Girls Fishing

Fishing With Kids Can Be Easy
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Nathan_Trotter]Nathan Trotter

Teaching your son or your daughter to fish sounds like a chore, believe me I know. My friend has three daughters, and they all have wanted me to take them fishing for a long time. Yes, I put it off for as long as I could, but last week they finally cornered me in to taking them. It was time to teach these three girls how to fish. The first thing that came to mind was other parents' attempts at teaching their kids how to fish. In my head I could hear them saying "I'm not going to tell you again stop reeling your line in." In an effort to not repeat what I've seen by other parents, here's what I did.

Step One *Mind set*. It does not matter whether you are a every-day fisherman, once-a-week fisherman or a once-in-a-while fisherman, you have to change your mind set to "I will not be fishing today." You will be teaching someone to fish, a child! And guess what, it's easier than you think.

Step Two *Fishing Pole*. There are many fishing pole selections out there. The one you chose is up to you. I would recommend either a closed face reel or an open face reel. With the girls I was teaching, they have always seen me with an open face reel, so I went with that. Why teach them on a closed face reel just to turn around and teach them on an open face reel? Again, your preference and the age of the child you are teaching will help you make your decision.

Step Three*Casting*. I think the biggest mistake of teaching someone to do something is doing it for them. First cast: Explain to them how you do it and show them. 'Example' I grab the line with this finger. I flip this lever back. Then bring the pole over your head. Swing the pole back in front of you as you let go of the line. It will take a beginner a few times, but stay beside them, and show them your way again with encouragement. Pretty soon their line will fly out into the water.

Step four *Bait* I don't know how your kids are, but when teaching the girls to fish I would have said those dreaded words... "Throw your line out, and leave it alone." If I told them to throw their line out and watch for the bobber to go under they would have been playing in the mud before long. So I thought to myself... If they are going to throw the line out and reel it in, why not put a lure on? I've taught them to cast and they know how to reel in. So I taught them how to tie a lure on and gave them three different lures, three different colors and sent them to three different spots. Perfect! Yes, I did some running back and forth, but I it was fun seeing them learn.

Step five *The First Fish* Now this is the best part; watching them reel in the first fish and landing it. WOW! Just seeing the smiles and excitement makes it all worth it. Just remember it is also scary for the first timer. The best thing that I found is to show your new fishing buddy how to hold the fish. (I would recommend a little research on how to hold different fish.) Ask them if they want to touch it. Tell them what kind of fish it is. Show them the colors of the fish. If they want to hold it by all means LET THEM! Teach your new fishing buddy how to take the hook out. After all of this, high fives and congrats are in order.

Now that we have taught our new fishing buddy what we love to do, there are a few things that we have to think about. In my case, I love to eat the fish that I catch, as you may too. However, we need to remember who caught the fish. Shouldn't it be up to him or her to release it alive or take it home? If they decide to release, then let that do just that. If we don't let them release it, it may create a bad taste in their mouth for fishing. If they do decide to take it home, walk them through the cleaning process and give them small jobs to do. The bottom line is to teach them how to do it for themselves, and not do it for them. Our kids are smarter than we think, and the sooner we teach them, the faster we have a fishing buddy that rarely needs our help. And who knows, they may find a few new things to teach us. Nate Trotter Average Jo's Fishing

My name is Nate Trotter, and you can check out more articles and reviews on my Facebook page, [http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Average-Jos-fishing/110736685679812]http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Average-Jos-fishing/110736685679812 or contact ma at  [mailto:natetrotter@yahoo.com]natetrotter@yahoo.com

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