Palma Family Fishing Trip

About 3 times a year, the Palma family enjoys a good old fashioned fishing trip. We usually wait for Druh to come home and we drive up to the mountains for a day of fishing! Well, the weather is finally warming up and Druh is off to Utah for a couple of years so we planned one of our famous fishing trips for the day before he was supposed to leave. We usually go to this great place about an hour from here, but that requires about a mile hike through the wilderness and since I'm packing extra weight this year we decided not to chance early labor by going to a new spot where we could practically park the car on the side of the lake! We went to a place up on Pikes Peak Highway. There are two lakes up there, a North one and a South one. We chose the North one. We got there around 7 am and found a perfect spot complete with open space for mom's "fishing chair". It was slow at first and then we started catching fish faster than dad and Druh could get them off the hooks. It was great fun! The fish were biting like crazy and they were BIG! Most were at least a foot long. They were fiesty too. We had several get away. Madyson caught the first fish of the day and it was a beauty. Dad had it in his hands when it got off the hook and started to swim away. He tried so hard to catch the fish that he ended up in the water. It was not good. It was still early and the sun was not shining on our side of the lake and it was windy and cold. He had cold feet for quite awhile. So, we had been fishing for a couple of hours and we were catching fish left and right when a grumpy old man floats by on his little fishing raft and asks us if we were using bait. Well, DUH!! How else would we be catching fish? So, he proceeds to inform us that it is illegal to use bait at the North lake. Lures and flies only. Apparently we could be fined $50 per fish if we get caught. So, we packed up and moved to the South lake. Well, by now, all the good spots are taken and everyone who is there that day has brought their 8 kids along, so it's crowded and loud. It's not looking good. We found another spot that looked pretty good and set up shop again. Unfortunately, while looking for a spot, mom thought she lost a case of film with Druh's graduation photos on it and her and Druh had to go back to look for it. They were taking a long time, so Dad went to find them, and, on his way back, was stung in the forehead by what we can only assume was a wasp. Dad was having a rough day. Mom returned without her film and discovered about 5 minutes later that it had been in Mady's pocket the whole time. What a nice surprise! Several hours went by with nothing. I think we finally caught 2 or 3 fish, but they were tiny ones and were not worth saving. It didn't improve and we packed up around 1 pm to go have lunch. We had a feast of cold chicken, fruit, and chips ... another Palma family tradition. All in all it was a fun day, and, thanks to our illegal fishing, pretty productive too!!