Fishing at the Rainbow Trout Ranch

Our day of fishing at Rainbow Trout Ranch...
The 2 older girls and all the fishing gear packed up and ready to go. They were excited to ride in the jeep.


We had not even been fishing for 5 minutes when Uncle Joe pulled this fish out of the water. They don't have a catch and release program, there is such an abundance of the fish they want you to take home whatever you catch, so we did.


Rebekah caught little minnows in the net (along with some rocks too).


Alyssa and Rebekah standing in the water. It was a hot day, so standing in the cool water felt really refreshing!


Emma and I fishing together. I am trying to get one of the marshamallow baits on the hook, not exactly a champion fisherman, but it was fun. And I did end up catching what I think was the biggest fish of the day. It was maybe about 18 inches long and aprrox. 7 pounds?


It might not be that clear in the photo, but fish were everywhere. I think you can see them in the top left corner.


Emma standing in the rocky water. I was amazed at how crystal clear the water was.


Bekah in the water, again appreciating the cleanliness of the water as she picks up rocks.



A funny fishing story:
We moved near a waterfall area for more fishing, and there were a couple of other families there fishing as well. Alyssa was watching a man fish, and he noticed her watching him, so he motioned for her to come over to him. I heard him tell her that they would stand right there together until they caught a fish. He was very nice, even scooting out of the way for me to take pictures (I, of course, didn't care if he was in the pics, it might have even made this story better to have one of him, but I don't.) So they are fishing and talking and about ten minutes pass and ~ Yay!! ~ they've got a fish on the line! Alyssa's all excited, reeling it in and bouncing up and down in anticipation of the fish she's caught, and Emma is getting closer and closer, now more interested in what they are doing. As they reeled in the fish and it was right in front of their feet, both girls who were once excited and happy, PANICKED! Alyssa started screaming and climbing up on the man who was helping her, tangling them both in the line in the process, and Emma started flailing her body around wildly in the water, trying to get away. Her slippers started floating away from her in the slight current, so that gave her something new to scream about ~ she was going to lose her beloved orange flip flops! I guess up close the fish must have been much larger and scarier looking than what they expected. In the meantime, I had only one picture left on my memory card, and I kept thinking at any moment all this panic would stop. The shot I was waiting for was Alyssa pulling the fish out of the water on the line. Well, all hope of that was gone! I didn't know whether to laugh (my mom, my aunt, and I were) or to jump in the water to try to help the man who Alyssa had now climbed up on his back. So basically, I just stood there in shock, doing nothing. Poor guy! Clearly Alyssa doesn't need to be well aquainted with someone to make the assumption that they are going to protect her, come what may.


So here is the fish that caused all the commotion. The man somehow managed to get it out of the water and into the net while wrestling a nine year old girl at the same time. He again politely ducked out of our photo. He walked back to his own family and told them through laughter, "That little girl would have gotten on my shoulders if she could have." What he didn't say, but what he must have been thinking was, "I will NEVER offer to help a city girl fish again!"


The girls and Aunt Laura, with Uncle Joe helping Alyssa fish in the background.


The girls by the pretty waterfall.


After fishing all day, Aunt Laura and Joe took us out for pizza, and after a long day of adventures in the heat, it was about the most delicious thing I had ever tasted. :) And, YES, we ate what what we caught the next night for dinner. I don't think I have ever done that before and it was good!