Little Fishergirls!

On Saturday there was a catfish contest at the park where my husband works - Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis.  Since he had to work at it and we like to spend as much quality time together on the weekends as possible, I brought the girls to take part in the event.  Besides - I grew up fishing and wanted to share that with Alexa and Lillian.

When we got there I could tell that the girls were just not that into it.  They were a little impatient to get started and didn't really listen much when they were explaining the rules of the tournament.  I figured we'd give it a try, but if they started to get bored or whine - I'd take them to play on the playground instead.

Getting a bite to eat before the tourney!

Alexa with her pink fishing rod from her Uncle Benny - all ready to go fishing!

The beautiful Powderhorn Lake!

There were a couple different tournaments that took place.  The first one was a shoot out to see who could catch the most fish in (I think) 20 minutes.

The girls and I found our spot,  I baited their hooks with worms and casted out their lines.  Lillian's bobber immediately disappeared under the water, surprising all of us that she caught a fish so fast.  There were volunteers all around helping bait hooks, take fish off..ect.  and they all would scream "FISH ON" when someone would catch a fish.  We'd never fished in a tournament before, so this was all new to us, but we quickly caught one and learned the lingo quickly.

Lillian with one of her many bullhead that she caught!

My pretty little fisher girls!

After lots of "FISH ON" shouts coming from my girls - the buzzer buzzed, ending the tournament and lo and behold - our little Lilli-Cruz was the first place winner in the shoot out, catching 6 fish in 20 minutes.

The gentleman leading the tournament asked her if she had any advice for the other fisherman (there were about 70 registered in the tourney), she just looked up and smiled batting her beautiful blue eyes.   I don't think any of the hard core fisherman out there could say much when a little 4 year old girl ended up schooling them.

Lillian first place - Nick second place!

After pictures were taken and congratulations were given to the winners, we baited our hooks and made our way back to our spot for the next portion of the contest - the mixed bag and biggest catfish tournament.

We gave Lillian worms so that she could fish for sunnies and bullhead for the mixed bag and Alexa used shrimp to catch a catfish.

Within the first half hour - look what Alexa caught!

It was clearly way too strong of a fish for her to reel in herself, so luckily a volunteer was nearby to help her out.  There is such a technique to making sure that you get a fish this size on shore without losing the fish or snapping the line.  Several people gathered around to make sure that once on shore, the catfish didn't squirm it's way back to the water.  

We quickly bagged the fish and brought it to the weighing station.  Everyone went crazy as it was by far the biggest fish caught that day.

3.8 LBS!

After Alexa's catfish was secured in the holding tank, we went back out to continue the tournament.  

Such a big girl - holding the fishing rod all by herself.

Waiting for another catfish!

Not only did she catch the biggest fish - she also caught the smallest. hehe

Alexa rocked it - she LOVES to fish!

When the tournament ended Lillian brought her bag of sunfish and bullhead to get weighed in.  I can't remember her exact weight, but it wasn't enough to place in that event.

Weighing in her fish!

Alexa and her prized catfish!  

After a ton of pictures were taken and everyone in the tourney got a good look at this fish, he was released back into the lake!

1st and second place winners!
Alexa won a pink fishing pole, a first place plaque and a $25 GC to Dick's Sporting Goods.

The girls each came home with first place hardware - they were SO happy!

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