Fishing Merit Badge Earned at Prior Lake's Candy Cove

Fishing Merit Badge Earned at Prior Lake's Candy Cove

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for July 31, 2012

On Tuesday night, we decided it was time for the boys to finally complete the requirements for their fishing merit badge.  So we told them we'd take the boat over to Candy Cove so they could catch a fish.  Needless to say, they were absolutely thrilled at the idea.

Each time we go by this purple house, Miss Sheri exclaims that it "Looks just like a Doll House!"  I always tell her to bring her dolls the next time we go on a boat ride so I can drop her off and she can play there, but she never listens.

It was a beautiful night, but Candy Cove was relatively empty so we had the joint to ourselves.  Perfect time to take some fish out of there!

These guys flew overhead shortly after we arrived.  I don't know what their story was, but it looked like they were running from the law.

Before we started with the poles, we had to jump in the water to cool off and formulate a strategy.  My thoughts drifted to "How do I get my wife and kids to do most of the work?"

So I volunteered to stay on the raft and be the official fishing merit badge photographer.   Luke was the first one to yank in a Whopper!

Miss Sheri is not a huge fan of holding on to fish so she wore some of her most menacing gloves to help her with the task of assisting the boys.

 Next up was Avery and he quickly pulled in a Lunker of his own!  Our mission was accomplished!!  The boys each caught a fish!

So we brought the boat home and then Miss Sheri told me our tasks weren't complete for the night.  Somebody had to help the boys clean the fish!  Well, after stomping my feet for a little while and crying the words "I don't want to do it!" I suddenly noticed that our very nice neighbor, Jim, had arrived at home.  So I asked him nicely if he could help with some fatherly duties and teach the boys how to do it.  I also reminded him that I really shouldn't be trusted with things like knives.  He seemed to understand this line of thinking and graciously volunteered to help us.

Jim is such a nice guy!  He patiently taught the boys the proper technique for cleaning the fish.  I'm sure they left a little more meat on the bones then a skilled fisherman would do, but I was still amazed at what a great job they did for their first time!  We would actually have some fish meat to eat!!

So the next day, Miss Sheri and the boys cooked up some real fish for dinner!  It was at that point that we remembered that none of us really like to eat fish.  But it was still a neat experience that I'm glad we had the chance to share!