Training our Next Generation of Anglers

From an article in Journal of a Minnesota Angler

http://www.journalofamnangler.com/2010/05/16/training-the-next-generation/

Yesterday, on the day of the Minnesota Fishing Opener, I didn’t get to go fishing. I did, however, take my 5 year old son fishing.

Minnesota State Senator Satveer Chaudhary of Minnesota District 50 hosted a youth fishing event on Lake Johanna with the Minnesota BASS Federation. Any kid that showed up was taken on a fancy bass boat and provided with a life jacket, a fishing pole, and bait, free of charge.

I went out to the event with my son and was amazed at how many boats were on shore waiting for kids when we got there. One of the members of the BASS Federation greeted us and volunteered his boat because he brought a more traditional fishing boat with higher sides than a bass boat. He thought my son would be more comfortable on it. We got on our life jackets and climbed aboard.

On the way out, our guide was very conscientious and made sure not to go to fast for my son. He used his fish finder to show us that we were headed to a hump in the middle of the lake. My son was very interested in how the fish finder worked. In fact, during our actual fishing, he was more interested in watching the electronics than the act of fishing at times.

When we got to our destination, our guide rigged up a nightcrawler on a jighead for my son. He put a Gulp leech on a spinning reel for me, and set up a crank bait for himself. I only really cast out once or twice before helping my son and the our guide soon put a worm on a jig with a skirt under a slip bobber to try to get a fish on the line for him, too. I was jigging with my son’s worm and felt a tick-tick-tick, but couldn’t set the hook fast enough. I reeled in and our worm was gone. We used a trolling motor to go back and forth over the hump a bunch of times and our guide got a few hits, but nothing he could keep hooked. They were just biting lite. My son’s line didn’t get any more action.

Our guide’s com padres were all hitting the shore with older kids and we only heard hooting and hollering once. Our guide was smart to use a bobber and jigging for my son. You can’t really cast with someone so young. Even though we didn’t catch anything, my son said he had a lot of fun. He enjoyed being out on the boat. So already at such a young age, he has the right attitude about fishing.

I was glad to hear he had a good time and I enjoyed taking him out. I also got to ask some questions of our guide and methods. I picked up a few tips and hope to put some of them to use soon.

From what I saw, all the kids were having fun. I hope Senator Chaudhary makes this an annual event. Fishing with your kids is almost always better than any day out on your own.