Teaching Others to Enjoy Fishing

I was five years old when my grandfather came to stay with us for most of a year, from 1964 to 1965 when we lived in St. Cloud, Minnesota. There were two great things my grandfather passed on to me during that time. He taught me to read (while I was in Kindergarten, at a time when kids didn't learn to read until 1st grade) and he taught me how to fish. He also taught me to grab a handful a crackers and crush them to crumbs and mix them into my soup, but my mother has always insisted that was not a great thing. During that winter, most every morning he would get me up at about 4 AM, and we would take off for the ice shack in which my father and our neighbor had jointly invested that was situated in the sprawling "ice town" complete with street signs that sprung up every winter on nearby Bemidji Lake.We would sit there for a few hours, fishing and talking, taking feisty slab sized Black Crappie on hand lines, and we would put the fish into a bucket of water to take home to eat. When we got home, Grandpa cleaned, breaded the fish in cornmeal batter and cooked them along with corn meal mush in a skillet with a little oil , and so we enjoyed fresh fish for breakfast most days that winter. Perhaps not many five year olds suffer disappointment when they are not served fish for breakfast. I was one. My mother would often complailn to her dad that I should really be in school. "That boy doesn't need to be in school," Grandpa would say. "He needs to be fishing with me. I'll teach him how to read, and he'll be way ahead of all those other kids." I am so grateful that my grandfather had his priorities in order. Those early fishing trips ingnited within me a passion for fishing that has only grown over the years since. More than that, it created within me a desire to share the joy of fishing with others, as my grandfather had with me.

Where to Begin

When you are teaching someone to fish, it helps if they have some idea how the mechanics of it work. When I started, it was with a handline through a hole in the ice. That's pretty simple, but my grandfather still showed me how it was done. Later, my dad bought me a pretty little tan St. Croix spinning rod with a green Johnson Century closed face reel. An entirely new set of skills are required to cast and retrieve with a spinning rod, and I remember my dad patiently working with me to get the timing right on the cast. "OK David, when you cast, you want hold the rod like this with your thumb on this button. You swing your arm forward like this to make the cast. Now before you cast, you push the button with your thumb and hold it down, and as you go forward, you let go when the rod is straight up like this. OK, let's try it. Push down the button and hold it, and remember, you're going to let go when it's straight up. Ready... swing, NOW! That was great David. See how far that went? Now, let's try it again, and this time only let go of the button, but hold onto the rod. OK?" My dad has been blessed with a great sense of humor, and a lot of patience. And I've been blessed by my dad. He taught me to cast, to play catch, to hit a ball, how to work with tools, and lots of other stuff, and he always did so patiently, and with a good sense of humor. The first step to teaching someone the mechanics of fishing is not the mechanics. It's to always remember to be patient, and to have a good sense of humor. No one does everything right the first time. It requires patience and a generous spirit to be able to teach someone and encourage them through the mistakes to success. Whether you start on the water or in the back yard doesn't matter nearly as much as how well prepared you are to spend the time to get it "right enough" to catch a fish.

Make Sure They Catch Something.

One of the things I normally like to do with anyone that is learning to fish is to give them an opportunity to feel a fish on the line. It doesn't necessarily have to be a big fish, but let's face it. When someone is getting started, it can be discouraging to catch nothing. There are several strategies that I like to employ to get this done.

Go Where There Are Fish

Take them to water that you have fished, and where you can get them on fish. There are some places that the probability of hooking a fish is just better. Make sure your first priority is getting them in position to catch a fish. If possible, give them opportunity to catch several fish. And be sure to give them the prime opportunity. If the best spot to fish is at the point, don't stand at the point and fish while they are in the cove. Put them in the best postion possible.

Start Simple

I usually start someone with bait, or with some easy to fish lures that work well with most any presentation. I take them to water that is not challenging, that offers easy casting lanes and lots of snag free bottom area. Starting someone fishing in a tangle of submerged trees might cause someone to give it up first time out. Put them in a situation that makes success probable. People are more likely to keep doing something if they are successful at it.

Don't Make it Seem Harder than It Is

Lots of kids catch fish all the time. Try to avoid telling people things like, "You probably won't master this for years." Truth is, most fishing isn't all that hard. I recently took a friend out to teach him how to fish for brown trout, and he outfished me. I've actually had that happen a number of times. It just isn't that hard to do if you are showing them how to do it right.

Be encouraging

Be sure to celebrate the victories, and don't worry about the misses. I saw a dad once that just kept criticizing his son for everything he was doing wrong. I sure hope the kid recovered. I got the feeling he might never fish again. I doubt that I would have if my grandfather and father had treated me that way. If we encourage others as they learn, we can give them a great gift... the love of fishing. I am so glad that it was given to me.