Thanks...but my birthday was last October.
I don't fish to see if I can catch the most or the biggest fish anymore. I enjoy time on the water, trying different setups, presentations, locations etc. There are special times on the lake, when yours is the only boat in sight, the water is calm, you can hear the birds chirping, the occasional splash as a hungry fish chases a minnow or a fly. Time has no meaning and life is good.
Fishing with the grandkids has become a favorite passtime too. Its more fun to watch and share their joy and excitement as they bring in even the smallest fish.
My 4 year old grandson's first walleye was only about 30 cms and as I was about to slip it back into the water he said: Papa, Papa "NO, I'M GOING TO EAT THAT FISH!" Well I had to put it in the live well for him (released it when he wasn't looking). Later he watched as I cleaned his fish ( a legal sized one) and he helped me fry the fillets and he ate more fish that day than he had eaten before. Precious times, for sure.
Theres some perspective for the young and learning anglers to think about, theres a great story that resonates wisdom through life experience, i'm glad your investment in your family is paying huge dividends to you, enjoy your time and new found benifits.
My wife enjoys fishing, but can't understand catch and release. So when we go out together, she catches her keeper and thats it - back to camp for her. So what I did was tell her the minimum size for a keeper was 47 cms (actually 43). I kept this going for a good month. We stayed out fishing together longer and she was happy. One day we were fishing near some friends and they caught a nice walleye. Vern yells over : " a nice keeper, 45 cms". Wifey says "what" Cat's out of the bag - Vern tells her anything 43 or over is good. Needless to say, I had some explaining to do. I said oops, must have misread the regs. Precious times.
May 15th can't come soon enough.