Gone Fishin'

Last Friday the McCleve fam went on a fishing trip to the Black River. It was filled with adventure and just some good old fashion family fun. We left Friday around 4am in the morning. Brittney and I didn't go to bed till 1am (luckily we got some shuteye on the drive up) We stopped by the Circle K in Globe to buy our licenses and Brittney loaded up on some Firery Cheetos (her favorite) and we were off again. We took Highway 8 and then got off in a little dirt road. Dad McCleve, Brittney, Cameron, Devin, and I were all in the Excursion. Uncles, Dean and Loren were with their family in their suburban. It had been raining all Thursday so we were kind of worried about the weather and the road conditon. Needless to say the road was pretty muddy. We were behind Loren's suburban and we could see it sliding around in the mud. Since they didn't have four will drive and a six inch lift, like the Excursion, they decieded to pull over and we all crammed into our vehicle. So Dad, Dean, Loren, Brittney, Chantell, Cameron, Devin, Chealyn, Tyler, Connor, Caden, and I along with everyones packs and gear set off on the seven mile muddy road. There were times when I thought for sure that we were going to tip over or get stuck in the mud, but the Excursion held its ground and stuck true to it's course. We got to the top of the rim and prepared our poles and hiked a mile or two down to the river. By that time there was no rain and a nice overcast. We started hiking up the river and throwing in our lines. Devin caught to first fish, then Brittney, and Chealyn. They day and water turned out to be perfect. The overcast started to clear and the sun came out. The water was a little cold when you first stepped in, but then it was perfect. We continued our journey down river. The fish didn't seem too hungry since i had only caught about 2 by noon. Our little cousin Tyler had worn flanal pajama pants and they had become completely soaked with water. He took those off and Connor gave him some shorts of his, but the shorts were too big so he spent the rest of the time fishing in just his whitey tightys. It was really funny to see! It looked as if he was wearing nothing sometimes. I got to tease him the whole day about running around in his "skivies"! We got pretty far and it was about 3 pm. I had just caught a beautiful 12-13 inch small mouth bass making my total catches thus far 3. Brittney was a little disapointed because she had only caught one fish that was too small to keep, and several that had gotten away. (She hooked some good rocks and trees though) We started hiking back and looked for a good, shallow spot to cross over the river. Dad thought the spot the rest of us picked was too deep and that he could hike a little farther and find a better spot. About two hundred yards and several cuts and bruises later, he realized that the mountain was getting to steep to keep on going, and the water was only getting deeper. (picture at right) Before he called defeat though, he fished for a while and helped Brittney to snag her first real keeper, a fish about the same size as mine. Then, as everyone laughed, dad hiked back to the same place where all the rest of us smart ones crossed.

On the hike back the fish started to really bite. Dad pulled out several whoppers within minutes. Brittney caught the 2nd largest fish of the day. Even little Caden (the youngest on the trip at 8) who only had a few bites, was able to catch a few fish on the way back. He gave everyone who was within listening range an earful of how great his fish were.
We found a nice spot and began to gut the fish. It took me a moment before I was ok with it (it had been a while since I gutted a fish). I loved showing Brittney the insides of the fish. She, at first, was excited about gutting the fish, but when it came time and she saw how it was done, she chickened out.

By the time we had hiked it was starting to get dark. I thought the ride in was scary, but going out in the dark was a nightmare. Dad had the time of his life driving out and scaring the rest of us. We were pretty tired on the way back, but made it home around 11:30. I was driving and Brittney wouldn't go to sleep because she was scared of the curvey, windy roads. She always would let me know if I was going to fast or getting too close to the the edge. Next time I'll know to knock her out with a couple of sleeping pills.

We had a ton of fun telling stories of years past and talking about next year. All-in-all it was a lot of fun!