teaching

[white43]

Think trees. Think water. Think rocks. Remember baseball. Remember being 10. My mother taught me to fish. Cane pole -- not rod, but pole. Long string, bobber, a bolt-nut weight. When it was my turn I foresake the fly rod for a spinner. Thought it might be easier. Little by little. One, The Kid let it be known we were "exploring" more than fishing. He didn't put it in those words, exactly. "Whazzit in the water, Dad?" "Wow, what kid of bird is that?" He more often put his line in the water for about ten minutes then was off. He was more into pond or river fishing than any other, with more things to explore. One day I was looking the other way when he went floating by down river. We got him rescued, only to hear his shouts a half hour later. Got stuck up in a tree -- drying off. If he caught one fish, he was done. Now he's 22. In love. With books and his honey. He says he'll go fishing again sometime. It's not a priority and likely never will be. I'll be in seventh heaven if and when it does happen. Yet, I'll never forget the time I came home from a two hour commute from the ad agency only to find him anxiously waiting for me with a bag of minnows he had found at the access. He and his mother, my wife, had gone to the access to explore and found one of those bags with the knot in it that had been shot with oxygen and was left behind by a fisher. He was about six years old. Maybe my grandkids will catch the spirit. Maybe my son will yet. Meanwhile we both ply our passions with equal zeal. He's a hell of a young man . . . and I love him whether or not he ever fishing. JGW

[crcaddis]

This should help. Cheers.
[url=http://medicine.wustl.edu/~klaesnej/fishingnotes.html#kids:cd246]http://medicine.wustl.edu/~klaesnej/fishingnotes.html#kids[/url:cd246]

Adam... take a walk around the pond when you're through fishing. I did that with my grandson and we found some really great things to look at and talk about. We found some feathers that had been preened by the local ducks and he picked up a few and asked me to make a special fly just for him. We found deer tracks and beds and talked about that. We got to watch a couple Canada geese land on the pond and he giggled about how silly they look when they get the "gear" down and are getting ready to land. Then .. on a personal note .. I told him the rule my dad taught me and I taught my son and now we were going to teach him. He had to pick up at least one piece of trash before he got into the truck to go home. It got to the point, I couldn't get any. He'd take it out of my hands and throw it away for me. So... we caught some fish, had some fun and learned a lesson I hope will last a lifetime and he can help teach his younger brother.


Mike

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There is no greater fan of flyfishing than the worm.


Patrick McManus

THanks Guys!
Some really great advice I never thought of in there.I'm taking him to a put & take fishery where if the trout arent biting he should at least get into some carp.I never thought to leave my rod at home but it makes great sense,it's wonderfull to have people like you to turn to.Thanks again I'll let you know how it goes.

[kgilroy]

Wonderful idea. Please don't be offended at this suggestion. Take him fly fishing, but don't forget to take the spinning outfit. I speak from experience. I never told my son not to bring it along and he would typically work the the fly rod for a time but always run back to the truck for the spin gear. He is twelve now and has been using both for about three years. This season he has had an incredible amount of luck when using the fly rod and I swear, I literally watched him fall in love with that rod the other night. It was beautiful. Never force them. Children have a very special way of figuring things out in spite of us adults. kev

[Kathy Scott]

Take a camera!

The photos I'd take are him with rod, him on shore, him making cast, etc... all with "big deal" fanfare (because that part IS a big deal). I wouldn't even mention taking a picture of a fish caught, but when and if that happens, the proof is there and, if it isn't wounded, you guys could opt to let it go and still preserve the moment for sharing later.

The fact that you (and all of these good comment-people) want to make this special just makes my day!

Kat

[MAC in NEOhio]

Adam,

Definitely leave your rod in the car or at home. Spinning tackle as a back up is a great idea as well. My 11 yr old still hasn't mastered casting our 3wt, but he loves catching fish with his spin rod rigged with a casting bubble and flies that he has tied. Lastly, I don't know anything about native species in S. Africa, but here in the States, in my opinion, the mighty Blue Gill (bream, sunny, etc.) is the perfect fish to begin teaching someone about fly fishing. At 10 yrs old it's all about the "catching" as stated in one of the previous posts, size doesn't matter.
Almost forgot #1 priority for both of you, have FUN!

Let us know how it turns out-Mike

[okflyfisher]

Take him where there are bluegills

[Harold Hattaway]

Adam;

Teach him to have fun doing this. Watch close for him to get bored. When he does lay the rods down and take a rest. This is the time to show him the life of the water.
Find a shady place and show him the birds feeding and other things that are going on. I would take a camera with me, and have him take some pictures for his "journal" Teach him to keep one, oh how I wish I had gotten into that habbit.

IT does not matter how big the fish are right now, just help him catch fish, I would take other tackle besides fly fishing.

But make sure you have fun, laugh a lot. If he loses a fish make a big deal out of saying he will get him next time. Now is the proper time to teach him about conservation, give him a garbage bag to carry in his pocket, tell him what it is about. But most of all, have fun. And make him a member here.

I envy you this trip. My grandson is 5 and loves to fish, but we have a little problem.
He catches bait fish when we go salt water fishing, he has a little gold and yellow fly. OK it is on a snoopy reel but it is a fly. He catches the fish and his sister sneaks up on him and reaches into the bucket and gets the bait and throws it back. She runs back to mommy then. Garret is so frustrated by her...... We think it is sweet.

Catch a lot.

Harold

You will all be glad to know that the day was a roaring sucess.We watched Pied Kingfishers catching fish and Ryan(my nephew)caught three trout.He seems to be a natural caster.He battled a bit with my three weight,so I ended up casting then handing the rod over for some serious retrieving.Pity we don't have the waters you guys do though,we fished a "put and take" fishery where it is not permissable to release trout.We did however finish the day catching our local version of bluegill and released a whole mess of them!I learned alot from the day,the most important thing being rest!He got tired after every few casts,so we spent alot of time looking at bugs,birds etc.
Thanks again for all your help,it is much appreciated.
Adam