My home-water is not full of big fish.  Burke likes to call it fishing for midgets.  Is that politically incorrect? OK then; it’s usually a matter of fishing for little fish.  However, this evening we caught a larger one — easily my fish of the year on this water.

This is my oldest son, Joey, who is six years old.  He’s starting to get to the point where wading isn’t the main challenge anymore while we’re out there fishing together, and he threw a few casts over where this fish was holding just a few minutes before I did.  I can’t imagine what would have happened if he actually hooked this one himself!  But, I handed my rod to him after I saw the size of this big brown, and he started laughing about how strong it was; then he asked to be the “net man” instead of the “rod man” for this one, and I agreed.  Probably a good idea.

This fish was almost a Whiskey Drinker (see Troutbitten Traditions) and if it was just a little longer, Joey would have been taking his first pull on the flask tonight. Don’t call CYS because I’m just kidding — I think.  It was a great moment though.

When Joey was born, these are the days I was dreaming of.