Gone Fishin'

Took my oldest fishing today.

It was his first ever fishing trip and my first as a parent.

We went to Wally-Mart last night to shop for supplies. Tradition was over before it began. Seth was immediately drawn to an end cap full of the latest fad contraption for kids. You might be familiar with the Rocket Fishing RodTM as it is currently being advertised on the boob-tube bragging a 30 foot cast with each fire of the trigger. There was no convincing him of a traditional fishing rod & tackle. I tried bribing him with a Spiderman tackle. The kid wasn't having any of it and I caved.

He was up with the sun this morning as I was greeted with a smiling face and an unopened Rocket Fishing RodTM IN MY BED! To say that the kid was excited does not do him justice. We eventually got out the door and on to our new found fishing spot.

I have to admit it has been several years since I fished and it took a few tries at tying a hook properly to a line but I eventually knocked the 'rust off the old gears' and managed. The fishing contraption seemed to be working fine and Seth was as happy as a clam. That is, he was so happy that every 2 minutes he was reeling the line back in so he could "shoot" it out again.

We had several heart-to-heart talks about scaring fish away and he seemed to settle down. After an hour with no nibbles I decided we needed to change spots. There was a bridge off in the distance (about a mile) but it was well worth it.

The center of the bridge was the perfect spot to fish as we were getting nibbles immediately after casting. Within minutes he and I were both reeling in fish. We had to release both as they were too small to keep. After another round or two of catch and release the boy was yelling:
"POPPA, POPPA! The bobber is GONE!!!"

Sure enough I looked down and the huge bobber from his fishing contraption was completely taken under. I figured it was tied up on the pier so I told Seth to start reeling in the line when suddenly a bass the size of my leg came flopping to the surface. Our eyes got HUGE! But the stupid fishing cannon malfunctioned and he was not able to reel in the fish... it kept releasing line and that smart fish wrapped himself around the base of the pier about 3 times. The bass eventually snapped the line and got away. Seth and I were very disappointed.

It seems this fishing contraption is good at catching small fish but big fish are too much for it (despite what the commercial says).

Oh well.

Seth was happy to catch a croppie a little while later.