An angler since he can remember, Mark Hodson almost literally lives, eats and breathes fishing. A match angler in his youth, fishing for the junior Starlets, he turned to the dark side and joined the ‘floppy hat’ brigade in his college years. He worked in the tackle trade for ten years, on a part time or full time basis at Chaplains, one of Birmingham’s busiest tackle shops and managed the specialist department there for two years.
He now fishes just for fun, although the ‘floppy specialist hat’ still dominates his angling, his writing concentrates on getting the maximum enjoyment from your angling and trying something different from the norm.
The Pleasure Angle – First Steps
As I write this I am finding it hard to believe that I haven’t really done any what I would call ‘proper fishing in six months. A change in department at work has meant that I have had to give my life over to my career, leaving time on the bank somewhat limited.
However, at the back end of my enforced angling summer drought I have had one of my greatest angling experiences ever, sowing the seeds of interest that will hopefully see the next generation of Hodson’s becoming as impassioned anglers as the last three. In June, my son Kieran attained the mighty age of three years, and with his ever increasing interest in all things aquatic it seemed about the right time to introduce to the magic that will hopefully captivate him for the rest of his years. Now he had been fishing before, as early as three weeks old as you can see by the picture, but this would be his first full on participation in the piscatorial passion.
The reality of it all
There have been a couple of very good articles recently on FishingMagic regarding taking children fishing, and not wanting to repeat the excellent advice they give, I intend to give you an insight into the reality of taking a three old fishing for the first time.
So rather than give you a list of do’s and don’ts I will give you a narrative of the madness that is a three year old fishing, and some practical tips, that all adults that have the unenviable pleasure of getting and holding a three year old’s attention, will appreciate I’m sure.
In mid July the sun shone for one day, that day was a Sunday, and as I was working Monday to Friday on a course at the time, I was actually off on the majority of the population’s day of rest for once. Having risen and gotten over the shock that the sun actually still was up there somewhere, having endured two months of near continuous rain, we discussed over breakfast the best way of enjoying this short lived glimpse of summer. I cautiously suggested “Let’s take Kieran fishing” and then something happened that occurs as rarely as a solar eclipse, Mrs H thought it was an excellent idea and agreed immediately.
Once I had shaken myself from the shock of it all I began to think about the practicalities, and we talked about where, how and when. Five minutes later a plan was in place and the dog looked on as the household became a blur of preparation.
Where, when and how
Although the most sensible place to take a child fishing for the first time is a commercial water, with their near guarantee of immediate success, I just couldn’t bring myself to start off my son’s angling journey at such a water. I wanted him to sit in the bosom of nature’s bounty as well as enjoy the fishing, and so the venue was decided on as a 40 year old gravel pit where I usually enjoy a spot of tench and bream fishing.
This pit also has a good stock of rudd that I hoped would oblige at close range and make Kieran’s first angling steps successful ones. Mrs H organised all the essentials that are needed to cater for the needs of a three year old; a change of clothes, endless supply of snacks and drinks, hat, wipes, etc. I organised everything needed to cater for the needs of a three year old fishing, which, to cover all eventualities I just grabbed my general coarse fishing gear and threw in an indestructible fibreglass whip, which although years old I had been saving for this very purpose knowing that it would be ideal.
“Apparently we are going fishing today, I like fish, I have them for my dinner quite a bit, I like the look of fishing too, daddy goes a lot and mommy says it gives her a bit of peace and quiet, funny because daddy says the same too! I’ve seen fishing on the TV, it’s not quite CBeebies, but daddy likes watching so I humour him and watch with him, Mr Jonny Wilson, he laughs a lot and looks like the red Tellytubby with a hairy face, and Mr Matthew Hayes, he reminds me of Sponge Bob Square pants.
I don’t know what this fishing lark quite entails but they have plastered me in enough factor 30 to protect an elephant from the midday sun, and sprayed me with this really stinky stuff to keep some insects away that bite you really hard and make you itch, which is a shame because I like creepy crawlies and if one bit me I would just bite it back! At least I get to wear my Wellington boots, and it’s not even raining, I hope I see a crocodile……..’
In order to make things as easy as possible the largest swim on the lake was selected, big enough to take two large bivvies, there was more than enough room for a three year old to express himself fully on his first angling trip. Half a pint of maggots and a little Van den Eynde Super Rouge should tempt the rudd and within five minutes of making the bank a little Preston pole float was settling nicely as the string of no 10 shot slowly sank, taking the single maggot on a size 20 with it.
Then began the first fishing instruction of Kieran’s life, sitting on my lap he held the whip in his little hand and grinned in eager anticipation. I started the steady drip feed of maggots and groundbait and just over a minute onto his first fishing experience, the float lazily drifted away in a true summer’s day style. I took hold of the whip and gently lifted into Kieran’s first ever fish and helped him swing in a small rudd. The look of astonishment and sheer amazement could not be equalled by any toy, TV show or game.
The magic had begun
Kieran’s thoughts
‘It’s really sunny and we are by this big lake, it’s got lots of plants on it with big pretty pink and white flowers. Dad’s had a wee up a tree and mom looks embarrassed; why he can’t use a potty like the rest of us I don’t know. There are lots of things to look at, dragonflies are great, they don’t breathe fire like proper dragons though, and there are lots of trees, hopefully there will be some monsters and dinosaurs hiding in them. Dad’s brought a tub fully of wiggly things called maggots, some are red and some are white, they are great, they crawl everywhere, and you get to throw them in the water. I like throwing them in. I also get to throw this fluffy cake mixture stuff in as well that makes your hands red. Fishing’s great because normally when I throw things I get told off, but when you’re fishing you can chuck loads of stuff in the water.
I like the float and when it goes under you lift the long pole and a fish comes out. The fish are called rudd according to dad, why they all have the same name I don’t know. I like putting the fish back, they wiggle in your hand then swim away. Hard work this fishing, time for a well deserved drink and snack, I’ll have water and crisps, I tried the maggots when mom and dad weren’t looking, can’t really see why the rudd like them, they just wiggle in your mouth and burst when you chew them, red cake mixture tastes a bit nice though…’
An hour and fifteen minutes later
We had planned on a hour, but Kieran’s attention span lasted an unexpected 15 minutes longer. By this time we had caught over 15 rudd, roach and perch, keeping Kieran very entertained. Nature and the fish played their part, a bite a chuck meant there wasn’t a spare moment for Kieran to lose interest. The rudd started to get to good hand-sized fish, meaning the landing net even had to be used.
Overall the trip was a tremendous success, the end result is that on an almost daily basis, Kieran’s endless list of questions now includes the one that every fishing dad loves to hear, “Are we going fishing today Daddy?” Happy days!
Kieran’s first fish
Three last tips for all those thinking about taking a child under five fishing.
Firstly keep the adult to child ratio at two to one, one adult to look after the fishing and one to look after the child, try to do both yourself and something will go wrong, two of you can keep it safe, enjoyable and any stressful temper tantrums (from toddlers or adults) can be dealt with easily. Secondly, always take snacks (to feed all the party) and bread (to feed the ducks) which act as an excellent distraction should attention spans start to fade. Lastly, plan for an hour’s fishing and anything else is a bonus, keep it short, interesting, and fun and they will be literally hooked for life.
Kieran in conclusion
They started getting bigger
‘I like fishing, why we don’t use the big net to get them out I don’t know because it would be a lot easier. I caught lots of fish, crabs and shrimps in my net on holiday in a little rock pool, imagine if we used daddy’s big net in a big lake, we could catch loads. Daddy says that’s not the idea and the ‘art’ is catching them on a hook and line, which is wrong for a start because art is when you paint pictures and stuff!
I also now go fishing with granddad too, when he comes I catch bigger fish, look at the size of the roach we caught! Daddy says I’ve started my fishing apprenticeship, what that is I don’t know, apparently it lasts all your life and that’s a really long time. By the end of that I should be as good as daddy and granddad. Now where’s my toy dinosaurs, I hid some maggots in my pockets when daddy wasn’t looking so I could feed them to my dinosaurs when I got home. I put the maggots by the TV but they have crawled off somewhere, they might have gone to find the dinosaurs by themselves, I’ll ask mommy, she will know where they have gone……..
‘….. Oh dear mommy’s not happy, it’s all right though, she’s blamed daddy; apparently it’s bad enough having one fisherman in the house, she can’t cope with double the mess and smell!’
