Tom and the girls came down to Richland Friday to give Elisabeth some time away from the kids and to give the cousins some time together. We met at a small irrigation pond in a neighborhood just up the road that is full of bluegill with a few bass. It is a great place, right next to the residential street, with mowed lawn to the waters edge and a wide open shoreline (watch you backcast or you may hook a pedestrian passing on the sidewalk!). It did not disappoint. The girls and the 3-wts collected a dishpan full of sunfish (bluegill) within a short time. As the girls played, Tom and I intermittently tried to coax a smallmouth from the water. Tom finally found one with a big ugly green fly with rubber legs. After a short fight with a nice sized smally (16 to 18 inch estimate), his line parted and the excitement was done. As we were loading up the cars, we turned back and saw a bass about the size of the one he lost leap a full foot clear of the water, twist in midair, and splash back down, a parting slap in the face to remind Tom who won this battle.
Saturday morning, we all headed to Moses Lake where we dropped Melinda off at the Washington State Math is Cool Masters Championship (the state championships), then the rest of headed to Homestead Lake for a few hours of fishing. Along the way to Homestead, we saw a few bass in the small lake along the way, and Tom managed to pull a smallmouth from the near the shore on a fly. Then it was off to Homestead. Upon arrival, first cast with a Panther Martin (brass blade, olive body, yellow spots) and Tom hooked the rainbow below, then nothing for a long time. There were some fish sipping on the surface in part of the lake, but no action. While I tried different flies with the spinning gear, Tom worked his way to the opposite side of the lake, where he brought three more to hand with the spinner and lost a couple more. All rainbows, about the size of the one pictured or a little smaller. Not a lot of action, but more fish activity than we have seen there in the last few years. Perhaps we'll have a late fall trip to check it out when the fish have grown some more. The lake itself appears to be silting in a lot, and is much shallower than in the past. Some time in the future it may become another cattail swamp unable to support trout.
While we were messing around with spinners and smallmouth (and 'bows), Melinda was working with sums (and products and factorials and story problems....) to win the Division 1 Math is Cool state championship with her classmates. After the awards ceremony, we all visited Arby's together, then said goodbye until our next time together. Cousins are great!
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