An Intro to Fishing

For whatever reason, the boy has been fixated on fishing this week. First he asked me if we had a fishing pole. We do- I was gifted one many moons ago.

Could he use it to catch fish?

No. He can’t. There is no hook on it, nor any fishing line.

Can we put that stuff on it?

Probably. I’d have to go and buy it somewhere.

Can we go get it the stuff so that we he can use the fishing pole to catch a fish? He wants to catch a fish. He’s sure he can be patient enough to catch a fish. How do you catch a fish? How do you hold it? Does the fish die when you catch it? How do you get the hook out of it’s mouth? Do all fish have teeth? Why do only some fish have teeth? Do fish bite? Does it hurt when a fish bites? How do you hold the fish so it won’t bite you ’cause it’s slippery? Can we eat the fish after he catches it? He doesn’t want to eat the fish- he’ll just keep is as a pet. I don’t have to worry, he’ll take care of it. How do you take care of a fish?

Can we go to get the stuff to catch a fish?

Finally, today, I went to get the stuff to put on the fishing pole so we could maybe catch a fish. I got snelled hooks, bullet shaped sinkers, swivels and bobs. Oh, and 20 lb test line. I wasn’t really thinking when I got the line. The idea of the boy being on the other end of the fishing line with a 20 pound fish on it is both amusing and exhausting. Considering that the pulling of a kite scares the dickens out of him, I can’t imagine what the sudden yank of a fish on a line would do to him.

But I digress…

As it turns out, setting up a rod and reel is simple. It’s so simple that I couldn’t do it. That’s because despite the simplicity, there are approximately a zillion ways to end up with a bird’s nest sitting on the reel. I’m pretty sure I came close to the zillion-and-first way before I finally got the line on so that I could consistently cast the line without FOOOOP! happening. (yes- that’s a technical term for what happens when the line just starts coming of the reel at a ungodly rate resulting in a Gordian Knot.) Not to mention the number of times I got the barrel swivel on, only to have to cut it off so I could put the bullet sinker on.

Ugh.

When the boy came home, we went fishing in the stream behind our house. I didn’t bother baiting the hook because I figured he’d drop the line in the water, wait 30 seconds, declare the activity stupid and go off to find something else to do. Probably pretending to catch a big fish from the depths of the yard (I really need to mow the lawn). But no, I cast the line into the water, showed him what to do and he sat down and waited.

How do we get the fish to bite? Why don’t the fish want to bite the hook? How do we know if there are fish in the water?

I told him that sometimes you bait the hook with a worm.

How does the worm stay on the hook?

I didn’t answer that one directly. I didn’t mention using frogs as bait either, for the same reason.

To his credit, he stuck it out for about 20 minutes before I told him that it was time to go get some dinner going. When we got back to the house, I took the hook off the line and showed him how to cast the line. Then he practiced casting off the deck.

No fish. As it happens, I know there’s a fish in the stream because I’ve seen the ripples from it coming up to snatch bugs near the surface of the water. I also caught a glimpse of it and know that it’s just a little bitty thing. Although I’ll bet it’s big enough to give the boy a good fight.

I just hope the rod doesn’t end up in the water. I put a lot of work into getting it setup…