FORT SILL, Okla. (Oct. 13, 2016) -- One of my favorite fishing memories is from Iraq, when I went fishing in one of Saddam Hussein's lakes from the edges of the "Flintstone House" (I think that's it was called, maybe "Flintstone Village?").
I was invited to come out and write a story about some of the leaders of the 603rd Aviation Support Battalion (3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, Rock of the Marne!), who regularly got together to fish, a bit of a reprieve from the days of war.
As a joke they even got me a Sponge Bob fishing pole. I'd brought dinner with me and used hot dogs as bait as I interviewed the would-be fishermen.
I say "would-be" because after hours out there, long after sunset, we all returned to our rooms without catching anything.
Oh wait, that's a lie. I caught the only fish! With a Sponge Bob fishing pole! We all had a good laugh and they took photos with the prize before we returned it to the water.
That is the story I wanted to tell my husband when he recommended going fishing this past weekend, only he let me know that I'd told him before (probably many times before -- he's so sweet to listen to me repeat my stories).
In any case, I was happy at the suggestion. He'd heard from his fishing group that Lake Ellsworth was a great place to fish so we gathered our fishing tackle and licenses, and snacks then headed out.
We brought our 2-year-old with us (he's almost three) and even got him a little fishing pole, which he proudly carried around.
We had two boxes of worms, one regular and one green -- GREEN! They were lime green, neon green almost, and when you pricked them they oozed green.
It was gross-cool and I had a proud-mom moment when my son, without hesitation, went to poke at the worms (one day, I'll wish he hesitated a little more).
We went out to a little peninsula (I'll give you the directions at the end) and after a few laps around, picked out a small outcrop of rocks and brought out all our equipment.
The wind blew hard and the waters were choppy. We stayed for about five minutes, but we didn't give up.
We drove around to the other side and chose as our second site a small abandoned building with two docks.
The wind was soft and breezy there and the waters calm. Looking out farther on the lake we could see where the wind picked up and the waves rose up to ruffle the surface, but where we were was perfect. After a quick check on the stability of the dock, we went out to the edge and prepared to fish.
After my husband put a worm on our son's hook (safety first!) we took a seat, my son in my lap, cast our lines and waited.
We pointed out all the fish that were jumping in the water, the birds that flew nearby, the frog hiding in the moss.
We also kept a careful watch on spiders hanging out nearby.
We were lucky there weren't other anglers in the area because my son was loud. Everything was exciting and he wanted everyone to know.
He did his best to sit still but after an hour it was just too much for him. He wanted to move around and kick his legs, so he did -- sending vibrations through the dock, which we're sure only helped our fishing odds because everyone knows fish love loud noises and lots of movement in the water.
In the end we did more than fish, we threw rocks, we had a picnic and we kicked a ball around (they have picnic benches and plenty of space to run around). And it's a good thing we did all these things because we didn't catch a single fish out there although the fish sure did get our worms.
Someone asked my husband later that day how many fish we got and he said, "Not even a bite or a nibble, still it was a good day and great bonding time."
And it was.
We basked in the cool weather and the warm sun, and took pictures of our son fishing for the first time.
As I drove home that early afternoon, I took a quick peek in the backseat and saw my very worn out son napping away.
Then I looked over to my right and saw my very worn out husband joining our son in a little afternoon siesta. I locked that sweet memory away.
Yup. It was a great day. A great day trip and it only cost us a fishing license and bait.
If you want to go and not fish, there's plenty of room for a picnic, to toss around a ball, to throw rocks into the water, to see little fish and frogs and get everyone nice and tired for an afternoon nap. That's a good day.
Since we didn't catch anything, I made fish for dinner. I think that counts.
Directions to our fishing hole (or really, not-so-fishing-hole) coming from Fort Sill:
Take I-44 east toward Oklahoma City to Exit 53, turn left on Highway 277. Proceed to Tony Creek Road and turn right, then turn left onto NW Wolf Road.
That road will continue and change to NE Fisherman's Cove Drive and you'll end up on the little peninsula.
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