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I was so happy to be asked to teach an eight year old girl to fish from a kayak. Her parents bought the trip at a fundraising auction ...the family likes to paddle but they were thrown when their daughter expressed the desire to fish! We met at Dennis Point Marina, the parents unloaded the most beautiful hand made stitch and glue kayaks. They were so awesome. The little girl would use my wife's Pompano 120. Sadly, I let her use her own paddle which was too short for the wider SOT .....luckily her dad had rigged a tow rope so off we went when she got tired.
I thought we would bottom fish with hi/low rigs for croaker......croaker are every where this year, right? Well not today, no bites at all! Suddenly, we were surrounded by breaking perch and I tossed my ultra light with a sassy shad and instantly had a fish. I passed the pole to my companion (i had anchored and tied the boats together with a bungee) and she was super happy to reel in a nice perch. She instantly decided she needed to start casting lures....a very decisive, but polite, young lady. "Maybe I should start casting a lure," she said. Ha ha. I have 3 daughters, I knew that meant time to change rigs.
While her parents circled taking pictures, we had some casting lessons.
eliecast.jpg
She had a good bite but no hook-up then BOOM I had something big on the ultra light. It took me a second to get it under control before I could pass the pole to my little partner
eliefishon.jpg
She was more than up to the challenge and soon boated an 18" rockfish (that is about all the fish that little pole can handle)......she was so disappointed to have to turn him loose.
eliestriper.jpg
After awhile, she hooked her own fish and made an amazing observation...."When you reel and then stop it, that's when the fish bites," she said as she reeled in a nice perch. This gal is gonna make a good angler some day!
She had been largely unsuccessful casting till I tied the boats together facing opposite directions. She could then cast from her knees, using the seat back for support. That made all the difference. Nice long casts after that. She finally caught a fish that she had cast for, hooked and landed. She even held it by the jaw for a pic! That was one happy girl!
perchyelie.jpg
Task accomplished, she was ready to go home.........and fix some thumbs up fish tacos!
Take a kid fishing.....it is a real joy!
tacos.jpg
I thought we would bottom fish with hi/low rigs for croaker......croaker are every where this year, right? Well not today, no bites at all! Suddenly, we were surrounded by breaking perch and I tossed my ultra light with a sassy shad and instantly had a fish. I passed the pole to my companion (i had anchored and tied the boats together with a bungee) and she was super happy to reel in a nice perch. She instantly decided she needed to start casting lures....a very decisive, but polite, young lady. "Maybe I should start casting a lure," she said. Ha ha. I have 3 daughters, I knew that meant time to change rigs.
While her parents circled taking pictures, we had some casting lessons.
eliecast.jpg
She had a good bite but no hook-up then BOOM I had something big on the ultra light. It took me a second to get it under control before I could pass the pole to my little partner
eliefishon.jpg
She was more than up to the challenge and soon boated an 18" rockfish (that is about all the fish that little pole can handle)......she was so disappointed to have to turn him loose.
eliestriper.jpg
After awhile, she hooked her own fish and made an amazing observation...."When you reel and then stop it, that's when the fish bites," she said as she reeled in a nice perch. This gal is gonna make a good angler some day!
She had been largely unsuccessful casting till I tied the boats together facing opposite directions. She could then cast from her knees, using the seat back for support. That made all the difference. Nice long casts after that. She finally caught a fish that she had cast for, hooked and landed. She even held it by the jaw for a pic! That was one happy girl!
perchyelie.jpg
Task accomplished, she was ready to go home.........and fix some thumbs up fish tacos!
Take a kid fishing.....it is a real joy!
tacos.jpg
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