The Spontaneous Fishing Experiment

Using the word "spontaneous" in the title of two blog posts in the same week sounds a little redundant and excessive, but we did have a fishing experiment, and it was, indeed, spontaneous. Parker is an outdoorsy guy and loves to fish. The problem is, he knows surprisingly little about the subject. I think he fished a few times as a kid and a couple of times in college (once he and his friend decided to clean and gut the fish they caught on my kitchen counter- it. was. disgusting.), but he is by no means proficient in the art, and he will fully admit that.

"act like you have no idea what you're doing"

I didn't grow up fishing and quite frankly prefer to let the little Nemo's and Dory's just keep swimming, but Parker rediscovered the idea of fishing recently and got excited about giving it a shot. If there is one thing I have learned about Parker, it's that he has a one track mind. When he thinks about something or decides he wants to try something, he doesn't just forget about it. This is a great mindset in the academic world since it enables him to stay determined and achieve what he sets out to do. In the world of activities I halfheartedly agreed to do in the first place, it's less than ideal.

That said (sorry, this wasn't supposed to sound so negative!), I am always down for a little adventure and to try something new. So off we went to the local Walmart to buy the cheapest fishing poles they carried, a package of frozen shrimp bait that grosses me out every time I remember it's in my freezer, and a fishing license (thanks to the military, this was free. Yahtzee!). We rounded up our little fishing assistant (Jenny, of course) and headed out to our backyard to fish over the dock.

And that, my friends, is where it all went a little south. Parker worked at stringing the poles (is that even the right terminology?) and Jenny and I walked around to smell things. She was doing the smelling, I was doing the walking. Thanks to a little Youtube tutorial, he was able to string the pole with fishing line, attach the bait, and attach the little thing that looks like a buoy.
 

Long story short, it didn't go so well. I did manage to catch a crab, but the line got super tangled and the reel jammed up. I guess you get what you pay for with those cheapo fishing poles. After about an hour, we called it quits. I think fishing would be really fun, and Parker is eager to learn and develop this skill, but we needed help! Next time we decide to fish, we will seek supervision from a grown-up. It was a fun little Saturday afternoon experiment while it lasted, though.

maybe next time, guys