Saturday the 29th of July my wife Carrie & I took our two kids to Truman Lake and met up with @sufficientliving and his wife for an adventurous, and fun filled day of fishing. We met at the Sterett Creek Marina where we proceeded to pile ourselves and enough gear to sink a boat (well it didn't sink the boat, but it was a lot of gear) onto a pontoon and hit the water.

We first navigated our way to a bluff below the Truman Lake Visitors Center where we tied off to a tree that was sticking out of the water and attempted to drown some minnows. After an hour or so we decided to head across the lake and doc up for a bit so everyone could use the restroom. As we were gathering everything in preparation to depart our fishing hole, we realized that someone forgot to tie off the fish basket and the first few fish of the day were laying somewhere at the bottom of the lake (I guess we need to invest in one that floats). Several attempts at retrieving the metal fish holder proved unsuccessful so we finally counted them as a loss and headed for the fancy outdoor restrooms that were waiting for us on the other shore.

Once everyone had finally gotten back on board the boat, we headed out to another spot on the water in pursuit of some fish to replace the ones we had lost earlier. We again tied off to a tree and proceeded to drop our lines into the water. Here my daughter Emilee had a bite and the fish wrapped itself around a log. I attempted to help her get it in, but fighting a log while fighting a fish is a difficult process and I didn't have the patience for that nonsense. I told her we should just cut the line, but she said "I'm not cutting my line. I'm going to get this one!" The rest of us continued fishing and about fifteen minutes later Emilee said "Dad! Check it out....I finally got that fish!" I guess she showed me that persistence really can pay off.... We didn't really catch any more fish in this spot so we decided to give it a rest and eat some lunch. At least we were successful at that....sandwiches and chips....

After lunch we untied the boat and headed to the "mile-long bridge" to see if any fish were hanging out around it. Yes, this bridge is actually one mile long.

We fished here for a while tying off to a few different legs of the bridge without much luck so we headed across the lake to one more spot and our final attempt to catch some fish.

Upon hooking the boat up to one final tree we began fishing and actually catching a few. Most weren't big enough to keep, but we did end up leaving with four crappie and a catfish. As the day was nearing the end we headed back to the marina and cleaned our fish. A few fish in the freezer is better than none at all. When we were finished cleaning our fish, we said our goodbyes and headed home.

I think we all caught more sun than fish, but overall we had a wonderful time hanging out for a day on the water.....

- Any day in the outdoors is a good day!