Fishing with families
I realized this morning that I have been fishing with families with young children pretty regularly for the last week or so. Last evening it was a family with an eighteen year old son and a four year old daughter. The kids are great fun to have alone because of their excitement. The difficult part is trying to balance the kid fishing with the bigger fish for the adults. The kids care about catching fish and you need to catch some pretty steadily to keep the interest up. The adults and older kids are dreaming of the big fish that I show in advertising. Slower fishing usually and demanding of a certain skill level to make all of the pieces come together.
Had two big fish on yesterday during family fishing trips both lost to inexperience and excitement. One when the drag was tightened and the other when the young fisherman pumped the rod and gave the fish enough slack to unhook himself. Both were disappointing to the fisherman but got me thinking about how I might do a better job of coaching someone with little experience to land a big fish. I don’t know where the need to pump the rod comes from but it is a tendency that I see in clients all of the time. Usually resulting in a long line release.
Fishing continues to hold up very well. Last evening I caught two small stripers waiting for my party with the boat tied up in the ramp. I always rig the rods and try the reels beforehand so that I am certain everything works like it should; those few checkout casts were pleasantly rewarded. What fun! Tomorrow is the first of several parties this summer from London It always amazes me how I get clients in bunches from certain cities. The amazing part is that they rarely know each other somehow you are simply reaching folks from a certain place.
