Look at that happy boy!
With the beginning of fall, the days started to get a little cooler. One late October day I got the boat ready and took my son for another fishing trip. He was two and a half years old then and constantly talked about going fishing with daddy. On the way to day care in the morning, he often said: “Daddy, let’s go get boat, let’s go fishing, catch big fishy.” Good idea, but I had work to do during the week.
So I was very happy to finally go fishing again on the weekend. For a while we fished around a bridge, but didn’t catch anything. I was ready to go home, but Jeffery wasn’t. And I knew the only thing that gets him home was the sun starting to set. So we went upstream a little to find some new places to fish.
I continued to cast for him and let him do some jigging, while I tried some spinner baits. We found a school of white bass and I caught a few little ones. All of a sudden Jeffery’s pole bent down and he started yelling: “Daddy, I got big fishy!”.
I was so tempted to take his pole and reel it in, but it was his fish. I had to let him reel it in, even if that meant we’d loose the fish. So I coached him and just made sure he didn’t let go. “Keep the rod up, Jeffery”, I said a few times. And Jeffery kept reeling it in. I got the net ready and I was as excited as he was to see what kind of fish he had caught.
Then the fish came to the surface in a big splash and I thought the jig came out. It was a white bass, and it was hooked good. I took the net and landed his fish. I thought that bass had to go home into the frying pan. So I put it in the fish basket.
That’s when my son started arguing with me: “Daddy, put fish back in water!”. What can you do? I just took my brand new fish gripper and hung it on the net, so I could take a picture. The fish was too heavy for Jeffery to hold up by himself. I had to take a couple of pictures before we got a good shot of him and the fish at the same time.
But I think the picture says it all. I don’t have the words to describe how happy he was. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that happy before. We then released the fish and went on fishing for another hour before going back home. Of course he kept talking about his big fishy for ever.
When I take my son fishing I put my own fishing on the back burner and make sure my son has a good time. And seeing him happy about a fish he caught makes me happy too. Take your kid fishing!
More fishing adventures to come soon!