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the wife and baby visiting relatives in San Francisco this weekend I was
left with the task of providing a couple of days of bachelor fun for my
son and I. At first I considered taking him bar-hopping Friday night, but
was unable to print an adequate fake ID. Then the kegger I had planned
fell through when all of my friends were out-of-town or preparing to take
their kids to the ubiquitous Saturday soccer games. So Friday night was lost to watching Voltron cartoons from the 1980's. These were ported to the tube through my PC using Netflix' new watch on demand service. That also gave me time to ponder the rest of the weekend's activities. There was the Sierra Nevada sponsored fencing competition, which had Saturday's contest at the CSUC BMU, and was free to the public. I believe today's event costs money and is at the brewery. We did that a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. But in determining the direction of Saturday's fun I had to consider all of Chico's many opportunities. This caused me to reflect on a comment my son had repeated a number of times in the last few months. He had recently stated "Dad, I've never gone fishing in all my six years of life". At first I wasn't sure how this was my problem. He could skip school and go fishing whenever he wanted. On the other hand I've got to work, write blogs, compose annoying letters to City Council members, and there's frisbee golfing advocacy that needs to be done. I'm a pretty busy guy. But with several neighbors that are avid fisher-people I was under significant peer pressure to make something happen. That's how we found ourselves at the S.E. Marler & Family Fish Farm (http://www.marlerfishfarm.com) located 9 miles south of Chico. It's across from Book Family Farm with the entrance on the east side of 99. The entrance is a little hard to find with the construction going on. The cost was $5 each for all day catch & release, and no license is required. As we checked in the manager stated that they have a lot of people that show up and really don't know what they 're doing, and that was alright with them. It was alright with me as well, as I was reaching back to my own childhood to recover information on how to tie the lures and cast the line. We spent about 3 hours on their ponds casting, talking, and just hanging out. Since we had an afternoon birthday party to attend we had to cut it short without landing the big one, but we did see a bunch of "whoppers" hop in and out of the water. The other fishermen were all dads with kids as well, and were having better luck. I'd recommend the farm to any parents that want to give their kids a shot at catching a piscine prize. And it looks like the farm is up for sale, so this may be a waning opportunity. As we walked out my son said "You know Dad, I don't think I need to go fishing anymore because it's not easy to catch fish." He must have caught the tell-tale signs of an incoming lecture. I probably stiffened, slowed my walk, and took a deeper breath, because before I could vocalize my pearls of wisdom he headed me off at the path, "But I'll bet the second time, or the third time, or the fourth time, or the fifth time is when you catch the fish. So let's keep trying". So while I didn't catch on camera that magical first fish, I did see a glimpse of what makes a mature person. Expectations aren't always met, and you don't quit just because things don't turn out like you wanted. That was nice. On the upside, we incorporated into our guy's weekend an after dark expedition wiping out local of monsters with matching disintegrator pistols. And the night ended with a 1990's remake of Godzilla vs. Kind Ghidorah, a touching and educational film about giant monsters whomping on each other. We've got a few more hours left of our bachelor party, and I think it would be a good idea to mix in a little professional football, and perhaps some dip. Because I'm really trying to build a well-rounded person, and that requires the NFL. |
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CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Tempra Board, see comments below for the answer. |
Bachelor Party
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Lon
About Me: Fasten your seatbelts for an exhilarating trip through Chico's public policy; I guarantee it's marginally better than public access TV.
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hali-butt?
next year fishing it out here on me.
I think it's a sunfish (the scientific name is Mola mola). You can see a fabulous one at the Monterery Bay Aquarium.
Dang that Tempra beat me to the computer again!
Doesn't she know it's Sunday and she should be snoozin' in?
Yes, Tempra wins again. She's now the expert on European automobiles and aircraft as well as obscure marine creatures. It's a Sunfish.
Lon
Jason,
I want to learn to troll from a jet ski.
Lon
Your post made me laugh. I took my son to the same place about 18 years ago when he was four. We were there about three hours, or it seemed so. We did not catch one fish and I had to put those huge earthworms on the hook. I only did that because I was with my son. Anyway, a man came along and fished for about 10 minutes and caught a fish. Then, another one came by and got one, too. When we left, the owner said they don't bite on a hot day.(for rookies) The next month we went to the Black Forest Lodge. They had a big tank of fish and Brian caught two in about ten minutes. His fishing karma was not ruined.
Maureen,
You used bait on your line? And a hook? We just tied a noose at the end of our line. I had worked out a plan where the fish would swim through the noose and trap itself.
We'll have to go back and try it your way.
Lon