Yesterday, my kids experienced fishing for the first time. My parents, Gwendy & Pop, grew up fishing the lakes and streams of Western North Carolina. They taught me how to fish growing up & my kids have been begging us to take them fishing for a long time. Yesterday, their dream came true.

We packed up the car with fishing supplies and headed to Lake Tomahawk in Black Mountain, NC.

The bait? Nightcrawlers a.k.a. HUGE earthworms. I opened the can of worms – literally – dug in and pulled one out. Now, I’m not afraid to hold a worm in my hand. No biggie. But I looked at the tiny hook attached to the fishing line on the tiny pole and asked Pop, “How do you put these huge worms on this tiny hook?”. He answered quickly, “Just rip them apart.”

Yep.

Rip. Them. Apart.

I have been fishing a lot, but I guess I haven’t experienced ripping worms apart to bait hooks. So, I had to suck it up and do it. My kids were watching. I had to prove to them that it wasn’t a big deal so I grabbed one of those huge suckers and did it. To be honest, I chose not to look, but I did the deed & helped the kids bait their hooks {still gives me the heebeegeebees thinking about it though!}.

With those torn apart nightcrawlers & small hooks, the kids caught 16 fish between the 4 of them! Bass, catfish, sunfish, bream & perch.

Thank you Gwendy & Pop! This is an experience we will never forget!