He was just a little tike when I first took him fishing. The old spincasting reel on the short stubby rod was more than he could handle, but he was an eager learner. There were times that I did not dare put a lure with a hook on his line because when he cast there was no telling where the lure would wind up or what it would hit before it got to where it was going. Then there came the time when he caught his first fish! Casey was as excited as any kid you have ever seen and the size of the fish had nothing to do with it. He would not have been any more pleased if the fish tugging on the line had been an eight-pound largemouth instead of a small rainbow trout. Now he was hooked on fishing and he took to it with a passion.
I soon decided that Casey would be better suited fishing with a spinning outfit rather than the rig he was fishing with so I took him to the river with the intention of teaching him how to use the new spinning rig I had bought for him. At first, he couldn't get the hang of it and eventually, cried and said, "Dad, I can't do it!" Playing on his competitive nature I replied, "Most kids can't use them," and left it at that. A few minutes later, he tried again and stayed with it until he mastered the basics.
Immediately, he started catching fish. I would not push him, his attention span was short, which is normal for pre-school age children and I tried to make sure we could catch fish pretty quickly whenever we went fishing. We would fish until he got bored and then we would do something fun like chasing crawdads across the bottom of the shallow water areas of the river or creek. Sometimes, the child enjoyed the crawdad chase more than he did the fishing.
One day when Casey was six, he and his cousin Samantha disappeared at a family get-together at our cabin on Spring River. I found them standing on the gravel bar and Casey was teaching Sam how to use his spinning reel. She was only seven at the time and listened to her cousin. She learned how to use the spinning reel on the spot! I was impressed to say the least.
I think the real clincher was the day Casey caught his first walleye. We were fishing near our hometown of Hardy on Spring River. Casey was throwing a Rogue in a Firetiger color and he tied into a fish. In a minute or two, the fish had him pulled to the edge of the river and his rod almost touching the water. I went to his assistance, pulling him back from the edge of the river and lifting his rod into an upright position. The fish was in the swift water pulling hard and eventually the rod tip would get almost against the water again and
I would help him regain his position. Eventually, I reached into the cold water and lifted the walleye onto the bank. After exchanging high-fives and the excited fishermen jargon associated with catching a good fish, we looked the fish over.
Walleye are interesting creatures and this one was no exception. The two things about a walleye that grab your attention first are the over-sized marble colored eyes and the wolf-like, spiked teeth that accent their smile. Eventually, you get to the torpedo-shaped body, which is a light golden color with a dark back and a transparent emerald green sheen, which has earned the walleye the nickname of "Green Jack" by the old time walleye fishermen.
Casey now has caught almost every species of game fish that swim in our region and at the ripe old age of twelve (soon to be thirteen) has learned to read a body of water like a veteran. He has also experienced the heartbreak that only a fisherman can feel. He caught a very big smallmouth bass and wanted to show it to his Mom. He and I were on the far side of the river from the cabin with a wide set of falls to cross to get to where Wanda was waiting. I took his rod and he
carried the fish across the river to within twenty feet of the bank. He stumbled and fell, the smallmouth flopped wildly and disappeared into the depths of Spring River. Casey cried at the loss of the fish, mostly because Mom did not get to see it. I consoled him the best that I could, reminding him of the giant walleye I had lost not long before that and explained that this was part of fishing. I also explained to him that the smallmouth fishing was getting better in our area and day by day he was becoming a better fisherman. I assured him that many more big smallmouth bass were just waiting to be caught by him and just a few days ago he caught a pot bellied, red-eyed, tiger striped Ozark smallmouth that was considerably larger than the one he lost on the falls. Mom did get to see this one and no doubt, Casey will catch many more big fish in the future.
Teaching Casey and our other children to fish has been one of the greatest experiences of my life and it is a wonderful thing to fish with him and realize that someday he will teach that which he has learned to his children. No doubt they will experience the heartbreak of losing a big fish and in the mean time experience the thrill of their young lives when they realize that they have a "big one on!"
reprinted with permission of Paxton Media Group
