June 28, 2015 – Take a Small Boy Fishing - Wissahickon Trout and Panfish

The boy throwing a CD 3 with Dad's spinning rod.  So proud!

Sometimes the stars align and my 7 (and ¾, he reminds me) year-old son actually asks to go fishing!!  I consider today a late Father’s Day gift, although I did manage to drag my wife and son to Bass Pro Shops in Atlantic City last Sunday, so I guess I have had two Father’s Days this year.  I have been taking my boy fishing since he was barely 3 years old, which is far too early, I know, but now he is finally able to cast and reel fish in by himself.  I have even had him throwing a 6’6” 3 wt fly rod on the front lawn: practice for the future, I hope.  But I try not to pressure him to go because I want him to enjoy it and not feel like he’s onboard for an 8 hour Dad trip where we do nothing but fish.  Right now, about 2 hours with walking and chasing frogs and bugs is perfect for him.   Good weather helps too.  We left home at 4:30 PM today, and were back by 7 PM, happy, wet, and dirty.  I only bring one rod to insure that he is the focus of the adventure,  although I still can get carried away on a good fishing day like today.  I have a problem called One More Cast that I try to keep in check when he’s with me!

We had a lot of rain on Saturday, a lot, so the creeks were up.  The gauges looked like they were coming down quickly, but when I saw the Wissy in person, it was a chocolate covered mess.  We had to slip and slide into the first spot on the creek, and all we had to show for it was a couple bluegills that hit a trout magnet in a bankside eddy.

A fat, feisty rainbow still alive and kicking in late June.

Trout haven’t been stocked since May, but with a very wet June, I knew they would still be around and possibly active in the high water if we could find them.  One can only do so much walking with a small boy in tow, however, so if my next choice of a spot didn’t work out, we would be changing gears and catching frogs and polliwogs in no time.  Luckily, the next stop was full of hungry fish.  

A pretty brown, too,

We landed 4 nice sized trout, a few more sunnies, and even a couple smallmouth bass in a productive 40 minutes or so.  The highlight for both of us, besides just having fun wet-wading in the muddy water, was my son reaching a new angling milestone.  Today, all own his own, he cast my spinning rod, with a Rapala CD3 (of course), hooked and played his own fish, a 10 inch smallie, which Dad happily netted for him.  He got to release the bass back in the water, though.  He usually nets and releases my fish too.  He also got a couple lollipops and still got to chase polliwogs and frogs in the little pond we pass on the walk back to the car.  It was a good day, the sort that gives me hope that he will start asking to go fishing more often and, like today, I will be in the right state of mind to enjoy it fully.  

Lollipops, polliwogs, and other adventures to make a boy and dad happy.

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