By Josia Vandersall
Lucy tried to keep ahold of the rod as a 16-inch largemouth bass took off with what was left of her worm. Before she even pulled it out of the water she knew this would be the biggest fish she had ever caught.

“Spending time by the lake with Gramps is one of my favorite past times,”  said junior Lucy Conroy. Ever since she was four she has enjoyed having her grandpa teach her how to cast, string her pole and also put a worm on a hook.  She loves sitting beside Grandpa Jim with his big smile, listening to him talk about his greatest fishing stories and adventures that he had in the past.

Lucy’s grandpa has always loved fishing and has done it since he was a little kid. His father taught him everything he knows about fishing and he loves that he can pass his knowledge to not only one but two generations after him. He has never participated in any real competitions but he loves stepping up his game by trying new things like fly fishing and things that are more dangerous than your typical day at the lake.  “My dad Jim loves to take Lucy out fishing, he’s a pretty experienced fisherman, so he loves teaching her,”  Lucy’s dad says.

Although Lucy’s dad takes her out occasionally, Lucy loves it when Grandpa Jim takes her to the lake because he knows so much about fishing.  He makes it look easy, and he helps her to improve every time they are together.The biggest fish Lucy ever caught was a large mouth bass that was 16 inches long. She recalls seeing her grandpa’s eyes light up when they measured her fish. She felt very proud that she had caught a bigger fish than Grandpa Jim that day. She remembers Grandpa Jim would always tell her that if she caught a bigger fish than him, that they would take a picture and put it on the wall.  Lucy’s dad took a photo that day of her and Grandpa Jim in his big fishing waders holding her prized fish. “I’ve never seen a kid as happy as Lucy on the day she caught that fish,” Grandpa Jim recalls. Lucy still has that photo of them hanging on her wall.

For Lucy, fishing isn’t always about the actual game of trying to lure a fish and catch it on a hook, but it is her way to relax and get her thoughts straight. “Normally, I’ll just pack a lunch and sit by the lake until the sun sets,” says Lucy.  “The moving water and the beautiful sky make it peaceful and easy to think.”  She and her Grandpa don’t  normally keep the fish after they catch them either, they just love fishing for the fun of it and do it more for the sport.

Most of Lucy’s friends don’t know that fishing is something that she does or is good at. You wouldn’t expect a nicely-dressed girl who runs cross country and plays in the orchestra to spend time on a lake reeling in bluegill and catfish.  She thinks of it as something that is special to her since she has so many memories of her and her family, but mostly her grandpa out on the lake together.

In the future, Lucy does not plan to take her love of  fishing to very high levels or any competitions. To her, fishing is just a fun thing that she can do whenever she wants and she can do even as she grows older. Also, it is something she plans to do with her children and teach them the way her grandfather taught her.