I’m going to have a little different kind of column today and tell a story of one of my recent trips. Fishing has stayed the same the last couple weeks, so I don’t really have a lot to tell you that is different from last month. The one thing that changed this past month is I had Austin from Baltimore on my boat.
Austin is 7 years old, and obviously he did not set the trip up, but don’t be confused, the trip was totally about him. Austin’s grandpa, Tony Bond, set the trip up several months ago while he was fishing with me on another charter trip with some of his adult friends. If you’re one of Tony’s regular fishing buddies, you play second fiddle to Austin.
I’m sure you already know that. Austin’s father Richie was on the boat as well for the trip, and he got shuffled behind Austin also. Austin had informed us that he had never had much luck fishing in his entire life and hoped today would be different. Imagine that, his entire life at age 7 and never had a good day. That certainly brought a chuckle to the party.
The elders on the boat played the day like it was supposed to be played. This was Austin’s day to change his luck. They let Austin fish when he wanted to fish, play with the bait when he wanted to set down the rod, take 20 minute snack breaks, whatever. My point is they let Austin regulate his own fishing intensity.
One problem we did not have that day was forcing Austin to fish when he was losing interest. Remember, when you take your kids out that they do not have the attention span that we have.
After catching the very first fish of his life plus 23 more to give him a boat best of 24 fish for the day, Austin said to his grandpa, “I didn’t used to like fishing, but now I love it.” Tony looked at me with a giant grin and said “we got him.”
After we got back to the dock and cleaned the fish and everyone went their own way, I reflected back on the day and thought to myself that we left the sport better that afternoon than we found it that morning. Austin was hooked on the sport we all love—fishing. If you have any questions about fishing, email them to me and I will pick one a month and answer in the report.
Until next time, good luck and be safe on the water. Remember: don’t let your kid be the one that got away, take them fishing. For charter information, you can call (813) 601-2900, email CaptainRic@msn.com, visit www.ReelSimpleFishing.com, or follow Reel Simple Fishing Adventures on Facebook.