Last Thursday was a great day to take off work and get our daughters out fishing. We chose Kathie Lake due to the robust trout population and lack of pressure relative to other stocked lakes in the area. A parent only has a few chances to get the little ones hooked on fishing. Those chances rapidly diminish if the kids are not catching anything. We had some mechanical issues with one of our sleds so it was a late but warm and sunny start to the day. The kids and I were the first to get dropped off at the park boundary and walk in to the lake. By the time my friend and his dad and umcle made it onto the lake my friends daughter had just iced a beautiful male brook trout about 40cm long. She had missed 2 fish on her first drop and I knew it would be a day the girls would remember. Seeing her friend land such a beauty brookie my daughter had to come fish the hole beside her. Within minutes there was another school of trout cruising by on the underwater camera. The girls were more than thrilled to see them come in. Watching the fish come in and take the tube jig I lifted her rod and it was fish on! She shrieked as she had never held a rod with a fish on it before. She reeled it in like we had practiced at home. She was overjoyed to have the fish on the ice but was unsure of it as it was flipping around and the fish she was used to seeing were "asleep". I told her that if I were to put it to sleep she could pick it up and take a picture with it. She was doubtful that we gave it enough time to be sleeping enough for a picture. The attached photo is as close as Carys wanted to get with her first fish for fear of waking it up. The smile on her face and grin on mine as I write this are what fishing stocked lakes is all about for me. Some days it is about more than the fish we take away from the lakes. It is about the time spent with family and friends and memories that are made.