wanted me to try too, which I did, but I am positively horrible at it. 

We had a really great time, despite the fact that I felt so crummy. Later that evening, the kids got to pick our first tomatoes and give them a try. They both loved them. Yum Yum!