Pepacton Reservoir Fishing Trip

It was the last "sort of" nice day the kids had left of their spring break before a bunch of rainy days were predicted and I was determined that we would do something on this spring break as a family so fishing it was.  Sometimes family time is just really hard to do here, everyone likes different things and time to do it is also pretty hard to come by.  Having 3 days a week off in a row for the Hubby is great but when only one of those days (Saturday) is a day we are all home together it makes stuff like going fishing for the day a bit of a challenge.  So when the kids are on vacations from school I make every effort to do something as a family on those days.  Sometimes its as simple as building something for the critters (not that, that is ever simple) and sometimes its as complicated as finding time get everything ready, load up the kids, car, snacks and to drive 20minutes to the reservoir and go fishing.

Yes, we have an amazing little brook right here on our property that we could fish in but its just not the same.  Honestly this reservoir is kind of special to both my family and the Hubby's family and for very different reasons too.  For me and my family the Pepacton Reservoir meant too very different things, to the older generation (my grandfather) it meant NYC stole their land and forced them to move but to me, my siblings, cousins and even parents it was a little different story.  We literally grew up here (about a mile from this exact location pictured above) and we were always at the reservoir or in the little brook that leads into it.  We fished and swam and played here, it is home for me so being able to let my kids have some of the great feeling I had here really means a lot to me.  

For the Hubby's Family the reservoir had a bit of a different meaning as Papa Bull (Hubby's dad) was employed by NYC DEP and worked all around the reservoir till his retirement, which also meant the Hubby spent plenty of time at the reservoir growing up too....funny we never met each other till we were both in our mid 20's but that's another story.

Now the conflict of fishing the reservoir was definitely an issue in this family for different reasons.  Its not that we did not want to go but rather that each of us wanted to fish in an area where we remembered from growing up at....hmmmmm!  This debate has been in the making a few years and every time fishing the reservoir has been brought up we just kind of dropped it and did something else rather then fight over a fishing spot.
That is till we made the fishing poles in 4-H and took the members fishing at the river, now the Big Guy wanted to go fishing and we both wanted to go fishing as well so being the awesome Hubby he is he gave in to his nagging wife or as I say, obviously I won the debate over the fishing hole (haha) and we went fishing at the reservoir.

Anyway, we dropped everything we were doing like working on the green house, making the turkey barn and sawing lumber for up and coming projects to head out for some family fun time fishing.  Not everyone was excited to be fishing as the Oldest Daughter wasn't as into it as the rest of us but she was allowed to run the camera and explore everything around so even the non fishing one had fun fishing.  Our first stop was a place I remember sitting for years with my parents and Grandmother Sprague fishing but unfortunately the reservoir was very full and the wind was quite cold so we moved on to the next place.
And again the memories almost made me cry....sheesh, it was like I was 8yrs old again and we were running from rock to rock playing and Grandma would tell us to knock it off, only I'm sure that's not what she said, she definitely took her fishing seriously!  But as kids we ran around and did it anyway, it was still fun even if you were getting in trouble.  

He was so excited to finally be able to fish with his new 4-H fishing pole someplace other then our little brook

Well back to our trip, thankfully it was much warmer and the water was a lot calmer tucked up into the falls so that is were we fished the rest of the day.  The Big Guy fished and fished and fished but just wasn't having any luck with his homemade, bamboo pole.  He was having fun but he wasn't catching but he was still determined, which is not what I was expecting for a 7yr old with low patients.....Then it happened, the Hubby managed to catch a fish (Sucker fish) on his "real" pole and the Big Guy got to real it in and the excitement was amazing for him.

Reeling in the "BIG" fish.

Everyone took turns showing off the "BIG" fish, everyone but the Oldest she wanted no part of that wiggling, slimy thing. lol   It wasn't long after that the Big Guy decided he needed to use a "real" fishing pole to catch fish like Daddy which meant Mommy was down to fishing with the bamboo pole.  It was fun though and to see the Big Guy smile as he learned to cast a pole all by himself in only a few attempts was worth it.

                

                      


         

We spent only a few hours fishing that day and all I can say is even though we only caught one single, non keeper fish, for family fun it was definitely worth every second of it and we will definitely do it again.  Only maybe we will let the Hubby choose the fishing hole the next time?  I really don't think the fishing hole debate all these years even matters now as the Hubby is happy to finally find something the Big Guy liked doing as much as he did.

Not that the trip was all about the "boys" as I love fishing and the girls both had fun in their own ways while one enjoyed fishing the other enjoyed taking pictures and running from rock to rock.
However I probably had the best time out of everyone and I didn't catch a single fish, but I was blessed enough to make some more great memories here with my own amazing family.........

......Memories like the Youngest Daughter made as she went off and fished on another rock all by herself that day and gazed up trying to figure out just exactly where Grandma and Poppy's house is from there.  Or the memories all the kids will now have and even the Hubby and I have (from our younger years) of this exact rock with the little seats grooved into the side from all the years of water splashing on it.  And thanks to the Oldest Daughter, our non fishing family member we also have some great pictures to go with all these memories.

 

It wasn't just a fishing trip of lost worms, snagged hooks, and impatient kids but rather a day for making more memories and worth every second <3