Just Kidding

My plans to go fishing last weekend were thwarted by beer and burgers on Saturday, and fifteen degree weather on Sunday.  I hope to find some time to venture out this upcoming week.

On another note, it was Little Cleo's birthday earlier this month.  I got her her first fishing rod, a little beginner's Ugly Stik with a spinning reel and a limited tackle assortment.  I'm looking forward to taking her out this spring and slaying some goldfish on the urban ponds!

Striking Gold in Washington Park

Another early Saturday morning impromptu fishing trip to Milwaukee's Washington Park Pond.  This time I knew right were to go to catch fish.  My first fish was a beautiful goldfish with black markings.  It took a worm suspended about 18" below my Voltorb bobber.

After the goldfish, I took the bobber off and caught a few bullhead.  I lost count, but i'd say between five and ten.  None were all that big, the biggest one is the one pictured below

Then there was this goldfish that looked just like its ancestor, the Prussian carp.

This goldfish had stunning colors and beautiful white markings.  He was quite a scrapper too.  The goldfish were the hardest fighting fish of the day, and they're tricky too. they tease your bait, and then they make a run for it.

Finally, I caught a perch,  Not a big one by any standard, but it's good to know they're in there.

My little girl called all the fish "pretty pretty" and told them all "bye bye" when they swam away.  She almost touched one of the bullhead, but wasn't too sure about it.

I'm yet to catch a rainbow trout out of the pond.  I know they're in there, and some of them get to be a nice size too.  I've seen seagulls swoop down and pick them from the surface, and i've seen more than one dead fish on the shore.  I'll keep trying.

Washington Park Pond

Achievements Unlocked

1. (*) It's Super Effective! (catch a fish under a Voltorb bobber)
2. (*) Pond Lord (catch a game fish [perch])

Killing Time In Washington Park

Last Saturday morning my little girl woke up early so I took her on an impromptu fishing trip to Washington Park Pond to give my wife a chance to sleep a little more.  I came up with a list of achievements to unlock on the pond, but I had never fished it.  I figured it was time to unlock some of those achievements.

I took an empty baby food jar and we scrounged around under some leaves for half a dozen worms.  We started to walk around the pond and we came upon a rainbow trout that had the life squeezed out of it.  It was a nice size, over a foot long.

we stopped and made a cast near where we found the trout and let a worm soak, but had no action, so we continued to walk.  At our next stop, we found this poor snapping turtle left for dead.  he had swallowed the hook, and was clawing at the heavy weight line coming out of his mouth obviously in pain.  The other end of the line was hung up on sticks.  I cut the line as close as I dared to get, picked him up by the tail and put him back in the water.  I saw him surface for air once, then he was gone.

There were some fish jumping here, so we soaked another worm under a bobber, and quickly had a hit.  The fish sucked my bait off the line without taking the hook.  I took the bobber off, baited the hook again and made one more short cast.  Within seconds, my line was going tight.  I set the hook and reeled anxious to see what I had hooked.  The fish came to hand, and my mind was blown.

An 8" feral goldfish.  It was quite beautiful, way prettier than I'd expect a goldfish in the wild to be.  I always thought they'd be hard to distinguish from common carp.  Around this time, my wife texted me that she was awake, so we headed home.

Washington Park

Achievements Unlocked

1. (*) Garden Hackle (find worms on site)
2. (*) For Beginners (catch a fish)
3. (*) The Conqueror Worm (catch a fish on a worm)