Fishing
with Kids
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By Todd "Fishing Nut"
A few weeks later, that same buddy of mine, Jon, and I went fishing on a local lake. We, again, took his boys. Figuring they didn't have to pack for themselves this time, as it was just a short ride, we didn't expect as much excitement as our other trip. We had fixed the spring on the motor and she was running just fine.
We got the boat in and got out on the water and motored out to a spot that looked good. Again, we weren't expecting to do much fishing ourselves, our goal (again) was to get the boys catching fish. We put Daniel in the front of the boat with me and I helped him when he needed it. He was
trying to learn how to cast, so we (very carefully) let him. He did a pretty good job, always aware of where the hook was. Brian, being a bit on the clumsy side (to say the least!), however, was told that he could not cast for himself. Jon would do that for him.Jon was in the back of the boat with Brian between us. We figured that way we could both keep an eye on him and help him if he needed it. Brian was upset that he wasn't allowed to cast for himself, but Jon wasn't giving in.
Daniel had caught a few small fish. I think Jon actually caught a small sunfish as well. We had been returning the fish to the water, as none were keepers. Each time Daniel would bring a fish in, Brian would reel his line in looking for a fish, and forcing Jon to cast out for him again. No matter how many times Jon told Brian to leave it in the water so a fish could bite the bait, Brian would reel it in as quick as it hit the water.
After fighting with him for a while, Jon finally gave in (out of pure frustration) and told Brian he could cast his line out himself. With a gleam in his eye and a smile from ear to ear, Brian, very carefully mind you (we were impressed!), cast his line out. After watching him a few times, we figured he had it pretty well down and let him do his thing.
After sitting for about 15 to 20 minutes and noticing that no one was catching anything, I asked Daniel to reel in his line and check his bait. I turned to tell Brian to do the same thing and noticed Brian was sitting with both of his hands folded in his lap, with no fishing pole. He was staring out ahead, glancing around at the docks, boats, and other activity on the lake.
I asked where his fishing pole was. He turned his head, looked at me with a blank look, then turned his head back and looked over the edge of the boat, straight down into the water. I burst out laughing and Jon, who had caught the conversation looked over the edge of the boat and then hung his head, and sat there shaking his head, sighing and moaning.
Brian, somehow had let go of the rod during one of his casts. It also, somehow, entered the water without a splash and with no noise. Brian, apparently thinking that was a good idea, followed suit and didn't make a sound and didn't say anything about it until I noticed it.
As we continued to fish, with Brian now a spectator, Daniel was busy in the front of the boat. I couldn't figure out what he was doing, until all of a sudden, he hands me some fishing line, with a bobber attached. He had caught Brian's bobber, and we were able to (very carefully) bring up his fishing pole.
We soon after headed in. The only keeper we caught was Brian's fishing pole. And a load of memories.
Next page > Part 1: A camping trip gone bad > Page 1, 2
