Fishing With the Young Women

Last Saturday, I woke up at 3:20 am - not something I do for fun, but it is something I do on a regular basis to tell Naomi that it is still nighttime and that she should go back to sleep. Then, that is what I usually do - go back to sleep, but not this time. I was up to stay and welcome the teenagers showing up at the house at four to go fishing!

A brave, intrepid couple - Brother Rod and Sister Shirley - in our ward took us surf fishing at one of our state beaches. We were ready to go by 4:30, so we were off! It was still dark when we arrived.

By the time we trudged down from the parking lot to the sand, the sky was beginning to lighten. As annoying as it is to get up and be out for it, there is always something magical about seeing the day arrive.

Before we fished, Brother Rod gave us instruction. Shirley had told me he was a good teacher and he really is - succinct yet thorough and a pleasure to learn from.

Sister Shirley is an excellent teacher as well and spent time teaching some of us how to cast, which is trickier than it looks.

Rod demonstrated the proper way to bait the hooks with blood worms.

Kaylee was brave and gave it a try, herself.

Here we are, set up and waiting for nibbles, bites and gulps.

Gabriella caught the first fish.

Here is Ryan with her first catch.

Kaylee with her first fish.

Rod and Rachel admiring her first catch - two fish at one time!

In addition to the first fish, Gabriella caught the first shark.


Everyone had to feel its sandpapery skin before we threw it back. We caught and released all the fish we caught except one, which Gabriella took home to eat.

Here is Rod showing us the stinger on one of the rays one of the young women caught. He warned us about these before we started fishing and assured us that if anyone was stung, we'd all have to leave and head to the nearest hospital, so we stood back and let him do the careful and experienced handling.

Kaylee caught the second shark of the day. She knew she had something big on the line. We were all excited watching her reel it in. She ended up catching a small fish on her top hook and a shovel head shark on the bottom one. We wondered if the fish was acting as bait for the shark. Ryan thought that was a great idea. Every time someone hooked a really small fish, she would ask Brother Rod, "Can we use it for bait?!?"

All together, we caught 47 fish during five hours of fishing with three lines including two ray and two sharks.

We all had a blast and want to give a big thanks to Rod and Shirley for taking and teaching us.

It was a great day!