Clement's First Catch

The boys have been begging me for days--weeks, actually--to take them fishing. Finally, today, after I had scouted out local public access fishing holes, Clement, Cyprian, and I headed out for an hour. Honestly, I haven't done much fishing at all since I was a teen-ager. This is something I very much want to do with the boys. I have fond memories of Sundays spent riding my bike to a secret spot along the Wisconsin River and putting in lines for catfish.

Today we kept it simple: We dug for angle-worms, baited the hooks, and threw them in. Cyprian, true to his nature, kept asking if a fish was biting on his line. I told him to watch his bobber. That kid has no patience whatsoever. Clement, on the other hand, has the quality of stoic patience. He watched his bobber without fail, and told me, calmly and sincerely, that he had an alligator biting on his hook. Thank goodness, it turned out to be something more akin to a garden-variety sunfish:

We took it home and cleaned it, which proved to be a hit. That is, apart from when I had held the fish up to kiss Cletus. Too bad Rosemary was too busy comforting him to take a picture!

Clement helped me to bread it and fry it up:

And then it proved to be absolutely succulent!