Father and son fishing trips are some of the best experiences a dad and his boy will ever have together. Fishing is one sport in which a father and son are on equal footing and both share in the thrill of the catch.
Fishing with your son is as simple as grabbing a Zebco rod and reel combo for each of you and putting a worm on the hook. Older kids enjoy the challenge of using artificial baits and more advanced techniques. However you do it your son will love you for investing the time and energy into spending the day with him.
There are some simple rules of the road that you should travel by. Tailoring the experience to your son’s maturity level, skills and interests are as critical here as in everyday life. Here’s a look at the points you should remember.
The first is that the concept of “quality time” is a myth. You should of course listen to and communicate directly with your son but he’s not going to interpret fifteen minutes of your attention as love. He wants a lot more of his dad than just a few minutes a day. Demonstrate your love by showing your son he’s important enough for you to set aside the demands of work and other worthy pursuits for several hours on the water.
Young children have very short attention spans. Plan to keep your trip within a reasonable time frame. Take along some a baseball and gloves if the fish aren’t biting. Older children easily get hooked on fishing and won’t want to call it a day and go home.
Keep your fishing equipment simple. A 5 ½ to 6-foot spincasting outfit with a hook and a bobber are all your son will need. A Zebco combination rod and reel is easily mastered and seldom tangles the line.
Pinch the barbs on the hooks with a pair of pliers to make them barbless. A barbless hook makes unhooking both the fish and wayward body parts like fingers and arms easier.
Live bait catches anything that swims. Earthworms are easily gathered after a rain storm and can be kept alive for short periods of time in a can with worm bedding or loose dirt and shreds of newspaper kept cool and slightly moist. Crickets, grasshoppers, grubs and other natural fish food also work great.
Take a camera with you to record the memories. A simple point-and-shoot instamatic camera will preserve memories for years to come. If you have an expensive 35mm SLR or digital camera you might want to consider leaving it at home. When you’re fishing with kids everything gets dirty. Disposable cameras are available that take pretty good shots. When the roll of film is done you send the entire camera in for processing. Disposables are reasonably priced and if one gets lost or damaged you can find another one at most grocery and retail stores.
Younger kids want to catch a lot of fish. Older children may be interested in the trophy-sized fish but numbers generally win out over size. Select a pond or other shoreline destination where a young angler can catch a few willing bluegills. Older kids might be interested in trying for catfish, bass, pike or muskies. Experienced young anglers will enjoy an outing for walleyes or even off-shore fish like tuna and sharks. If the lunkers aren’t biting most boys are content to pick up a few bait-stealers.
Be patient with your son. Fathers who are dedicated anglers become frustrated with a youngster’s banging on the bottom of the boat or tossing rocks into the water from the shoreline. The most important thing is to spend time with your son.
Make your trip memorable whether you catch fish or not. Laugh a lot. Explore the lake for frogs, turtles, crayfish and other eye-opening wonders your son might not regularly see. Stop at McDonald’s on the way home to enjoy a burger and a shake. Your time together will be one of your son’s most important memories of his father in the days to come. The time you spend fishing together will be well worth the investment.