It’s amazing to watch the leaves on the trees pop out and grow so quickly. The bare woods are now shaded with lush vegetation as the warmer temperatures return. Spring gobbler season is over and summer will be here soon. The abundant rain showers have kept the rivers running full and my fishing time has been limited so far. This bothers me as I love to fish during this time of the year. Like the changing of the seasons, life gets busy and comes at you fast sometimes.
Add a 4 year old that’s full of energy and learning something new every day to the mix, the days fly by anymore. We’ve managed to catch several orange spotted newts to date to make up for the lack of fish brought to hand. It’s been a lot of fun watching the excitement a salamander can bring. She likes to look at their spots and play with them for a while before releasing them back to the wild where they belong.
Every walk in the woods is an adventure now. We look for tracks in the mud, cool looking rocks, snail shells, or any “treasures” we can find. It’s made me realize how the simple things in nature often go unnoticed. Campfires are much more fun now roasting hotdogs and marshmallows
I cherish these times with my daughter as I realize how fast they go by. Looking back before having a kid around, I had all the free time in the world. I went fishing when I wanted to and caught a lot of fish back in the day but now my priorities have shifted to raising my daughter the way I grew up. In a time before I-phones and I-pads when you spent most of your free time outside. A lot of life lessons are learned in the outdoors if you just take the time to slow down and look around.
I know there will be plenty of fishing days to come as she grows older. Right now she just can’t hike 6 miles and fish all day like I’m used to doing. The high water we’ve been having lately has created a safety issue as well. I’m glad she likes to go fishing though. This past weekend she insisted we go to the river and we did although it still was a little high. We put her lifejacket on and hit the river but the fishing was tough. Several rocks were thrown in the water and a couple of crawdads were caught. Mud pies were made and served to the awaiting crawdads. We made the most of it and had fun regardless of the fish not cooperating.
It’s funny how life changes just like the changing of the seasons. Make sure to take some time to get outdoors this spring and summer and enjoy what’s living all around us. I’m looking forward to spending some quality family time on the river in the weeks to come.