Took my boy out for the first time ever today halfway between high to low in Yellowhouse. We fished the inside of the big horseshoe bend at the north end. Grandpa was supposed to come along today, but he had a water heater mess to clean up. I expected to pull all of my hair out dealing with him solo, but it went great and we both had a blast. Caught one 13 3/4" trout. We did more boat riding than fishing, but we’ll be back again!
I was using a 1/8 oz jig head with a mud minnow (no float). The one trout was hiding behind a patch of grass out of the current on the downstream side.
Semper Fi
18’ Sterling
115 Yamaha
Big Ugly Homemade Blue Push Pole
Awesome, Hoof! They’ll amaze you sometimes with their love of adventure and just being on the water. Last shot is how a lad should look coming off of a great day with Dad! Handsome boy!
His great-aunt bought him that hat. She’s a “cock-fan” too. She said it was the most difficult shopping experience of her life. Thanks for the attaboys.
Semper Fi
18’ Sterling
115 Yamaha
Big Ugly Homemade Blue Push Pole
Awesome… looks like he had a great time. I love taking the boy whenever he actually wants to go. At first it was a hundfull but after I changed my mindset from “I want to fish!” to “I just want to have fun with the boy!” it’s become far less frustrating. He likes to jump around and play with the minnows or mullet in the live well…lately he’s been actually wanting to fish a little longer before he gets bored. It took a little bit of self control on my part to keep from getting frustrated about the amount of noise he makes. Now I just go with the flow and make sure to take plenty of pictures of the fish I catch when he’s not around ( I take pics when he’s there also) so that when he asks ‘how come we never catch anything when I go?’ I make sure to explain that I don’t always catch fish when he isn’t there but that there’s a reason I keep telling him he has to be quiet on the boat. Fish or no fish…it’s a special feeling to be on the bow with the boy fishing.
Hey Hoof. Curious. How old is he. Probably gonna get my two year old out soon. She is a handful to say the least. Amazing how much she is like her Dad. Good on you for getting him started.
My boy is 2 1/2.
I am not the guy in the oyster video, but I do love oysters. People usually invite me to oyster roasts if they’re worried they bought too many to eat.
I think next time we go, I’m going to let him get up on the bow with me. He wanted to run the trolling motor and stand up on the bow with me. I was happy just to have him smiling and telling me “Daddy, I’m fissin’!”
The hardest part of the day was him trying to decide whether he wanted to use the Spongebob pole with a cork and hook or the Spider-Man pole with the practice plug on it. After a while, he decided he just wanted to play with the Spider-Man pole, and that’s when I caught the trout.
Remembering back to when my dad had me and my two younger brothers on his bass boat untangling all of our lines and re-rigging all of our poles helped me find an inner peace to have a lot of patience with him.
If you’re taking little ones, get lots of snacks and make sure they have fun. It’s worth it!
Good luck!
Semper Fi
18’ Sterling
115 Yamaha
Big Ugly Homemade Blue Push Pole
Great advice. I always made sure there were a few diversions as well (an electronic game or something else they wanted to fool with) to avoid boredom. Boredom, hunger and thirst are the enemy - until you are on the fish! Then its GAME ON and the fun starts!
Nice boy’s day out. My life got better when I changed my mindset. Now I hook up something on a circle hook and toss it over the side with the rod in a holder. Drift along and watch the boy bounce from net to bait to snacks, etc. if a fish volunteers then my son reels them in. We caught five, reds & trout in an hour in slow current without me nagging at him to mind the rod or sit still. He thinks we’re just fishing.
That’s awesome Hoof. Keep it up man the time passes way too quickly. GREAT HAT BTW. I’ve got two sons one is a Sophomore in Mech Eng. @ Clemson the other is a Jr in High School. I wouldn’t trade the memories of our outdoor adventures for any amount of money, or mine with my Dad.
