My sons first bass!!!

[fowlmouth]

After repeated attempts and numerous "can't we fish for bluegills?" my 6 year old son got his first bass. I took him out this afternoon to try out a new prop and he said he wanted to fish, so who am I turn that down? Started him off with a spinnerbait on his little rapala rod and he tried and tried with no luck. He wanted to switch baits so I made the selection 3-4 times, trying to keep it pretty simple and weedless for him still no luck. Then he picks out an old bag of powerbait ringworms and said he wanted to try that, so I rigged it weedless on a 4/0 hook on one of my st.croix's and handed it to him.
On his second cast I can here the sweet sound of braid running through the guides and looked back to see him wide-eyed and crankin' like a madman. It was a smallie and it cleared water 3 times and ran under the boat, the whole time my son stuck right to it and met the fish move for move. The only time I really helped was to grab the braid to guide it in the net(not gonna risk losin' a fish this important with my thumb). We celebrated with high fives and a hug before measuring and releasing, that fish weighed 3lbs 2oz. and was 18 1/2".
I was so happy and proud that he had done such a great job on his first bass that I forgot to take a picture of it, but he just said that's why we let 'em go, so we can catch them again.

[Cheetam]

Awesome story!  I look forward to taking my daughters out one day (hopefully they won't be girly girls like their mom

[Skulley]

Jeff that will be up to you.  Get em out young.  I got my 12 year old daughter fishing with me on Wednesday Nights in NBAA.  She was 6 when we started just to go out and fish and started tourneys together when she was 9.  We are having a blast.  We get to the launch early and then eat a picnic snack before the blast off.  Then on the way home from the tournament, we stop at Taco Bell, Mickey D, Burger King or something like that and get a late dinner.  I do have one advantage I think over the rest of some of us that fish.  My lovely bride's father (my father-in-law) loved to fish and fished a lot with his brother-in-laws.  So I don't get much grief from the lovely bride when I want to go fishing, especially if it with the kids.  I am able to fish 4 days a week pretty steady and sometimes as many as 6 days if I can get away with it........    Yes, I am one of the lucky ones.            

Chances are one of them will want to fish with Dad. 

BD         

[h2o]

Top Shelve Post: That's Priceless: Good Job Dad.

I took my son to the same lake to catch his first a catfish on Lakeville where I caught my first fish. A Bass.

h2o

[djkimmel]

Forgot to post - if I ever have a post of the week award - this would be a winner! I don't have kids, but I remember taking my little brother Nic when he was 3 to catch some gills at a pond for his first trip.

He ended up catching a 2 pound largemouth on a tiny piece of worm on a tiny hook with a bobber. Wasn't in the script, but it was a memorable moment. The only thing is he didn't want to catch little bluegills anymore - too small, he said.