For the last 2 years my son has been my bank fishing buddy. He loves going down to the pond to fish with dad. I love hearing his "I catched a fish" to which I politely correct. Well ever since I teamed up with WCO and that crazy group of guys. I have been on the water pretty much every weekend rain or shine. Kaiden always watches and helps me load up and get ready for these outings always asking if he can come with, to which I reply a heart aching no. Now before anyone starts hammering me on being a horrible father hear me out a second. For one Kaiden has no had a proper pfd until recently and two during my adventures I am constantly looking for good water to take him. Water that has easy in and out, a decent amount of fish in the "Kaiden" size category, low boat traffic and low current speed in case of the always present worst case scenario. Well today his day finally came. I had got him a proper pfd, respooled his pool, made sure the camera was charged and prepared myself mentally.
Our day started a little later than what dad would have like, but when you stay the night at Grandma's you tend not to want to leave. So after lathering on the sunscreen, grabbing the Cars and Star Wars poles, some of daddy's jigs we were off. After a stop at the bait shop on the way to the put in for some minnows to help increase our odds for success. We finally arrive at our spot, later than I would like, I see many cars and trucks and trailers. Our spot is rather crowded with the weekend paddlers. Our spot is overrun with kids with paddles and oars and giant metal floating drums. So I'm already praying that we catch a least one fish. I unload the yak from the trailer and with the help of Kaiden quickly load up and hit the water. Now this particular stretch of river I knew met my checklist from the previous day's fishing. We paddle up stream a bit from the ramp find some nice shade and begin wettin some lines. Kaiden throwing a Beetle Spin and I with a bobber rig. Which I might add if you have never seen a grown man throw a 2' Star Wars themed pole that lights up when you push the button like a pro bass angler, it's a sight... Well we chill in the shade for a bit with no bit. I started thinking to myself "Wait, this is not how I fish for smallies. I float!" So we do just that. I move us to the middle of the river and start drifting. Kaiden still throwing the BS and me with the bobber. I cast out the minnow and just let it drift with us as I start throwing my UL from yesterday. After a few casts I look to where the bobber should be and to my surprise no bobber. I quickly say to Kaiden to grab the rod and reel, reel, reel. He looks at me with the confused yet amazed stare. As he's reeling his heart out the acrobatics begin. That's when the look I was waiting for all day happened. His eyes grew about 4 size along with the grin on his face. Not only has he hooked a fish, but he has hooked his first smallie (first of many to come I hope. Got to the boat, took the photo and release. The rest of the day went uneventful, the weekend paddler traffic increased and this dad say it's time to go home. We drift back to the ramp load up and head home, but without making a stop for some celebratory ice cream. As we make our way home somebody takes a nap and the other reflects on the day. Let you guess who did what. As I stare at him through the rear view this dad finds a tear in his eyes. Because this dad knows that there are many more of these memories to come and one day when the torch is past onto from father to son when son becomes father that he too will be in the same place as I was today. Until next time. Tight lines.
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