When taking kids fishing, it’s not about you

I love to fish so much that I’ve nearly trashed our van on Interstate 75 because I was gazing at South Elkhorn Creek instead of watching the road. I store fishing gear in my car, I’ve raised night crawlers in my kitchen, and I’ve stayed up for 24 hours straight because fish were biting.

I tell you this only because I want you to know that I’m serious when I offer one important piece of advice about taking kids fishing:

Leave your own rod at home.

If you don’t, it will be impossible to follow the second rule of fishing with a kid:

You only have 10 minutes.

Let’s start with the first rule, the one most painful for many anglers. You know who you are. Since your kids were infants, you’ve dreamed of putting all those baby years behind you and heading out to the lake for hours of quality outdoor time. You’ve imagined teaching your young fry about wildlife, sharing a joke or two and engaging in the kind of in-depth conversation you’ve longed for since they were born.

Dream on.

The conversation, at least from my experience, is more likely to go something like this: “Is that a bee, can I step in that mud, I’d really like to go swimming, who put all of these rocks here, can I touch those things, ouch, those things are sharp, can I pee outside, are we going to McDonald’s, I bet there are huge eels in this creek, if not eels then some swordfish, do fish bite people?”

And then you’re 30 seconds into the trip.

In the real world, children have attention spans shorter than a back cast. So the key to a successful outing is making sure the action is focused on your kid. That means handing the rod over.

What will you do? Lots. Think of yourself as a mild-mannered coach. Or maybe even Andy Griffith. (I shoot for Andy Griffith, but usually wind up acting more like Barney Fife.) Warn them about the dangers of hooks. Show them how to cast without tangling. Fetch their line out of trees and assure them that although that’s not what they should be trying to catch, it’s OK that they did.

Most important of all, it is your job to focus on Rule No. 2: You only have 10 minutes.

Think about how your kids typically spend their days. Everything is broken into 10- to 15-minute segments. A few minutes at recess, a few at lunch, reading time, nap time. There’s no reason you should expect a fishing trip to be any different, so plan accordingly.

The best way to ensure happiness is to ensure a constantly moving bobber. That’s not as difficult as it sounds in Kentucky if you remember this: Don’t think big fish; think many fish.

Without a doubt, the best bet is a farm pond. If you don’t have a friend or relative who lives on a farm, ask around. You’ll be surprised how many people in Kentucky have friends with farms and don’t mind asking if your kids can fish there. If all else fails, ask for permission yourself. Many landowners don’t mind sharing their ponds as long as their livestock are in another field and the children are courteous.

If you don’t have access to farm ponds, don’t give up. There are still hundreds of places to fish in Kentucky. Virtually every state and city park has good bank fishing. And any stream in the state with at least knee-deep water is bound to be teeming with fish.

After all of your preparation and planning, it’s important to take one other step. Tell yourself, over and over again if need be, that you won’t get upset if your child loses interest quickly.

I always tell myself that, but on a day like the one I spent with my son, Emery, now 6, and daughter, Meg, 3, last August, I was slow to remember.

My wife, Lee, and I planned for the day; we packed lunch and water and sunscreen, as well as all the bait we needed, which included hot dogs, a favorite bait of farm-pond catfish.

A co-worker had gotten permission for us to fish in her neighbor’s farm pond, a small but perfect fishing hole in Clark County. When we got there, I practiced everything I preach. I encouraged the kids to play with the worms, showed them where I thought some of the fish might be, put a hot dog on a hook and helped them cast it out.

The bobber sank immediately. Emery started to reel the fish in, but the line broke.

I knew he had lost a big fish. So for the next cast, I grabbed a rod with stronger line. We cast it out and again the bobber sank. This time, Emery was not going to lose the fish. He put his head down and cranked the reel as if it were a winch. He didn’t stop reeling until the fish, a big, ugly, 6-pound catfish, was sliding up onto the bank.

Emery screamed with delight until he actually saw the fish, which was more than half his size. He backed up to let Dad and the pond’s owner take the hook out. After we put the fish back in the water, Emery ran up and down the bank, strutting and proclaiming to anyone who could hear that he had caught a huge catfish.

My mind raced. “A 6-pound catfish,” I thought. “Emery’s going to love fishing.”

I was quickly putting more bait on the hook, hoping to get the line out again so we could catch another big fish, when Emery walked up beside me and tugged on my shirt. He was looking up the hill at a little boy playing with his toys.

“Daddy, can we go play now?” he asked.

My mouth gaped open, and then I realized: My 10 minutes were up.

As Emery and Meg ran up the hill to play with the little boy, I quickly packed up all of the little-used gear and bait. I looked at the pond and wondered about the fish we were leaving behind.

Then I caught up with my children so I could enjoy the next 10 minutes of fun.

—By Chris Poore, editor of www.kentuckyfishing.com. This story was first published in 2004 in the Lexington Herald-Leader

8 tips for fishing with your kids

Here are a few tips for fishing with kids, from the writer and from Lonnie Nelson, program manager for recruitment and development with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.

Have fun, be flexible and be patient.

After a few minutes of fishing, having fun to a kid might mean throwing rocks, looking for bugs or getting wet. Go with it. The main goal is to have your child associate fishing trips with fun.

Use live bait.

Your chances are always better with live bait. Hooking the squirmy, slimy critters can be half the fun. For tips on bait, see below.

Bring food, sunscreen, sunglasses and plenty of water or beverages.

A hungry, sunburned kid is not a happy kid.

Use simple fishing tackle, but not cheap tackle.

Every kid wants a Scooby-Doo fishing rod. Avoid the temptation. Most toy rods are too flimsy to actually catch a fish. Find a regular-size rod with medium action, and buy a push-button reel. Most bait shop owners will be happy to help you find the right rod.

Pick a sure-fire place to go.

Ask around. You’re not looking for big fish; you’re looking for constant action. You’re more likely to find constant action at a nearby city park than you are in big water like Kentucky Lake or Lake Cumberland.

Go to a fishing camp or seminar.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources assists groups such as the YMCA, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, and schools with more than 400 fishing programs every year. All summer long, there are likely to be fishing programs near you. Call 1-800-858-1549 for locations or information.

Bring a camera.

Good options are the waterproof disposable cameras you can buy at most groceries and drugstores.

Go early.

Any time is a good time to take your kids fishing, but you’ll have better luck if you go in the morning, when the sun’s low and the fish are less likely to be spooked.

Watch kids squirm with delight over live bait

To increase chances of success with kids, live bait is always best. And it’s more fun.

If you’re going to buy bait, make sure you take your children along with you. Let them get the worms out of the case or point out the minnows they want.

If you’re going to find the bait yourself, you’re in for even more fun. For worms, dig under rocks or in compost, or go outside at night with a flashlight after a heavy rain and snatch night crawlers out of the yard.

For more adventure, consider catching crawfish, and hellgrammites, the scary-looking larvae of the dobsonfly, which most fish consider a delicacy. For this, you’ll need to go to a bait shop and buy a seining net. (Read the state’s fishing and boating guide at www.kdfwr.state.ky.us/ to make sure you’re following state regulations.) Attach sticks or posts to each end of the seining net, hold it upright across the current, and then have your child go upstream and kick up as many rocks as possible.

Spread the net out to see what you’ve caught. The fun comes in watching your kid squeal trying to avoid the critters’ pincers.

To avoid the pincers, which can draw blood but are generally harmless, teach your child to grab them behind the head.

You also might consider raising your own bait. There are countless Web sites that offer tips.