Trip to Iowa

Well, the wife, daughter and I just got back from visiting the father-in-law in Iowa. Wow I saw a lot of big freakin' deer and turkeys. Only if it wasn't $310 to hunt deer there and around $200 to turkey hunt, I might have some more stories to tell. I was able to take my daughter fishing for the first time. I bought her a Disney Princess fishing pole that is about 18" long and telescopes down to fit in a small backpack. She enjoyed reeling the bobber/sinker/hook through the underwater weeds and then handing it to me, so I would say "Look, we caught more grass!" Finally, I was able to distract her for a minute, so a fish would bite. I set the hook and she reeled him in, a nice bluegill. Too bad I was the only one there and had to wrangle a 2 year old, a fishing pole so she wouldn't hook herself or me and a bluegill flopping on the ground, so no pictures, but I have the memory. She was so excited that we had to pack up and leave so she could tell mommy and papaw that she caught a big fishy. It was great. I was able to fish more and caught several bluegill (no one wanted to eat them, and I didn't want to clean 'em so they went back) and some smallish bass. The water was still kind of cold, even in the shallows. The bass liked the red Berkley Bladedancer, I would recommend that bait. Also shot some clay birds and did OK, it was only the third time I have done it. 8 hours + of driving and we are back home. Great time: fishing, shooting stuff and setting things on fire (bonfire that is)!