Birthday Bluegills for Eli & Dad

A birthday celebration around here often includes a trip to the pond, and No. 5 for Eli was no different. He put in a request for such an outing weeks ago and had remained hopeful it could work. Eli's birthday actually isn't until tomorrow, but we decided that the bluegills didn't need to know that, and I'm happy to report that they did their part in adding to the big event. We ended up catching five fish, which seemed kind of fitting since Eli is turning 5, all by vertical fishing with ice jigs tipped with worms.

Cheetos and Powerade served double function as refreshments and face paint, with the Cheetos performing especially well in the latter category.

Eli also carried a camera and helped me with photos, along with taking over as captain for a while. I was impressed by his resolve to figure out how he needed to pull or push the paddle to make the johnboat go where he wanted it to go. The johnboat tends to spin a bit, even with an experienced paddler, but Eli got us all the way across to the pond to the place where we put in and take out once he decided that we had fished long enough.

It was a nice outing and a big success, I'd have to say. I'm thankful that we had such nice weather. His mid-November birthday is a little bit of a wild card for good fishing weather.