Recently, I had the pleasure of having my two youngest grandchildren, ages 4 and 7, visit me. When they arrived, they informed me they wanted to catch fish, not cast for fish, but catch.
I was reminded there is a difference between catching and fishing. So to help the catching along, I went to Walmart and procured some hooks, ole fashioned red and white bobbers, not strike indicators, and a carton of worms. I then found two old and short spinning rods in the garage, and we headed to the pond. The gauntlet had been laid down.
Once at the pond, we headed to the dock where I knew bass, pan fish, and trout lived. I promptly found a good spot, sat down, and put my feet in the water to begin the process. After rigging the rods up, I showed them how to cut worms in half and put them on the hook. My granddaughter, at first, was a little squeamish about cutting the worms in half. That soon changed.
I had them stand on either side of me; it is easier to keep track of young catchers when they are close by. I made a short cast for my grandson and handed him the rod. Before I could get a second line in the water for my granddaughter, fish number one, was on the hook of my grandson’s rod. It was a nice bass. Not to be out done, my granddaughter wanted her line in the water before I could remove the bass from my grandson’s hook.
As I was removing the first fish, my granddaughter had a fish on her hook. My grandson waited, impatiently I might add, for fish two to be removed so I could help him put his worm back in the water.
This round robin of catching and putting fish back into the water went on until the worms had disappeared from their hooks. I opened the box of worms and begin to cut a worm in half. At this point my granddaughter wanted to do the cutting. I explained a sharp knife in the hands of a four-year old was not particularly safe. She, of course, objected. I held firm to my safety talk and she made mention that biting them in half would be safe. So much for being squeamish.
The cycle of catching and releasing went on for about an hour. At this point they wanted to move to the other side of the dock to see how the catching was on that side. I gave them my talk about not leaving fish to find other fish. It did not do any good.
We moved to the other side and caught some fish. After another 30 minutes, going to the far end of the lake to swim and play with the dogs was now what they wanted to do. It was a successful morning of catching.
So, how are grandchildren using worms to catch fish the future of fly fishing. Next time they tell me they want to catch fish, instead of rigging up spinning rods, I’ll put the hook, worm and a strike indicator at the end of short fly rods. I will then show them how to do a short roll cast.
After catching fish using a short roll cast, I bet one or both of them are going to ask how they can get their worm out a little further. I think a pick-up and put-down cast would be pretty easy to make.
This, of course, will be followed with a shooting cast, followed with using a fly instead of a worm. All of these steps won’t occur in one outing, but multiple times at the pond with Grumps. If this plan is successful it won’t be long until I hear, “Grumps, will you take us fly fishing?”
The reason I am confident this will happen is that I used the same tactics to get my daughter and three older grandchildren wanting to go fly fishing. If you use this method with the young children in your life, I guarantee you will end up with future fly fishing partners.
