Luke's Big Fish: My Son's First Fishing Trip

The day was perfect. It was a picturesque, warm, late spring day with a clear, azure blue sky overhead. It was the ideal day to take my son on his first fishing excursion. With his brand new Spiderman signature series rod and reel combo and plastic tackle box Luke was ready for big game fish. You need to understand the importance of this whole thing. I past the century mark in age and this little five year old bundle of wired little boy is my first son. After raising two daughters and another 10 year old daughter, the good LORD blessed me and my wife Karen with a bouncing baby boy. I had given up on having a son. My girls were my pride and joy, involved in sports and music; the kind of things that were passions of mine as well. But having a son was a whole different thing. I had no idea what lay in store for me, but as it now plays out, I'm enjoying every minute of it. This fishing day is one of those mile markers in the journey.

My goal in taking my son fishing, or spending time at softball games or tennis matches with my daughters, or going to marching band concerts, is to make memories. But there is more to it. I want to develop a relationship with my children. I want to have influence in their lives and train them up in the way they should go. I realize that my time with them, in the formative years, is fleeting. I have only a short time to impart to them knowledge that I want them to have. I want them to know the Almighty God and to realize that they need HIM more than anything or anyone in the world.

Fishing is fun and it makes for good memories, but it is not just the act of fishing that makes the memory but it is the time of teaching and guiding and watching the result as the years go by. Nothing makes my heart gladder than to see one of my daughters, and now my son, talk about the LORD and HIS Word, or to quickly gravitate to prayer in the time of need for themselves or anyone else. That is my two fold purpose for things like this fishing trip. Of course I will never forget the smile on my son's face or the sound of that little voice giddy with excitement over catching his first fish. My guess is, for him, as it is for me, the memory of being with dad, no matter what it was that you did, makes for invaluable memories. I am blessed to tears when I hear my son tell his best friend that he has the best dad in the world. Or I hear him say that he wants to be just like old dad. Well before I start getting all teary eyed again, back to the story.

At first it was hard to hold his attention to the task at hand. He was distracted by anything and everything that flew by or made a sound. But I kept baiting his hook, untangling his line, and helping his cast it into the pond. I was really hoping he would catch a fish; even it was just a minnow so he would have the thrill. After about an hour I was beginning to wonder if it was just not meant to be; today would not be the day for Luke to reel in his first fish. His attention span was getting shorter and shorter, to the point that I was ready to pack it in and head for Happiness. Happiness is our Lagrange County favorite ice cream shop. But I decided to try and focus the boy one more time and see if we could get a bite.I baited the hook for him while he was beginning to whine, as five year olds do when they have been at something a bit longer than they think they should. As I got the line ready to cast, Luke was looking at the truck and thinking that the ice cream part of the day's activities was way overdue. I have to admit I was thinking along those same lines.After some cajoling, he finally took hold of the rod and I helped him cast it in the water. The bobber tipped on its side as it hit the water and then settled in the upright position. We sat there for a few minutes and I noticed that the bobber was twitching. There was a slight breeze and I wasn't sure if the wind caused it or it was a fish checking out the red worm on the hook at the end of the line. Luke wasn't paying attention at all. He kept looking back at the truck and saying something about chocolate ice cream. Then the bobber became perfectly still. I thought if there was a fish out there, he's not really interested in the bait, so why don't we slowly begin to reel it in and see if he'll hit on it.I was able to garner Luke's attention for one last attempt at what I loosely called fishing. I instructed him to begin to slowly crank the reel and bring in the line. After teaching him the meaning of slow, he finally began the process. After moving the bobber about five feet and nothing happening I was ready to just have him bring it in and go for the sure thing; Happiness ice cream, but then it happened! Suddenly the bobber disappeared completely below the surface of the pond! Luke was reaching the limit of his focus on watching a plastic thingy floating in the water and was ready to throw the fishing rod down and head for the truck, but as soon as the bobber went in the water he felt the pull on the rod. That livened him up! I thought he had latched on to a very active small blue gill. Boy I was wrong! His first fish was for real!I quickly put my arms around him from the rear and on his hands to help him not lose his grip on the rod. It's a good thing I did because he would never have gotten this fish in by himself. He began reeling it in, as I instructed him and the pole begin to bend. I thought he just might have a half way decent little fish here. When the fish broke the water it got his attention. When we finally got it in to the shore, to my pleasant surprise, he had snagged a nine inch fat bluegill; a big fish bluegill by anyone's standards. The boy had caught his first fish. After the picture taking and the hoopla, I asked him if he wanted to fish some more, but he was ready to go. We packed up the gear and headed for the truck with thoughts of chocolate and superman ice cream dancing in our heads; Happiness here we come. It was the perfect end to a perfect day. I don't know how long that memory will stay with my boy, but I can tell you, for old dad, it will last a lifetime.