We Caught A Big One....

Whoever said you need the "proper" equipment to fish was sadly mistaken.

After deciding to go fishing on a whim, all it took was a quick stop at Wal-Mart and then grabbing some turkey hot dogs we had in the refrigerator- and we were set! We told Bella she could pick out any pole she wanted...and lucky for us, she spotted a hot pink Barbie one right away.

After only a few minutes, we already had 3...that's right 3, catfish on the line. But each time, the heavy catfish was too strong for our puny little Barbie fishing pole, and it would slip away.

So we came up with a plan.

The next time we were able to reel the fish in close enough to the shore, Grandma would try to grab it with both hands, and I would use the shopping bag from wal-mart to scoop up the fish and trap it. So Bella stood patiently with Papa as he taught her the fine art of waiting and reeling...waiting and reeling....

Bella liked to reel the pole, but she wasn't so fond of the waiting part.

Once we had a bite, Papa slowly helped reel it close enough...then Grandma reached in and I quickly used the bag to scoop the fish in...and voila!! Our plan worked!Ok, so by the look on my face (above), you can see I was a little surprised and delighted that we had actually succeeded in catching our allusive fish :-)

All in all, we caught our monster catfish and two little sunfish - one of which Bella caught and reeled in all by herself!

All it took was a little ingenuity and a sense of humor.

And turkey hot dogs. The catfish loved those things.