This past spring I was fortunate to have the opportunity to pass along some of what I love and know about the sport of fishing to a friend’s son. He is only six, but anxious to catch his first fish. This is not surprising to me as I was about his age when I caught my first fish too. What is different is that his father doesn’t fish while mine was the one that “dragged” me along. My dad and I still go fishing together, but it’s not quite clear who is “dragging” who along as we both have the fishing bug. But where does this young fisherman get his desire to cast a lure? At the moment I have no idea, but I’m going to do all I can to foster it.
I first met this little one when he, his dad and I attended a fishing expo in the nearby town of Fillinge, located south of Geneva along the trout stream Menoge. We spent a few hours checking out the booths full of gear, watching some of the demos, and finally purchasing some items of our own. We then headed out to a local pond to try our hand at catching some trout and teaching this young guy how to cast and retrieve. He took to it fast and it wasn’t long before he was getting some good distance.
Recently this new fisherman was on holiday with his family and like a guy already hooked on the sport, brought along his rod and reel. Although I wasn’t there when he caught his first fish, I know exactly how he felt.
Photo Credit (All): C.Black (Not for reproduction)
ChristyandErik's Blog 
I don’t remember my son’s first fish, but I remember when he almost caught an alligator. We had arrived at a likely spot to catch fish under a bridge over a good sized stream on Ft Stewart, Georgia. He was impatient to get started as I was still getting things out of the car. Suddenly he screamed, “Dad, I’ve hooked something big!” I yelled back, “Hang on, I’m coming!” I got back in time to see his rod almost bent in half by something big, putting up a ferocious fight. But then the line snapped. Erik thinks it was an alligator and I do too. We quickly left to fish somewhere else since alligators were known to be in the area.
Erik’s Dad
I remember that day vividly. I actually saw the alligator. The car was parked up on the built-up road near the reinforced railroad tie bridge. I was off on the passenger side of the vehicle. Dad, you were still up at the car when I hooked it. I was down near the fording site for the tanks. The alligator latched on quickly. It reeled in “easily” until the water got shallow, then the head and tail started thrashing violently in the shallow water. I was using a red and white striped “Red Devil” spoon. Let me just say that we didn’t get that lure back. I’ll admit, I was scared. I remember it getting fairly close, then breaking the line. I dropped the rod and ran for high ground. You had to bring the rod back up to the car.
Wow, that is quite a story! It’s nice, Erik, that you are teaching this young lad to fish. He looks thrilled!