Tuesday, April 18, 2006

April 17, 2006


Learning to Fish

Travis informed us several weeks ago that he wanted to go fishing on a boat (his previous experience is all at local private ponds), for a long time, for largemouth bass. So, yesterday, my husband took the day off, we met my sister and her family at one of our favorite, sentimental lakes in East TN (the one I learned to fish on), and let him fish all day.

Remarkably enough, he fished for around 5 hours without losing patience or getting restless. Pretty good for a 4 year old, I think. He enjoyed it that much. It should be noted that he caught the first fish of the day, and the last, and caught more fish than anyone else in the boat. (I had one, and my BIL had one, neither my husband or nephew caught any). Oh yea, I had the biggest fish of the day. hehehehe.

This lake is sentimental to me because my father (who died in January, 2002, 8 days before Travis was born) used to take us there several times a year. It is where I caught my first fish, and most of the fish thereafter. Riding up and down the lake, I see something that I recognize and it triggers a memory of my dad for me. Could be sad, but I kinda like it. It helps me feel like I am teaching Travis about my daddy, because I am teaching him to enjoy the same things "Pops" did. (Not that it is that difficult.)

Below are the pictures of Travis with his "fish." OK, so they aren't wall-worthy, but this little guy was proud as punch about them, and he caught them all by himself. All the help he had was putting the bait on and getting the fish off. He cast, hooked, and reeled all by himself.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great story. Every kid needs to get out and try fishing or hiking or something ... instead of computer games all the time.

I think that the first pic has some potential if the colours were brought out a bit.