The day that I've been waiting for, the day that paid back every bit of the $$$, toil, and suffering that it took to resurrect my pond, finally arrived.

Between the COVID panic, military obligations, nuclear reactor training, and all of the other assorted craziness in the world today, it's been over
six months since I've been able to see any of my grandkids. Things worked out to where they were all able to come for a visit over the weekend.

This one is Lexi. Just turned 5yo, she belongs to my oldest son Justin and his wife Amanda. Lexi has been asking to go fishing since the first time
she saw the pond after it filled, so she got to go first.

9/12/20

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Then it was 4yo Rhett's turn. He belongs to #3 son Taylor and his wife Rachel. This kid is a pistol. Pretty sure he's going to be the one that
turns out to be Grampa's fishing buddy.

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This is 7yo Lennox. He belongs to Taylor and Rachel. Poor guy suffered a brain injury at birth and is severely challenged mentally. After seeing
the other two catch a few he looked at me and said "Fish, Grampa?" You could have knocked us all over with a feather at that moment in time.
It was obvious that he'd been paying attention. He grabbed the rod and the reel handle just like how I'd been showing the other two to do it, and
dipped the jig in next to the dock like a pro. Soon as he felt a tug he was cranking on the reel like he had Moby Dick on the end of his line.
Moments like this don't come along very often for this kid. I'm glad I was able to be a part of it.

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Wife Jamie, daughter Leah, and Logan - the doberman that thinks she's a Lab rode herd on Lexi and baby Ruby while the boys were fishing.

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There was way too much going on to get weights and measures on the fish we caught, but just from visual observation they are doing very well.
Every one of the RES and BG/HBG that were caught were in great shape. Most of them were in the 8"-9" range. I was especially impressed with
how thick the RES are across their backs. I don't have a lot of experience yet with the YP, but they looked to be in good shape too. We caught
half a dozen of those, all in the 7"-8" range, so I'd assume they were all fingerlings from the first stocking in September of '19.

But this day wasn't really about the fish, it was about the kids. The fish could have all been stunted 3-finger BG and it wouldn't have made a
nickel's difference in the amount of fun that was had and the memories that were made.