For my mentee's 7th and most recent birthday, he acquired the tried and true Zebco 220 rod/reel combo, so we've been fishin'.
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| When the focus is there, it's strong. When it's gone, it's gone. |
But with his 7-year-old attention span, we need to catch fish. Any kind or size of fish. We are currently at about a code red with lack of fishing interest - we haven't caught anything in almost four total hours of fishing. This does not compete with Plants vs Zombies.
We attended the annual Bozeman Kids' Fishing Day at the East Gallatin Recreation Area on Saturday. Despite some serious combat fishing with rambunctious youths whipping their worms a various angles into the pond, it was fun. And folks were catching fish - yellow perch, largemouth bass, and the recently stocked 12-inch rainbow trout. Just not us.
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| Worm whippin'. |
"Another one!" could be heard from time to time down the elbow-to-elbow shore, and our frustration level grew. While it was a good opportunity to teach patience, that you cannot win them all, and that fishing isn't always about catching, it also makes fishing seem like a futile waste of time to a young man who hasn't had the experience of a good fishing day.
So hopefully the fishing gods will bless us with something - anything - soon. Lest we cultivate another kid who would rather sit in front of a glowing rectangle than a river.
I'm sure there's good advice out there - let me know how you keep your kids interesting in fishing. Please.
3 comments:
Been there my friend. One word for ya: cutties. Better yet: brookies. Will turn the tide every time. Mike
Maybe occasional scarcity is a good thing....our oldest, now 36, grew up in Alaska, and her early fishing experience was fishing for silvers in Cook Inlet streams that wife's brother flew us to in his Cessna 172. Silvers up to 15 pounds, often on each cast. When we moved to Seattle I took her fishing, and after a fishless hour she said there were no fish, we should go home. I told her that sometimes people fish all day without catching anything. She looked at me and asked "Why?"
Thanks, Mike. I thought stockers would be the answer, and maybe it is on a different day. But I like the brook trout idea. I know some spots for that.
Should Fish More: I get that. I may have "ruined" some anglers in the past by taking them to the good water right away; then they don't value fishing per se - just catching. So maybe that'll be the silver lining - a kid who appreciates 10-inchers. Thanks.
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