A New Fishing Obsession

Paula has been staying with us a few extra days following the cousins reunion. I asked her if she would like to go fishing, and she said she had rarely if ever gone fishing. No one had ever taught her, she said. So, I said I'd teach her and off we went. We started out with some simple bobber fishing to see if she could get the hang of casting and other details. It was also a way to be almost sure that she would catch something and sustain an interest, because bluegill have moved into shallow water and are generally eager to go after a worm. Well, let me tell you, Paula was a pro at casting and handling her rod and reel right away.

Here are Kathie and Paula demonstrating how enjoyable fishing can be.

And here is Paula's first fish. A nice, colorful little bluegill. She wasn't too excited about baiting hooks, and she seemed worried that the fish might be hurt. But we let them go with no trouble.

Here she is again with a fish hooked and being retrieved. See that delightful Paula laugh? By this point I know she is having fun.

And another bluegill to add to the tally board. She eventually landed four.

Meanwhile, Kathie hooked a really nice bass.

So, we decided to up the ante a bit. We motored over to a lodge to stock up on additional gasoline for the boat and some fresh minnows.

Then we traveled over to an area where we like to fish for walleye--over sunken bog humps. Of course, Paula had mastered casting by now and so working with a jig and a minnow seemed to be natural. Well, she pulled in a very nice walleye--probably 14" and well worth keeping. We hoped to catch a couple more and have a nice dinner. Paula hooked two others but they both escaped before we could get them into the boat. Meanwhile, Kathie and I are catching nothing, although Kathie had at least hooked that nice bass. (Eventually, Paula asked to release the single walleye she had caught, which was nice and healthy in the boat's livewell.)

That same afternoon, she landed one more fish, a nice crappie. Final score: Paula-6 (plus two near-misses), Kathie-1, and Bill-0. This is getting to be an unhappy pattern with me!! I thought it was beginners luck for Paula--but maybe not.

The next morning, we are sitting around enjoying ourselves, and Paula says, "Maybe we can go fishing again!" Oh-oh. She is "hooked." She now likes fishing--her favorite new hobby. She'll be weaving things out of fish scales and other things in no time. So, on this next outing, she lands another crappie as you can see below. This outing took place under rainy conditions. Even rain didn't stop her. Dad would have grinned and loved it!! Paula was using Dad's old spinning rod--the blue one you see in this picture. That was a very fitting circumstance.

We went to a nice German-style restaurant for dinner last evening, and there were displays of fish hanging on the wall. Paula took the following pictures of muskie and walleye. I guess she now has her sights set on bigger game!!

Maybe I'll start catching fish one of these days again. I must be an OK fishing teacher at least.