Everything I've Learned about Fishing With Preschoolers

Two weeks ago we bought worms to take the kids fishing on the pond. Everyday it's either rained or I've worked or it just didn't work out. Today was the first opportunity, but Peter had to leave for work early. I got brave and brought them myself. I found a great spot that has cement steps where people sit all the time and cast off, and if someone fell in it wasn't a sheer drop and they could stand up. I put sunglasses and hats on everyone to protect from stray flying hooks . I put a life preserver on the little one amongst a full out 2 year old temper tantrum. The following is what I learned:


1) If you're a Mom and you take anything gooey, slimy and wiggly and run it through in the presence of boys you are a hero

2) Two year olds scare fish away

3) It's a good thing we were wearing our safety goggles

4) If your son catches a fish that swallows the hook you should just cut the line and hope for the best (My Dad tells me that the hook will rust and the disintegrate and the fish will probably be ok) Do NOT practice your skills as an amateur surgeon hoping to be a hero and save the fish. I unhooked it from the gills with my plyers and thought it was ok, but on the way up I disenboweled (sp?) the fish and it was not pretty! Isaac said "Oh I wish Grampa was here, he is much better at getting hooks out of fish!"

4) If your 4 year old spills the bucket of worms it only takes those suckers 30 seconds to start burrowing for safety . I had all ten fingers wrapped around those slimy things pulling them out of the ground by the time I rescued them. Come to think of it that was after the fish incident, maybe they saw what happened to the others.


5) If you must store your bait in the refrigerator for long periods of time you should put some cornmeal in there for nourishment (which I didn't do--but found out later when I called Mom and Dad and told them this tale) Does the fact my family even know this stuff make me a redneck? This also explains why the worms were nice and plump when we bought them ( 2 WEEKS AGO!) And now they looked like little emaciated Sub-Sahara earthworms!

6) If you take a bunch of those jelly lures with no hooks in them and squish them all together you can make one big scary looking bug (Thanks Logan)

7) You can keep a 4 year old busy for a long time if he's hooked on a tree limb and he thinks he's caught "THE BIG ONE!" He was encouraged by his brother's cheers--"Caleb you must have caught a shark!"

8) Fish die with their eyes open. Isaac insisted the fish was still alive because his eyes were open .

9) Sometimes God does not answer prayers to save fish. The boys each said a little prayer that my surgical skills would be on par...obviously not. We saw a family of geese a little while later on the pond with some fledglings so we had a big discussion about the "Big circle of life" and how that fish could be food for that family and God must have known those babies were hungry.

10) Babywipes do not take away fish stench from your hands. Purell hand sanitizer does a little better.

11) Fish blood is red. Thanks for that astute observation Isaac.

12) and the biggest thing I learned about life from fishing with my preschoolers is : You can give a man a fish, but it sure is not as entertaining as sending his kids out to catch it.
:-) Happy Summer to you all! Kim