My oldest grandson called and asked if I was up to a trip out to the park to fish because his daughter was running him nuts to take her fishing. I had a good idea that i would do more helping than fishing but agreed because I love teaching LITTLE kids to fish and shoot. It wound up with him, both his kids, and wife, my daughter and son-in-law, grand daughter and her three girls, and me at the lake yesterday afternoon. I thought it would probably be like herding cats but was surprised that only one was a problem child. The three year old insisted on throwing rocks at the ducks that swam over to see if they could scrounge a handout. Momma got tired of telling her to quit, loaded her up, and took her home. Her two other girls are 11 and 14 and didn't require much help at all as they have done some fishing with the cheap enclosed spinning reels before. I did show the oldest how to cast a spinning rig which was new to her as her enclosed rig almost immediately got a tangle that wasn't getting picked loose and it took her about 4 tries to have it down. I expected my 4 year old great grand son to get bored and quit pretty quick but he sat in his little chair and kept his eye on his bobber the whole time we were there. It was the one that was making the fuss about going fishing that quit early. The 11 year old is pretty dedicated and my son-in-law gave her tips.
We were fishing for perch, the common name for any sunfish here, with ultralight gear and I even got to fish more than I thought while showing the kids how and where to cast. They all got bites but no one managed to get one out of the water but me. Grandson and grandpa just baited hooks and gave advise, untangled snarls, and made sure everyone was being careful. The 11 year old got three up to the bank before they got off with the other three just getting nibbles and no solid bites. The two youngest had their bobbers pulled under several times but weren't fast enough to set the hook. The fish weren't greatly interested that close to sundown either.
All the kids had fun and I did too and the next trip will be easier because they all learned something. I also managed to give away another ultralight rig to the 14 year old plus I got to try out my "new" rig which I bought around 4 years ago. The state will start stocking trout the middle of next month and fishing will pick up then.
