Tommy's First Fish!

This Morning Tommy and I went to Crump Park in Western Henrico County. There is small pond there that has Sun Fish, Bass, and Catfish. Tommy had me bait his hook as the night crawlers were, "really nasty." While I admit they were a bit nastier than I remember we got the hook bated and tommy got his pole in the water.

After a few moments of watching the cork float motionlessly on the pond surface, it bobbed. Tommy's attention was focused on the cork as it bobbed a few more times then disappeared into the brown water. I shouted, "pull" and instinctively the boy knew what to do; when he cork and hook reemerged it had on it a prize like no other. Tommy's first fish!

It was not more that a few inches long but for him it might as well have been a whale. We reloaded the hook and that boy pulled in three more fish! He also caught a turtle which fortunately had not been hooked but was hanging by the worm. Tommy was fully engaged in this experience and asked, "dad, can we come back after church tomorrow?" I explained that perhaps we could come back another weekend and he was satisfied with that answer.

It started to rain briskly and the thunder began to rumble so we ran back to the car. Tommy was soaking wet as I loaded him into his car seat. He kept his fishing pole by his side. Not more than ten minutes into the return home Tommy fell asleep. I glanced back and notice the look of contentment on this little boy's face.