Take a Kid Fishing

Many of you know I grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida. My love of fishing was geographic and genetic. My Dad and I would get up on the weekends at five thirty in the morning. Dad and his friends would load up our boat, scramble up some eggs in the microwave and we'd head off to the docks. That's when he'd bring out the cast net and throw it into the water scooping up bait fish for the adventure. My brother and I loved working the fish out of the net and throwing them into the bait bucket. Then as the suns rays began to dance across the Gulf of Mexico we'd head out to deep waters looking for grouper, tarpon and well lets face it...anything that hit our poles.

I loved these trips and attribute my love of fishing directly to Dad. The guy had huge amounts of patience. Between my brother and myself it always seemed like Dad didn't get to use his rig much because he was baiting and untangling our lines. He never complained, well okay maybe now and then when we'd drag in a salt water cat. Those monsters can get down right nasty, but that's another story for another day.

My point in sharing these childhood memories is this. When the weather gets warmer think about taking a kid fishing. Central Georgia is full of ponds and lakes filled with brim, blue gills and yes...those catfish! And, sure, kids and fishing take a good bit of work. But if you make the investment you may never know what it means to a little angler.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources has a program called "Take a Kid Fishing". You can go to their website at gofishgeorgia.com for more information. Click on the fishing tab across the top and then you will find an entire page dedicated to kids fishing and events. They even have a kids fishing awards contest. Look below and you'll find one event that's happening in Dublin in a few months. It's never too early to plan.

Who knows years from now your kids may recall fond memories of the time you shared together!

Talk to you later,
Suzanne