A couple of weeks ago we took the boys fishing with Jason's Memaw and Papa near Wheeler Dam in NW Alabama. We had such a great time! Check out all our pictures! In most of them Travis is wearing orange and Taylor is in blue.
For three days we got up about 5:15am, slathered the boys in sunscreen and headed to the boat ramp to meet Memaw and Papa. We left at 6am and were back by 9am to beat the heat. The boys had a great time fishing but they also got to drive the boat and pee in a bucket...both of which were equally exciting! Day 1 we caught 31 catfish, day 2 we didn't catch as many but Papa and Jason went out later and brought our total to 38 for that day. Day 3 we caught another 38 catfish. That's a lot of fish and it's like that everytime we fish with Papa. The McGriff's have a reputation on that lake. It's been said that Papa and his brother Duell were fishing out there in a crowd of boats. They were catching everything and the others weren't having such luck. One boat said "We gotta go, there's too many McGriff's around here." So we're proud of their legend!
The boys did great on the boat and were good sports about the life jackets and hats as well. You can even see Travis sporting his sunglasses up there. Papa and Jason would bait hooks for the boys, Memaw and myselft and then we'd cast out and wait. Apparently the key to catching catfish is drifting. You must have a breeze to push the boat along. And Papa is hilarious to fish with! We have 5 poles in the water, each with 2 hooks of fiddle worms and if in about 2 minutes no one gets a bite, Papa wants to reel in and try another spot. And we of course listened to him because he knows where the fish are. Why 2 hooks? I'm not really sure, but me, Taylor and Memaw all caught 2 at a time during our trip!
Fishing off a pontoon boat is ideal with kiddos. We would have never been able to stay out there with a little fishing boat. There was room for the boys to roam around a little and still be out of the way of the flying hooks and fish. The boys were fun to watch. Taylor would pull his pole out of the water and exclaim "I think I've got one!", and some times he did, some times he didn't. When they got bored with fishing they would dig in the bucket of worms and throw the dirt overboard. Or, if we caught a little brim or other kind of bait fish they wanted to throw them back over. Once we had one that Papa wanted to cut up for bait. He left it laying on top of the cooler and one of the boys picked it up and threw overboard, sparing its life no doubt.
When we weren't fishing we were hanging out at our cabin or out exploring. We went on our first "hike" with the boys. A hike with 2 toddlers for us translates into "walk in the woods". Nonetheless, it was fun and exciting. We also took every chance we could to throw rocks in whatever water we could find. These guys are more efficient than the corps of engineers and putting up a dam.
On Monday night we cooked our catch for the day which allowed us to sit and learn at the feet of the master fish friers and hushpuppy makers. That was good and the food is always good when Memaw and Papa are involved.
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