Not Too Many Got Away

Wow, what a day Saturday turned out to be! A ton of people came to the Town Center lake to get some fishing lessons, free food and sunshine. And the day did not disappoint. It was a little breezy, not as warm as some recent days, and therefore perfect weather to sit lazily and watch your line in the water. It was so fun to watch the first-time fishermen and women, and to hear the applause of the folks nearby whenever someone reeled one in.

It all started the day before, when The Water Expert stocked the lake with 900 Bluegills, 3,000 Fat Head Minnows, and 200 Large-Mouth Bass. Blue, Fat, and Large: doesn't that sound like a fishing dream?

Then on Saturday morning, the tents were up, the doughnuts were out, the rods were available, the bagpiper was piping....?

And before you knew it, the shoreline was crowded with folks trying their luck. The AZ Game and Fish loaned out 181 rod and reels, and some folks brought their own equipment.

The next picture has one of those memory-making stories. These guys had a line in the water and turned aside for a moment and then heard a *plop* in the water. The rod and reel were gone, taken away by a fish. So the Game and Fish guy gave them another line with a weight on it and told them to cast along the bottom to see if they could get their rod back, perhaps by dragging it in by the line. They cast for about an hour and finally did hook it and reel it in. When they plucked the rod out of the water, the line ran out the other way, and when they reeled in that line, this fat bass turned out to be the rod-thief.

This young man caught his first fish, though I'm not sure his sisters were as happy as he was:

The excitement on this little redhead's face is catching:

This was the biggest bass catch of the day;

or at least that we caught on film.

And not just the young folks got in the picture; this fellow caught a carp:

And then it was time for more food. Thanks to MMM Landscaping and Youth Outdoors Unlimited for helping out and providing 150 hamburgers, 164 hot dogs, 200 bags of chips, 120 sodas, and 200 bottles of water...

There were a few casualties reported; the Water Expert didn't allow these to go back in because he didn't want them floating, if you know what I mean:

We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. This event was a winner!