Fishing

Can you put a price on the time you spend with you family and friends?

I woke around 8:00 on Sunday morning. The insects had long stopped their noises and I slowly woke in the cool morning temperatures. I threw on the same old shirt from the day before because we were camping. It doesn’t bother me that others might have smelled a little something special coming from me because that’s what happens when you camp. Anyway, I slipped on my shoes and walked across the dew covered grass and enjoyed the view of the mirror cover water some 20 yards from where I was walking. It was a great day for anything.

When I got to the cabin I noticed that everyone was up and having breakfast. My father-law was already taking a post breakfast nap and I had a quick bite to eat before heading to the boat. My son came along for the ride as I knew he would and we headed out for a morning of fishing.

One of the best things about fishing with your son or any other child is that it doesn’t really matter if you catch anything. Sure, our first obligation is to catch fish but we always throw them back in anyway. As we motored our way across the glistening water, we chatted about anything that came to his mind. Being that he is 6-years-old, the subjects were random and questioning. They covered things like the fish he caught the day before to giving me a demonstration on how he made his catch during the football game the week before. These times are special and should be cherished for what they are...some of the best times of your life.

As we found a spot that has honored us with our prey in the past we talked about the east wind that was blowing and how you had to work harder to catch fish when the wind was blowing from that direction. Now most 6-year-olds fish with worms…but not my son. He had a tube jig with an 1/8 once weight on it and worked it about as well as a child of his age can. Hw started out working it with some speed but soon realized that he had to use a slower approach to catch his quarry. He quickly mimicked my approach and caught his first fish of the day…A 13 inch crappie that would have a nice start to a meal.

We spent the next 2 hours drifting along not really caring if we caught anything. Being with dad on the lake was enough for him…at least in my eyes. We repeated this a few times over the weekend and each of them seemed to be the same…dad and son hanging out together. We ran into a school of perch just before dark and continued to bring them in one after another until I just became plain tired of pulling them off the hook.

I can’t think of a better way to spend a Labor Day weekend with my son.