We have been fishing a few times before, ok many times before!  I remember I would hold Nathan in my arms and cast out the line and he would reel it back in!!!  Nathan was pretty good back in the early days with a tiny top water lure on a spinning reel!!  The irradic movement seemed to always attract fish, but this day was a bit different, a bit different indeed.  Ok, this time he had his own fishing pole, not one of daddy's rods or reels!!!  That's right, he now has his own high tech Lighting McQueen two eyelet fishing pole with with a red and yellow reel and boy can he cast that rascal.  Don't get in his way, he can cast that rod and reel with the best of them and he has been honing his skills at home casting his bobber at the car, truck, boat or his little brother!!!  On this particular day, we had a few fish on at Meetre's pond, his first being a bass!  He casted, he reeled (one of the few hundred times) and finally a bass hit the lure!!!  Well lets say the lure was a tiny hook with a pretty plump worm and a bobber!  Just as the bass was being pulled into the shallow water, with one last jump, as they always seem to do, Mr. Bass said goodbye and back into the water he went!  A few casts later and his next fish was on, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy I caught one, I caught a fish (I had turned away for just a moment) and what a beauty it was!!!!   What a day!!!  My oldest son Nathan at 3 1/2 catching and landing his first fish!  How proud can a father be????!!!! Do you remember that first time you caught your first fish, if you do, you probably want to realize that feeling over and over again.  Each and every time it happens to me, it just never seems to get old!  As the years move forward Nathan probably wont remember that first exact fish he caught on his own, but thankfully we had the camera with us that day and we captured his first fish!  It will forever be held dear to my heart!  If you have that son or daughter or even if its that kid down the street, give that child a chance to experience what it feels like to catch a fish.  I think Woo Daves said it best, show me a kid who fishes and I will show you a kid who stays out of trouble!  Woo, don't be mad if I miss quoted ya, but I hope they get the drift.  My buddy Bob Moody over in Delaware also shows us the power of fishing with his company Reel Expectations (www.Reelexpectations.org) .  He mentors kids through fishing!  When the fish aren't biting you need to talk about something (he states) and that something could be about staying in school, avoiding drugs and violence or the opportunity to share the word!!  I look forward to many more of these days with both Nathan and Ryan and hope that you will do the same with your son or daughter or again with that child down the street that may not have the same opportunity as others! 

PS.  Just wanted to let you know we practiced catch and realease and "sunny" was returned to the pond alive and well!

Comments (0)