David’s First Fish

Hey, your first fish might as well be a good one, huh? And when you’re almost 4 years old, your first fishing trip with your auld man should be successful, right?

It wasn’t fly fishing – but we had a memorable afternoon, my wee man David and I. He’s been talking about going fishing, especially since Colin was down and Colin and I went fly fishing together just about everyday. Yesterday evening, David came to me, looked up at me, with his sparkling blue eyes and said, “Daddy, can we go fishing?”

“You bet, David! Let’s do that together, just me and you, tomorrow.”

“Yay!”

So, today it was first off to the bank and then Canadian Tire where we picked out a brand new fancy Zebco spincast rod and reel. And of course, David’s own tackle box, with Scooby Doo images on it. He was so proud to be an owner of his own tackle box, he had to carry it out from Canadian Tire to the van.

We drove up Hwy 10 to the Primrose Trout Farm near Shelburne Ontario. I hear the groans already from those of you purists! I know, I know.. but I wanted to make sure he caught something on his first trip out. I didn’t even take my own rod along – this was all about David. It also helped that the Primrose Trout Farm is only about 15 minutes away from our home.

It was so much fun as the little chatterbox noticed everything and pointed out everything he saw, and asked questions about stuff I don’t know the answer to.

I set up his rod as he watched, pulled out a worm and put it on the hook.

“Daddy, do fish like to eat worms?”

“They sure do, David.”

“Ok, Ok.”

I cast the rod out, and in probably less than ten minutes, he had a big fish on. Zzzzzzzz went the reel as the line tore off it. But then the rod went slack. Had to teach David a little bit about setting the hook, but to be honest, the rod in his hands wasn’t exactly steady as it was… but that was ok.

A few minutes later, another zzzzzing… and again no fish.

“This is so much fun, Daddy. Thank you for taking me fishing.”

“Oh you are welcome, and just you wait – it’s going to be even more fun once you catch a fish.”

David stood by the side of the pond, I squatted beside him, getting ready to help him set the hook the next time. And finally, this time as the rod tip bent over and the reel squealed, this was a solid hook up. David reeled, the fish fought, tail danced on the water, dove, and did a few body smashes down into the water as it jumped and cleared the surface, and David grinned, laughed, and cheered.

For someone’s first fish, this one performed with a score of 10.

I would have liked to have fished a little longer, maybe caught another one, but I didn’t have much cash on me. I figured the fish to be around 2lbs, and Primrose Trout Farm charges $5.50 per pound, and releasing fish is actually illegal. David was so excited about the one fish, and he thought we should take it home to show Mommy anyhow, so off we went with our fish to get weighed – sure enough it was close to 2lbs as it cost me $9.50.

David and I had packed what he called, a “picnic” in his lunch box, and he reminded me on the way home we still had to have our picnic together. So I drove into Monora Park, we found a shaded area, and we had our apples, cracker snacks and juice, while we chatted.

“Daddy, if fish eat worms, what do worms eat?”

“You know what? I’m not really sure! Probably things that we can’t see with our eyes.”

A moment of silent contemplation.

“I guess we should get out our spy-glass that what makes things look bigger then to find out, right Daddy?”

David’s “spy glass” is a large magnification glass that he likes to carry around on occassion. “Yeah, that’s a fantastic idea, son!”

“I know, Daddy.”

“I am so blessed,” I thought to myself as I ruffled my hands through his hair.

“Can we go fishing again tomorrow, Daddy?”

“I am doubly blessed!”, I thought to myself while letting him know that we could go fishing again tomorrow.

Yes, doubly blessed to have another brand new excited angler in my life.

And would you believe the camera I had brought along had dead batteries in it? Ah well… the memories are etched in my mind anyhow.