My fishing trip with my Great grandfather, Great uncle and Oma

Arizona Outdoorsman / AZOD

My fishing Adventure

By Stephanie Fowler (age 12)

On July 10^th I arrived at Sky Harbor airport to visit my mother’s side of the family. My Uncle George and Aunt Crystal picked me up and took me to my Oma’s. (you know her as Linda Dightmon.)

After a dinner of venison, salad, potatoes, and garlic bread I decided to e-mail my Great Grandfather, “Grandpa in the mountains”(that’s what I call him) to ask if he would like to take us fishing on Lake Roosevelt the next day. His reply was “SURE!”

That morning, after I had been licked awake from Oma’s VERY energetic dog, Millie (which I hate to admit was revoltingly slobbery) we headed out. We were motoring up the mountains at a speed of 65 mph. We were about 200 yards from Grandpa’s turnoff when Oma noticed a highway patrolman pulling out of his hiding spot like a mountain lion ambushing a jackrabbit with a broken foot.

“OH CRAP!” was Oma’s exact words. Hoping he wouldn’t turn on his lights and notice that we were going 10 miles faster than the original speed, we were nearing our turn in. About 100 yards away from our turn, out of coincidence, he turned on his lights.

She managed to schmooze the cop and we drove away relieved and reading our written warning. Once we arrived at Grandpa’s we went in and ate breakfast. While Oma and Grandpa were talking I went down to my Uncle Ronnie’s house. I asked if he would like to go fishing with us. On the way back from his house I saw a funny looking lizard. I was sort of lumpy and appeared to have horns. I caught it and brought it inside for Oma to see. Then I realized that it was a horned toad. After rolling him on his back and petting his belly without a fuss from the lizard, I put him back in his tree.

Once we arrived at the lake I ran down the dock and jumped in the water. (We were squeezed in Grandpa’s pick up with NO air conditioner.) We put the boat in the water and I swam around until Uncle Ronnie got back from parking the truck.

We sped around the mountain and settled in a spot where they had caught some fish before. Unfortunately the wind was pretty strong and no more than 5 minutes later we were floating away. Since there was a big storm coming we decided to move to a quieter spot. The bad news was that it looked like we were going across a hurricane on a lake.

So Grandpa wheeled the boat around and said “ Hold on to your butts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!” So he pushed down the throttle and away we went. He was right about bumpy but he failed to mention how wet we were going to get. If someone had seen us after that butt-bruising ride they would think that we had just then jumped out of the lake after sitting at the bottom like a catfish.

After what felt like an eternity we finally dried off and started to troll. Uncle Ronnie caught a 15-inch, 2-pound channel catfish. While Ronnie was on a roll catching bass and a sunfish Oma and I were sitting, waiting for a tug. Finally we caught a 12-inch small-mouth bass.

As we were waiting for the fish to bite we were laughing our heads off at Uncle Ronnie and Grandpa (both of their hearing aids were broken and they were talking to each other, not us).

Sample conversation:

Grandpa: “Lets go around here for a bit.”

Uncle Ronnie: “What do you mean you want to quit!”

Oma: “ HE SAYS LETS GO AROUND HERE FOR A BIT!”

Uncle Ronnie: “huhhh?”

Oma and Steph: “HE SAID LETS GO AROUND HERE FOR A BIT!!”

Uncle Ronnie: “ Why didn’t you tell me that before?”

Oma and Steph: Laughing their heads off.

After catching 16 fish all together we went back to Grandpa’s house and had a big fish fry. This time Oma and I drove down the mountain at a speed of 55. I didn’t think it would be that fun going fishing with two deaf guys, but it turned out I had the time of my life.