It's a beautiful thing when you finally, at last, succeed. Sometimes the pay-off is so grand that you are hooked. My Brandon has owned a variety of fishing poles for almost three years now. Let's see, we've had Sponge Bob, Sccoby Doo, Spiderman, and a couple Diego's. He has over the past two years learned how to cast and retrieve Daddy's big-boy fishing pole too. He's really got the whole theatrics of casting down to a science. Including the 'awwwwwhhhhhhhh" when it goes off in semi-unsafe directions. Last Christmas, his grandfather bought him some casting plugs, little hard plastic pieces that allow you to practice without hooks. How nice!It's been a few months since he's graduated to a real fishing lure with hooks. What Brandon affectionately calls his fish"ies", an assortment of colors and spinners that give him the freedom to FISH like a big boy.
I've dodged some pretty scary hooks in the head, face, arm, and butt. He's conscious that the hooks he so forcefully weilds can hurt you. So he practices safe casting, looks both ways, and takes turns.
He's retrieved fish that I've hooked since the very beginning. Yet, somehow, he has known that it's never really been "his" fish. So, he goes fishing with his pole - now a fire engine red and blue - SPIDERMAN pole, armed with a yummy white beetle spin. A lethal combination if you happen to be a Bass. I'm so impressed with his try, try, again attitude. Brandon's like his father, he loves the act of fishing... being outdoors, observing nature, father/son talks, and spending time together. Oh, and catching fish too. We get asked all the time "did you keep your catch"? We always catch and release ... good for the fish, good for our souls.
I had just answered a call on my cell phone when Brandon said to me calmly, "Daddy, I got a big one..." Sure enough, he did. In fact that $9 red plastic rod had the strength of SPIDERMAN ... enough for Brandon to land a three pound Peacock Bass! Almost half his 44" height, Brandon couldn't help but touch it's slimmey body as he giggled with boyish joy. I'm positive two fish had been caught that afternoon -- that Bass and my little "guppy". I don't remember my first catch, but somehow I think Brandon and I will always remember the times we spent together. Priceless.
