I am a lucky man

Today was quite a day. First off, I wasn't in the office. Don't get me wrong, I have a great job and feel very fortunate to be able to say so, but don't we work for moments like these? Sitting on some rocks, eating a sandwich with your kids and watching the waves pound the shore is highly desirable. Note the nets and bucket, this was primarily a crayfish expedition, just the three of us, the river and hopefully a few claws and tails. Still, the river isn't the same without a fly rod in hand, and a quick glance in a nearby bay showed a half a dozen tailing carp taking shelter from the wind and waves. I hooked one up, spent a minute letting the fish have it's way and turned it over to a couple of young pros.


















Not a bad fish, probably 14 lbs and for the record, we called it after one. There were still fish tailing but the kids wanted crayfish, and due to the waves a change of scenery was needed. But first, the release.






The second stop had what we wanted and without the wind and waves. It didn't take long before we were netting and grabbing some crayfish.


















Elia is a future biologist for sure, and the goal of capturing crayfish seems to be to transplant them into the man made pond in our neighborhood. We have turned at least a dozen loose, and there is some seriously high excitement when she or JJ spot "sparky" or "two claw" crawling around the local pond. We drove straight home and within minutes another batch of crayfish was swimming and crawling around the neighborhood...it won't be long before the kids report a "reary" sighting.


















It was a great day for me. I spent most of the day in awe of how awesome my kids are and watching these distinctive little people interact with the world around them. They love everything. They are excited by everything. We should all be so lucky.