Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - November/December 2020 - 11

encouraging practice, and it will eventually all
come together.

Catching fish

During a trout derby, I watched as my
daughter's bait drifted past the trout without
any interest. I decided to make up a game
that would also give her bait a little bit of
action. To the tune of "The Wheels on the
Bus," we would make the rod go "up and
down" and "bounce, bounce, bounce." Doing
that made the bait dance, and the trout could
no longer resist.
Flash forward a few weeks later, we were
fishing for bass and she asked me to cast a
tube lure out for her on my other spinning
rod. I threw it out and handed her the rod.
I look over to see her humming the tune we
sang a few weeks earlier. All while bouncing
the tube lure along the bottom of the lake.
I then hear, "I think I got one." I look over
to see the rod bent over with a 17-inch
Largemouth Bass attached. She went on to
catch several more fish that morning using
her fun new method. One year later, she is
still using the bounce method.
As I start the journey towards showing my
son how to fish, I am often reminded of the
Part of the fishing experience is learning about the fish that we are catching.
lessons I have learned. First and foremost,
make it fun for the child. While fishing may
As dexterity and hand strength increase, the learning curve
seem easy to some anglers, to a child it is a
will flatten out. Also, with age, the child will better understand whole new experience that requires basic instructions. Be
your instructions as well. I learned this the hard way. Teaching patient, and it will happen. The reward will outweigh the
a 2 year old to cast a fishing rod was a challenge to say the
work involved. The result is a fishing buddy for life.
least. I did not learn my lesson either as I am going through
it again with my son. With both kids, we have spent a lot of
time practicing in the backyard. Children's fishing rods usually
come with a plastic fish that you can tie onto the end of the
line. The fish provides enough weight on the line to ease the
casting experience. Showing children the motions of casting
usually goes fast. The timing of when to push the button on
the reel and ultimately when to release it is by far the biggest
challenge of the entire process. With my son, I tried a lot of
"reel-less" options, but he does not like that his sister has a reel
and he does not. This has sped up the introduction to using a
fishing reel a little faster than planned.
Between ages 2 and 4 years old, my daughter wanted to cast
by herself, but it just never happened. Days before her fourth
birthday on the opening day of trout, she insisted on doing
the casting. There was no one around, so I gave her the green
light. She cocked back, pushed the button, brought it forward,
and released a perfect cast across the stream. I was stunned.
Out of nowhere, she could suddenly do it. From there, it was
like riding a bike. Every time out after that day, she gets better
and can do it even more consistently. I attribute the success
to the amount of times we practiced in the yard. If you find
your child struggling with casting, give your child time. Keep
Just as my parents did for me, I want fishing to be fun for my kids.
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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - November/December 2020

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