A Boy After My Own Heart

Russell and I introduced Michael to fishing this past weekend, and boy was it a hit!  We took him down to the ponds on our property to see what we could catch.  He of course had his own spiderman fishing pole (a gift from my best friend Dawn in North Carolina), and he walked around with that thing like he was the coolest kid in the country!

Now I wasn't very good the first day we did this at taking pictures of Michael and his experience with fishing because I was being quite selfish at catching the fish myself once I started catching them.  So today I took him back to the ponds to focus on "his" experience, and he had a blast.

I would hook the fish for him and he'd reel it in (photo above)...and I am so impressed that this 2 and 1/2 year old can reel in a left-handed open faced bale reel without any problems.  I cast it out, and he immediately wants to reel it in, of course, so we are working on the patience of waiting for a fish to bite the bait first, setting the hook and then reeling it in.

This was the first little shiner minnow he caught (you can barely see the fish by his left leg), and then he caught this one as he was reeling in the line so I could cast it out again....

...a big horned-daisy chub!

Now these fish aren't anything to write home to mom about and are garbage fish anyway, but it is a great experience for a little kid learning how to fish. After he caught this bigger fish, he was really intent at catching more.  Look at the "intense expression" on his face in the photos below while he's reeling in another fish...

I can't quite get Michael to pick up a worm or hold a fish yet, but I did get him to touch one for a few moments today.

Now Michael can't get fishing off his mind.  It's the first thing he asks to do when he wakes up in the morning or from his nap, and he goes out to the garage and brings my fishing pole into the house and says, "Mom, let's go fishing!".  A boy after my own heart!!