Teaching my 5 year old

[Mike_pk_Waters]

Today I thought I'd take Junior and see if he likes fishing. father in law has a pond on some ground he owns in Tunbridge wells so that seemed the perfect place. We had seen some small fish occasionally so I thought this would be ideal.

Set him up, threw in a few maggots and then after several attempts managed to get him to cast in,

 

float sank,and junior pulled, then pulled some more and pulled , he was winding away and I thought the reel must be broken, but actullay it was the clutch !!!!!, After 3 or so mins I got the net under the fish, he had done so well holding the rod up and trying to pull.

 

The fish -- Roach 2lb 3 oz, the little s*d, what a way to start.

 

we stayed for 3 hours (and for 5 that is a long time) , managed 26 fish, some small but 6 or so very respectable, 1 at 1lb 6oz and finished with aout 8lb of prime roach

 

now I have fished for many more years than i care to remember, but still havent got a 2lb

I will be going back without him and armed with the proverbile kitchen sink

Edited June 25, 2011 by Mike_pk_Waters

[mvalias]

Mike

 

Did you fish as well, or did you just dedicate your time to him?

 

When ever I take someone with me with little or no experience I always fine that trying to fish myself is a waste of time.

 

Lovely fish, and might be the largest roach he will ever catch, and it was on his first outing. Is the pond fished regularly, or was your Son's maggots the first they had ever seen?

 

Keep encouraging him, and long may his enthusiam continue.

 

Michael

[davedave]

Very lucky lad, his first fish is about a pound over my pb roach! Nice one

[Mike_pk_Waters]

Mike

 

Did you fish as well, or did you just dedicate your time to him?

 

When ever I take someone with me with little or no experience I always fine that trying to fish myself is a waste of time.

 

Lovely fish, and might be the largest roach he will ever catch, and it was on his first outing. Is the pond fished regularly, or was your Son's maggots the first they had ever seen?

 

Keep encouraging him, and long may his enthusiam continue.

 

Michael

All my time was given over to helping him, although he got the idea quickly enough

 

The pond was 'restored' about five years ago , it was dry so we relined with clay and as it is spring fed so it filled up over a year or so and no one has ever fished it, in fact we never thought there was anyting in it except a few sticklebacks and a couple of goldfish we put in 3 year ago. So the fish was a real surprise, more of a surprise was the fact there were load more. I make it about 4 year classes .

 

i have questioned the neigbours and I said he put 3 or 4 small perch in from a pond in his garden so I assume there must be some of them too.

 

Ross is now asking to go again and has already been to tackle shop cause he wants a chair like mine.

 

i get the feeling this could get expensive.

 

but to see the look on his face when he picked it out of the net is priceless

[Anderoo]

Great to see, let us know how you both get on in future trips

[watatoad]

Most excellent, Congratulations to your son for catching the fish and to you for being willing to teach him and understanding that if you want to teach a youngster to fish you don't fish yourself. Looks like you may have a record beating youngster there...hehehe

[Mike_pk_Waters]

Most excellent, Congratulations to your son for catching the fish and to you for being willing to teach him and understanding that if you want to teach a youngster to fish you don't fish yourself. Looks like you may have a record beating youngster there...hehehe

 

I admit to a little selfishness here, I see all his peers at school playing video games and being sheltered to the extreme from anything slightly dirty/wet/cold and think to myself how much my childhood differed. I made a decision that he would at least try things. We built a proper tree house at easter, which he loves and luckily he prefers outdoors to the tv. so while I still have a chance I thought it was time.

 

He has always liked going to my 'shed' and looking at the vast array of tackle I have aquired over 40 years, coarse,sea and fluff chucking, so it was easy to kit him out and explain some of the basis. The biggest issue was where to go, and if it wasnt for my father in laws pond it would have been much harder.

 

The day ticket lakes although you will catch would mean that you would be always worrying about upseting others sport, and while most people are ok there is a limit, and children do have a short attention span (so do I)

 

Today we went down to Tonbridge park and walked round the river. He was genuinly interested in looking for fish and It looks like we will be going here next, because if I can keep this going it will be great.