My 10 year old God Son came over for his first real fishing trip on Saturday. Poor kid, his mom had been drilling him all week on long division and writing book reports before school starts next week. He was driving her up a wall and she was ready for a little break. She's freaking out that he's not paying attention. Apparently the fact that 10 year old boys want to play sports, video games and watch cartoons and not do long division the week before school starts was lost on her. Perfect introduction to fishing. Hey, little man, we're going to go play with things that have poisonous stingers, and sharp teeth. That got his attention. Oh yeah, we're not going to be using Mickey Mouse gear either. We're going to be using all kinds of sharp things that can hurt you too. There might be a little pain and maybe a little blood involved so you have to pay attention and learn how and why we do things the way we do. Suddenly the kid is all smiles and paying attention!
Imagine that. Women.
Of course my wife tried to start talking about school stuff. Had to instruct her to be quiet, we had man stuff to do and needed to focus!
We went to get bait and some food. The kid informs me that his mom told him to eat healthy. Beef jerky, slim jims, cheetos and cokes are healthy, right guys? We get to the fishing hole and get our gear set up. Had a couple of bites, I would have bet money we had the kid's first fish, but no. We fish on without much action. One hour. Two hours... then some dufus in a boat runs over all three of our lines. But, we handled it. I gave little man an introduction to the 7 P's before we left and we discussed what to do in case our lines got run over. He might be small, but he took care of his rod like a champ. As an added bonus, I'm pretty sure I taught him a few new words and expanded his vocabulary. Who says fishing isn't educational?
So we tie up new rigs and get our baits back out into the water. At this point it's been 3 hours, but the kid is still smiling and has a good attitude. I explain tides and tide swings. Tell him that if we wait just another 30 minutes maybe the fish will start biting after the high tide. We wait. Boom, then it happens. Little bendo and the kid is on. Reels in his first fish, a little sting ray, and on a 12' rod all by himself!
Mission accomplished, I asked him if he wanted to go, or cast out once more for another. He smiles and says one more cast!
Tom, does Bat Fight Swag come in kid sizes? I'm thinking realistically he's a little young to wrestle in a big bat, but he can fetch beers.
Anyway, couple of minutes later, tap, tap, and he brings in a key chain leo. Two fish! Give him the choice again and he says one more cast! We bring in a nice spotted bay bass, and god bless him, he knows you can't leave on a fish, one more cast! But it cooled after that and after 5 hours, out of jerky and cheetos, we call it. McDonalds on the way home.
Welcome to the Men's Hut kid
