The Slice: Reeling in readers’ memories

It’s a category of photos that has to rank among the truly quintessential Inland Northwest scenes.

Pictures of happy children holding fish they had caught reflect both our region’s love of the outdoors and, often, the centrality of family and tradition.

The kids might not be focused on it in the moment of the snapshot. But they have been preceded down to the water by generations of anglers. Presumably, they will be followed by generations still to come.

Not long after The Slice put out a call for family photos of children holding fish they had caught, we were over our limit.

Here’s hoping you will enjoy today’s sampling of the submissions.

As you can see, some of the fish are big. Some are small.

But the kids’ expressions are the real catch here. Ranging from amazed to proud, they speak to the newness of this encounter with wildness.

Last spring, Daryl Zanck took some Cub Scouts on a camping trip to a spot south of Moses Lake. His grandson, Atticus, was just one of the scouts who managed to catch a fish. “Some for the first time in their lives.”

Daryl still thinks about that outing. “The weather was great, the stars were bright and the coyotes were singing. It does not get much better.”

Duane Black sent a picture of his grandson, Jack Simmons, with his first catch.

“What a grand moment of joy,” wrote Duane. “There is something special about the first time. We have fished several times since but I’m not sure you can ever duplicate the feeling of joy for the first one.”

Rich Semler sent a picture of him and his granddaughter, sitting near the water’s edge. It was actually taken before she caught her first fish. But it shows what fishing is all about.

It shows them spending unhurried time together.

Today’s Slice question (for grandparents): How do your grandchildren respond when you talk to them about your own grandparents?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. If the Inland Northwest borrowed Minnesota’s nickname, our area would be the “Land of (your number estimate here) Lakes.”