I pushed through until I was at the front of the crowd. I stood in awe as the man helped his son slap a stingray onto the pier. The stingray angrily whipped its tail back and forth demanding the fight wasn’t over. I felt pity for this poor unfortunate stingray, the man used his foot to keep the stingray in place as he took out a large knife. I noticed his son seemed surprised and took a step back from his father, what was he expecting would happen? In a swift motion he sliced off the tail. I was impressed for his lack of sympathy. I observed the boy’s reaction as his face went pale from the blood of the fish dying the pier a dark red. While his father proudly grabbed the large fins with his rubber gloves, he grinned at his son; holding it like a trophy while the fish’s gills desperately sought out for water. “My son’s first catch!” he exclaimed. The crowd applauded and congratulated the boy, pushing me back behind the group of tourists.

“Did you see anything?” my sister ask, she was being held back by my parents because she was still pretty little and would’ve probably been trampled by the crowd.

“Yeah this kid caught this huuuuge stingray and his dad chopped off the tail it was awesome, but he was being a baby about it.” My mom rolled her eyes and glared at my father, “I told you we shouldn’t have let her seen what was going on, she’s probably going to be scarred for life.”

“Nuh huh!” I pouted. “See? No harm no fowl” my dad joked. On the car ride back I decided that if I would get my dad to take me fishing, and I caught a fish by myself I could prove to everyone that I don’t need special treatment for just being a girl. “Hey dad?” I said as I dumped the sand out of my shoes in the car. “Mhm hun?” Suddenly, a wave of embarrassment hit me, girls didn’t go fishing, is this an awkward question? “Uhm, I was wondering if you could take me fishing sometime.”

My sister face twisted with disgust and looked at me “Ew why?” I ignored her eagerly waiting for my fathers reply. My mother was watching him carefully for response too. He just shrugged “Yeah why not, we’ll do it before we move to the Midwest.” My body relaxed with relief, “Oh okay cool!” I happily rubbed the sand off my legs, reminding me there’s a whole ocean filled with different kinds of fish to catch.

When we moved to the Midwest, the air was hot and humid buzzing with loud cicadas. Upon getting out of the car my sister put both hands on the side of her head, “Its so loud! Not even the airplanes were this loud!” My dad chuckled, “Yeah, but you’ll get used to it like the airplanes.” My mom excitedly clapped her hands together. “Oh it’s even bigger in person! Girls, lets check out it out while dad brings our things inside!”

I wandered into the backyard, there were no gates; which I thought was really weird because that means anyone could just walk into your yard and mess up your stuff. It was also confusing because none of our neighbors had fences either so you never really knew where your yard started and where it ended. I noticed that our neighbors had a small stream that started in their yard that then went into the neighbors behind us. Suddenly, the running water reminded me. Stomping back into the house, hot and annoyed, I approached my father as he was bringing the last of our things through the door. “You said you’d take me fishing before we moved!” I hollered. My dad unfazed, rose a questioning eyebrow “uh…the fishing?”

“Yes the fishing! You promised!” Tears began to settle in my eyes. He sighed heavily and put his hand on my shoulder “ I’ll take you finishing here, its better for beginners anyways.” He led me to the bathroom where I could use the toilet paper for my eyes. “Alright.” I mumbled, I rubbed my eyes and blew my noes. “Good, now I got work to do, watch your sister.”

A few weeks later I finally had my chance. I set my alarm clock nice and early so we could go out right at dawn and catch some fish, my father said he found a really good place and even bought me a fishing pole. That morning, the late summer breeze picked up the heavy pond smell right away; it woke me up immediately. My dad tiredly went through the mechanics of the rod and showed me how to put on bait with out poking yourself. I eagerly watched and learned ready to cast my line. He casted my line for me and let my hold it while he casted his line out. I was a little disappointed I couldn’t even try casting but still excited because I was finally fishing. Fifteen minutes went by without anything, or any indication fish were even in the pond. “It must be too early for them” My dad joked. I felt a little pull on my line “Dad! Dad! I think something’s nibbling!” I nervously grabbed the base of the rod with two hands as if something huge would pull me in effortlessly. My dad calmly walked over to my rod and grabbed it from me pulling the line. “Yup I knew it, It’s just stuck on some algae, I’ll cast your line out.” He whipped the line back then forward giving distance from us. “There” he said exhaustingly.

I starred at the bobber in the middle of the pond feeling very much the same, a little out of place. Another fifteen minutes went by and my dad began to pack things up. “What are you doing?” I knew the answer but I hoped it was going to be different. “ You know what, we did really good today, I think you learned a lot but it seems like the fish aren’t biting for us.” “What? But lets wait like, five more minutes, we haven’t even been here that long!” My dad shot me a look and continued packing up. I held back the tears and quietly reeled in my line to give to my father. I could tell on my father’s face this whole thing was a waste of time and I felt like I truly disappointed him. “Maybe next time,” he grumbled.

The next (and last) time we went fishing was almost a year later.We were on vacation in Arizona checking out the Grand Canyon, enjoying the orange-red color hue to everything. “Girls, I got a surprise for you!” My sister nearly pushed me out of the way jumping with glee, “What is it! What is it! Tell us!” My dad looked at us each carefully and smiled “Who wants to go fishing!” He roared. My sister stopped jumping and stared at him “Whaaaat, fishing is so boring.” My eyes widen in surprise though my mom got the first word in before me.
“ If you girls don’t want to, you certainly don’t have to, you can come gift shop with me.” I excitedly smiled at my dad, “Well I want to fish!” My sister shooed me with her hand, “Well you and dad can do that, me and mom are going to go shopping.” My dad shrugged again “Well I guess we have our plan then.”

On the ride there, I imagined a discreet fishing location that only a few locals know because they know, that’s were the biggest fish go. The red rocks providing as a hard contrast against the dark waters; I romanticized the idea in about a thousand different ways before we got there. First thing I saw was a big fake wooden sign hung above the front of the entrance saying Trout Farm! Every possible idea I had, diminished as soon as I set foot on the dusty rock floor. I remained silent as my dad paid for my ticket and rod. From there, a man led us to the back where what looked like four swimming pools packed with trout. I had never seen so many fish in one place, the water looked dirty and you couldn’t even see the bottom of the pool because it was just more trout. “Have you ever fished before?” the man asked.

I turned to him in surprise, “Oh, uhm kinda we didn’t catch anything.” He nodded “Well you wont have any problems here!” He began to walk off until my dad asked if we would need bait, the guy laughed, “I promise you, you wont need it.” Sure enough, as soon I dropped my hook into the water, splashes and tails erupted; turning into a frenzy of who could get hooked first. I quickly pulled and reeled in my line exposing a trout with a hook through its cheek. My father clapped and took of picture of me holding onto my fish but I felt no pride. The fish didn’t even flop around, it was obviously so eager to die, there was no battle to fight. No one won or lost, it just was. My dad grabbed hold of the fish and gave it to the man who let me watch him clean and gut the fish. I watched silently as the fish gasped for water on the cleaning table until it died.