Taking A Child Fishing

January 2003 by gunner

This is something that is near and dear to me.  I take my children fishing every chance we get, but with football practice and band practice it is not always as often as I would like…but we do what we can when the schedules allow.

For me…my fishing started in 1972-73 with my grandfather.  He was getting ready to retire by 1975, and he wanted to break me into fishing early so he did not have to worry about it after he retired.  With a child, the best thing to do, I still believe to this day, is to do what he did with me.  He took me to a little lake, and we went behind the dam to the where the spillway fed the creek.  There were (and still are) hundreds of bluegills in that little area.  I had just as much fun watching the fish steal the bait as I did catching one!  It taught me two things…how to catch fish…and how not to catch fish.  I know that sounds strange, but think about it…I learned to tie a hook and sinker, learned how to cast (in my case it was a Zebco 202), and, most importantly, how to “set” the hook.  It showed me that I am not going to catch a fish with every cast…but, if I do it right, in the right situation, I can still catch fish.  Those first few times I lost more fish than I caught…so I learned how to not catch fish.

When he did retire in 1975, he and I went fishing every weekend.  During the summer I stayed at their house so we went 3 to 4 times a week.  He was more of a live bait fisherman…he had a few lures, but swore they did not work.  He stuck with his trusty Zebco 33 reel and 10-pound test line.

In 1978 he gave me an old Garcia Mitchell 314 spinning reel that he had kept stored away for years…but then, to my surprise, he had my grandmother take me to buy two identical green Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 5500D baitcasting reels.  He and I stood in the backyard with our baitcasters, practicing and casting over and over…but he quickly went back to that trusty 33 and returned his 55D to the store.  I, on the other hand, had dreams of fishing all over the country, winning B.A.S.S. tournaments with that beautiful green 55D in my hand…

Through the years, as I grew up and he grew older, we still faithfully continued to fish every weekend and every summer, but by 1996 he was having a hard time walking around.  Our last fishing trip took place where the first one happened 24 years earlier.  Even though I had many different reels by that time, I fished that day with the Garcia Mitchell he had given me.  And yes, he still had that same Zebco 33…but I made sure the line had been changed!  The roles had changed by now…I was the one catching the bluegills, and he was the one that was remembering how to not catch fish.  We laughed and talked about years and trips gone by…and we also sat and said nothing…which probably spoke the loudest.  As I turned to wipe a tear from my eye, I saw him doing the same…even though we didn't say anything about it, we both knew in our hearts this was the last fishing trip we would ever go on together.  He had given me a lifetime of memories, a tradition to pass along to my children, and a love for the outdoors that I hope everyone will come to understand in their lifetime.  Oh…and also a love for Ambassadeur reels… which I collect now, and I use some of them every time I go out.

In case you are wondering…yes, I still have that Mitchell 314, and I still use it…and when I do, I look up to the heavens and thank him for the enjoyment he so unselfishly gave me.  The green 5500D is still in my collection, and I plan on it being there for a long, long time.  Sadly, in 1999 he passed on at the age of 88 after a surgery which was supposed to help him walk better, and we planned on fishing again…

So see, you never know just what you will teach or show a child when you teach them to fish…

Thank you grandpa…you are in my every thought…

The Garcia Mitchell 314 as it is today…

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