Healthy Obsession
The three Faber Boys have been bugging me to go to Gays Mills to fish the dam ever since they saw a photo in my Man Cave of a big pike I caught there. Yesterday was the day we picked to go. They were talking the entire way there how they were going to prepare the fish we caught there. I told them to quit planning. They were going to jinx themselves by talking about preparing fish they had not caught already.
Prior to getting there I gave them the speech about being courtesy to other anglers if there were any there upon our arrival and to NOT fish too close to others. I also warned them about the danger of big treble hooks. I also told them about leaders and how they could ruin the ends of their poles if reeled up in to the first eye of their pole. Safety was my first priority. They asked me non-stop questions on the way there. They worked themselves into a frenzy by the time we got there. They shot out of the vehicle like their life depended on it and went to the back and got their poles and sprinted to the river.
Rylee started out the outing with a decent smallie on a crawler and then had a huge pike follow and turn at shore. The three were all shaken and awed on the size of the pike. I told them the size requirements to keep fish on the Kickapoo River. These boys 
keeping fish and cooking them also. Dave caught a couple fish. Nothing big enough to keep. That big northern made another run at the black fury later and got the boys fired up. WD caught the above shown pike on the black fury. He had seen so many fishing shows and seen the huge teeth on the pike in those shows.....WD was terrified of the pike when it was flopping around on shore. He summoned his two brothers to help him.....but....I would NOT let them.
I told him: "It is your fish to land or lose....we aren't going to babysit you." After a couple tense moments there, WD quit being afraid of the pike and WD landed the pike and was sooooo proud that he did it on his own and he caught a bigger fish than his brothers. WD is his nickname. I gave Jordan that nickname earlier in the year. I told him any good angler has a nickname. WD stands for "Worm Dog." WD is proud of his nickname and asks all his friends and relatives to call him that.
I almost had to pry the three away from the river when it started to get dark. They wanted that big pike that came to shore two times. The older boys complimented their little brother about getting the biggest fish of the outing. Jordan "WD" Faber, age "11," plans on cubing that pike up and pickling it. They all are good at cleaning fish and are very good cooks. Their mother Cherish has given them good life lessons on cooking.
The three young brothers aged 15,13 and 11 fishing and the outdoors. Their mother tells me that they are obsessed with fishing and hunting. I told her that it is a healthy outlet for their energy and they could get into lots of trouble with too much time on their hands and the "outdoors" is a good thing to be obsessed with.
