You know,

That kid was watching your behaviour more than you realize. Think about it, he had plenty of time to observe your fishing while his baited lines rested on the bottom.

Recently, in my local warmwater haunt, there has been a steady hammering of threadfin shad by everything that swims and is big enough to consume one. It is very convenient for me to take a short 3 mile drive to town and fish the local dock for a few hours on a given day or evening. Lately, and to mention, over three sessions, I have had the pleasure of sharing the vast dock with a young lad (about 10 yr old) and his gaurdian grandfather. The younger has seen me with nothing but a fly rod, and over the course of fishing, has asked me many intelligent questions pertaining to fishing in general and about my fly fishing methods. Now this youngster is no slouch of a fisherman, and frequently skunks his grandad! So I don't see him for a week, but one day, I am out on the dock, minding my business, and hear someone hollering my name. It is the kid, running full tilt from the parking lot down to the dock, fly rod/reel in hand. He was so excited to show me his new rig. Within 10 minutes after I had given him a few pointers, repaired his leader, and tyed on a small clouser fly, the boy was smacking crappie! His grandad, a soft spoken Vietnam Veteran, confided in me that earlier that day, the poor kid had been thrashing his new fly rig around, getting mighty frustrated, and hollering about how he "hated fly fishing rods!" He thanked me as he had no experience with flyfishing, and had hoped to find me to help the lad out. I had no qualms about spending a few moments showing him enough to get him catching fish and focusing on the game. I hope he sticks with fishing vs all of the other distractions our children are faced with today.

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