Toddler reels in fishing title using Barbie pole

By Scott Seroka, KARE 11 News

Every weekend, thousands of Minnesotans hit the lakes, hoping to snag that trophy fish. Last weekend, Lindley Richards was just happy to be fishing with a pink pole.

"Pink's her favorite color," Lindley's mother Lacy said. Lindley is three years old, but her age didn't stop her from catching an 18-inch large mouth bass at the Optimist Fishing Contest on Bush Lake in Bloomington.

Both mom and daughter were quite happy with how Lindley's rod held up. "It's a Barbie one with striped fishes on it," the 3-year-old casually explained. "The fish was almost as big as the rod, but it worked. They must make Barbie rods pretty strong," Lacy Richards said.

Catching a fish like that takes patience and focus, two words not often used to describe a 3-year-old. "She wanted a worm. She liked to play with the worms more than fish with them," Lacy said.
But after a dip and a bob, "he ate the worm," Lindley said. The fish started tugging and the whole Richards family jumped in to help little Lindley out. "I need help, because I'm too little to fish without anybody, I'm too little to fish," the trophy winner explained.
Lindley comes from a line (no pun intended) of fishing champs. Her 7-year-old brother Nick won the Optimist contest last year.

Both kids are proud to show their trophies. As for Lindley, maybe she wise beyond her fishing years, she let go of her slimy friend. "We needed to put it back in the water because it would die," she explained, as only a 36-inch girl in pink pants can.