As all things in life, not all go according to plan. Such was the case for my wife Saturday morning when I took my son fishing. My son had been out of town on a school sleep over at Gatlinburg, TN at the aquarium the night before and he got home late the next day and was tired from all the fun. My wife wanted him to stay home and do some work on a project coming up for school. She said she didn’t care if he went fishing but thought it best he probably stays home. So I gently nudged him out of slumber about 8AM Saturday with a whisper in his ear. I gave him an invitation to go some where with me. I said, “ You can stay here with mom all day and work on your project and play video games when your done or you can come with me where it will be hot, can be a possibility of some mild sun burn and not much eating will be involved (10 year olds do nothing but eat). He thought about it and said he probably needed to stay home…then I told him I was going to take him fishing with me at the good pond where at the fish are and have him fish off the back of the pontoon. He jumped out of bed and said, “Well OK let’s go there then, I can do that project later”. What a true fisherman at heart.

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So we packed up all the gear and loaded the pontoon and hit the road about 9AM. With the windows on the truck down and the breeze blowing nice and cool we took a beautiful drive through the country that brought us to the “Good Pond”

Upon arrival we broke out the food my wife packed and ate an early lunch…. I told you 10 year olds do nothing but eat. My mind is on how quick I can get the pontoon in the water and start catching fish. My son had the same though till food over took his thoughts…. and he gave into food first.

So we finally launched into the water and I got him rigged up and then rigged my rod. We both made a few casts and I had a fish on, but he got off just as quick. My son then yells from the back of the pontoon, “I think I got a fish on”. Sure enough he did. So he turns and says, “So I guess that makes the real first catch of the day. I laughed and told him it sure did.

We worked our way along the edge where we put in at and were trying to locate where the fish were hanging out today. We were both catching bluegill when I notice a nice swirl in the water a few feet away. I made a cast over to that location and got my black and yellow gurgler sucked under the surface with a larger sucking sound. Sure enough a bass though he would make a meal of my fly. So I turned to my son and said, “You may have got the first fish of the day but I got the first bass of the day”. We each made attempts to cast back into that same hole and on the 5th cast my son said, “I think I got a fish on”. Sure enough he pulls in a good little large mouth bass. He turn around to me and says, “You may have caught the first bass, but I caught the biggest bass” We like to prod each other and cut up while we fish.

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So we fished into the later part of the afternoon having a blast, sharing some great time together and catching lots of fish. I had told my wife we wouldn't probably leave till 6PM or so. Well about 5:30PM the bite really started turning on and we had located the mother load of bluegill. I looked at my son and told him that it's supper time for the fish right now and they are starved and that if we stay later we will catch tons of fish. His reply was, "let's stay". A hungry 10 year old can be a fickle creature...but thanks to the wife for packing plenty of snack.....knowing some how we would need them ALL. Wifes have that intuition.

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So we park for a few minutes and throw down some snacks and drink some more water and relaunch the pontoon for the bluegill madness about to happen. Sure enough the bite was going good and my son was catching one right after another. We caught bluegill, crappie and 1 or 2 more bass. It finally was getting late and we needed to get back home before my wife thought we died. So we fianlly got the pontoon out and packed everything back into the truck and headed back home. My son and I talked the whole way back home about the day and how great it was. There is nothing like taking your kid fishing.

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