24 Winter Fishing

Winter Fishing written by Pam Holden illustrated by Kelvin Hawley

Best friends and cousins, Eliza and Charlie, went on a special trip to visit their grandparents. Charlie and Eliza live on a warm island that is very different from the cold and snowy place where their Grandpa and Nan live. The children found it strange to see people outside playing on the snow and ice and wished they could try it. They asked their Grandpa if he would take them skating on the lake, but Grandpa told them that he had made a different plan for today.

At Nan and Grandpa's house, the cousins put on their warmest outside clothes while Nan made them a basket of food to take she made some yummy sandwiches and a nice warm drink for them to share. Nan talked to them about staying safe outdoors and being extra careful to only walk on the thickest ice. Just when Eliza and Charlie were starting to wonder what Grandpa had planned for them, Grandpa told them that he was taking them to his special fishing spot.

Grandpa led the way, pulling a little sled slowly out on to the frozen lake. "Walk where I walk," said Grandpa. "Then you will only walk on the thickest ice, and you will stay safe." "How thick is this ice?" asked a frightened Eliza. "How do we know that it's safe to walk on?" "Trust Grandpa," answered Charlie, "He has been coming to his special fishing spot for his whole life!"

Before long, Grandpa stopped and took a strange tool out of his bag, then he carefully made a small round hole in the ice. Eliza and Charlie held hands while they looked down into the water below. Grandpa dropped one fishing line down through the hole and handed the fishing rod to Charlie. "While you wait for a bite, I'll make another hole for Eliza to fish from," said Grandpa.

It didn't take very long before Eliza shouted, "Wow! I felt a bite! I'm sure I've caught a fish." Soon she pulled up a very small fish. Before Grandpa carefully took the hook out from the fish's mouth, Charlie took a photo of Eliza and her first-ever fish. The next thing Grandpa did seemed strange to the children he put the little fish back through the hole in the ice and they all watched it quickly swim away. Grandpa told the children how if they took all of the small fish, then one day there would be no fish left in the lake. Grandpa told them to keep trying to catch bigger fish.