Lucky Charlie

This weekend we took the camper out for another practice run before our big June road trip. We camped right next to our previous campsite (#58 instead of #57), which worked great for 'different but same' for Jman. Plus, it put us still near the playground, the swimming area, and on the water with a dock. Can't beat that!

On the way, someone commented that we should have packed our lone fishing pole. Another quick thought and we were locating the nearest wallyworld on the handy dandy gps. As it turns out, we could take the next exit and a scenic route and pass by a store on the way to the campground. We followed the GPS, and at a red light in an intersection in the little town, Habeeb said, "It's says it's supposed to be here, but I don't see anything." We started through the stop light and then we saw it--a LITTLE and OLD wallyworld tucked into a little and old strip mall behind a Hardee's fast food restaurant. That's how LITTLE and OLD this wallyworld was--it was hidden by a fast food joint! We pulled in, gaped momentarily, and then Habeeb and Sly went in and bought a couple inexpensive fishing poles and with some basic tackle. We drove back by the place on our way home on Sunday because we just had to have a picture. It's just so NOT what we were expecting!

So, anyway, back to the story of Lucky Charlie. We took those fishing poles to the campsite, and even though it had gotten dark, Sly wanted to go fishing. It didn't take long before he had his line in a mess and was complaining that "that nevers happens to the professionals! (wah!)" Obviously it was time to pack it in for the night. :)

The next day dawned bright and beautiful. Sly eventually drug himself out of bed, ate some breakfast, and wanted to go fishing again. Habeeb had already fixed his line for him, told him how to do it himself next time (because there WOULD be a next time, because it DOES happen to professionals too!), and helped him try fishing again. After a while, Sly was casting like a pro--and fixing his own fishing line when it tangled up on him again.

Jman wanted to fish too. At first I was casting for him and letting him reel the spinner in, but that wasn't good enough--he wanted to cast too. I had my doubts as to the possibility and the SAFETY of that, but when we had the dock to ourselve, I decided to try to help him cast hand-over-hand, partly because I wanted to stay close enough to him to not get hooked myself!

Well, I was trying to help him, and he was trying to do it himself, but he WAS listening and echoing the little chant I was coaching him with. "Finger . . "--grab the fishing line with your finger on your casting hand and hold it to the rod. "Flip . . . "--flip the bail (little bar) over on the reel. "Throw!"--cast! Then reel her in, and repeat. "Finger . . . flip . . . throw!" Well, wouldn't you know it, Jman learned how to cast! In no time, he was doing it all by himself! However, because of the autism, he just didn't/doesn't have great 'perspective taking' to make sure that he's got good clearance before casting, so we still really have to closely supervise. But hey, he was so proud of himself! And WE all were too!

So, back to Lucky Charlie. Sly had the fishing thing down now, but wasn't catching a thing. I told him he wasn't holding his mouth right. He tried other ways of holding his mouth. I told him we needed to sing the "Fishin' Fever" song. We sang the "Fishin' Fever" song. Still nothing. So, I said maybe the fish weren't hungry for spinners that day and to maybe try some other kind of bait. We didn't have any bait, but I said you can fish with bread balls for bait. He decided to give it a try. Nothing else was working anyway.

So, Habeeb helped him rig up a hook and bobber and Sly made some bread balls. He started out fishing on 'our' dock, but when Jman came down to join him (with me following closely), we decided Sly might be safer on the next dock over. He moved on over there (only to be followed by Jman, of course! But Jman was satisfied with casting once from that dock and then moving back to 'his' dock!). Sly continued to fish over there for a while, Jman decided to go to the playground, SB3 and I followed him, and Habeeb was working on packing up some of the camp stuff.

Sly decided that since he could see his bread bait in the clear water that he'd ditch his bobber and just watch with his eyes. And then . . . and then . . . while nobody else was around paying any attention to Sly and his fishing . . . he got a bite, and not only was it a bite, but it was good size fish with a lot of fight in him. Sly fought him in, yelling for someone to come over. Our neighbor campers passed along, "He's got one!" We dropped what we were doing ('dropping' SB3 off in the 'baby jail') and went to see what he had.

Lo and behold, he'd caught a 2.5+ pound catfish! Not bad for your first time fishing all by your lonesome with an after-thought rod from a rinky-dink wallyworld and nothing but bread for bait! We were totally ill-prepared to deal with such a catch, and our other neighbor camper helped get him off the hook with his pliers. We quickly got him strung up, dropped back in the water (tied to the hitch on the dock), and took shelter in the camper from the rapidly descending thunderstorm.

After the storm passed, we checked on Sly's catfish, finding him alive and well, still tied to the dock. We finished packing up camper, and brought Sly's catfish home in a roughtote of lake water so we could weigh him before cleaning him (and so we'd have proper equipment to clean him with!).



Well, when the time came to clean the fish, Sly was having second thoughts about 'killing' it. We told him it was perfectly fine to 'tag and release'--that folks do it all the time. Sly decided to let his catfish go in the pond/lake/river near home. Thus, the catfish was dubbed "Lucky Charlie." Sly, however, has promised both me and Habeeb that in a survival situation, if it's his life or the fish's, the fish is TOAST!

So, how was YOUR mothers day? Mine was pretty darn good. :)