Fishing for Family Fun

I was quite surprised to answer the phone one day last summer and discover that my brother from El Paso was in Minnesota. It turned out that the family had an unexpected ten days of open time in their schedule and had done a last minute pack and drove north. I am sure that there were numerous reasons for making that long trek that all played into this last minute decision, but I knew my brother well enough to know that part of the incentive was to get out fishing.

Not being the type of person that would want to disappoint someone that had their heart set on fishing, we scheduled some water time right then and there. A day later I found myself loading up a very eager family and heading to the lake.

A trip to the lake is certainly not something that is unusual in my routine. However, what was unique was the fact that this time I had three year old twins along as part of my boating crew.

I have to admit that it has been a while since I have had kids that young in my boat. I can easily recall the experiences that I had with my own daughters when they were of such an age. Fishing was only part of the entertainment, a part that all too often was not very long lived.

In order to incorporate the young kids into the fishing scene for longer than five minutes some careful planning must be done. First of all you have to understand that kids of a real young age are simply not capable of fishing on their own. So, you help them.

I will always remember little McKenzie sitting on my lap and cranking on the Mitchell as I held the pole. She new that the fish was there because she could feel the action on the rod. When a 14 inch bass surfaced by the boat she forgot all about the reel handle. She crawled off of my lap and went to the side of the boat to look for the fish. By the time we got her back to cranking it was too late. That bass was long gone.

The fact that we lost the bass really didn't matter to her. For all she knew that was part of the game. What she did learn was that fishing was really fun!

The action is not always constant when on a angling trip. Unfortunately, there are lulls between fish. Somehow these periods of inactivity need to be addressed. Here are some tricks that work for me.

For some reason, kids are fascinated with plastic worms. By opening up your bag of Culprit and sharing a few colorful worms you can keep kids occupied for some time. There must be something about the slipperiness of the plastic that interests them so much. It doesn't really matter, kids love to play with them.

Another good trick is to pick up a few good sized minnows. These minnows are not for fishing. They are for playing. You set a kid down with a bucket of minnows and they are good for an hour!

Make sure you have plenty of water in the bucket or the minnows will be too easy to catch. A lot of water allows the minnows more room for swimming and keeps the cat and mouse game going longer. Eventually the minnows will be handled to the point they no longer swim.

This isn't all bad because now you look for some seagulls. This seagull search usually means that it is time to start up the Merc and go for a boat ride. Kids love that!

Once the gulls are found you will need to get their attention before feeding them. To do this, just wave the minnow around in the air for a while until they see what you have. They know that boats mean food and will readily come when you pitch the minnow their way. Kids eat this up as much as the birds.

Another good tactic for occupying time is the old livewell trick. Put a fish that you catch in the livewell. It can be anything just not a northern. They have teeth that are too dangerous. Once there is a fish or two in the livewell you won't have to worry about entertainment for quite a while.

There is a word of caution for the livewell trick and that is to be careful of little fingers. The livewell on my Alumacraft has a spring that holds it open so the lid does not come down and pinch tender extremities.

Fishing as a family can create a host of memories for all parties involved. The trick comes in understanding the attention span of the kids you have along and balancing the activities to match. If the kids do want to fish, make sure you catch quantity. Kids do not care about the species. To them it is strictly a numbers game.

By correctly handling the early years of a young angler's fishing career you can easily make a fishing partner for life. By ignoring the needs of these young anglers because you are focusing on your own, you teach kids to hate the word fishing and all that is associated with it.

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