Thanksgiving weekend and lessons as a Father

[JonnyButts]

So my favourite holiday is upon us. Nothing I enjoy more than Turkey , Ham and pumpkin pie. It’s like Christmas but I don’t have to buy anyone a gift, it’s the perfect holiday for this Scotsman.
 

It also means fishing, traditionally we do a mixed bag of fishing but since it was only me and the wee man at home for this one , I let him pick. All he wanted was to catch a salmon. As any good Dad would, I heard the call and loaded up on the proven lures . Set up the float rod and rigged up a bottom bouncing outfit . We had all the tools to catch him a big gal , now we just had to put in the time. 
 

Friday night we hit the minor moon phase and casted J-11 and J-13’s till dark , then switched over to an array of glow spoons . 5 hours of watching fish surface and nothing hitting . Friday was a bust. 
 

Saturday we had crazy winds down in Southern Ontario, felt bad for everyone fishing the CTE on Erie . Almost lost some patio furniture (gotta put that stuff away soon) The weeman and his friends went out for smallies and managed to land 3 fish before the wind sent them home. I opted to go into work for a bit and then spent the rest of the day watching 39 hours and dreaming of fishing . 
 

Sunday A.M. we were out early, casted glow spoons till the sun came up. Rapalas and spoons got thrown, bounced roe bags and even floated a few jigs, nada , not even a bump. Out of all the anglers we saw only one fish almost get caught , but after it pulled some circus class acrobatics , she spit the hook. Another 6 hours of fishing and the wee man is convinced no one catches Salmon . 
 

Had a great dinner Sunday evening with all the fixins, wasn’t the usual big get together but the world isn’t it’s usual place right now. 
 

In the midst of a turkey and ham coma and watching 3 different games at once I agreed to head out again this morning. The lad had his waders at the door this morning at 5 am. 
 

Get down to the water and tie up leaders , I put on my trusty K.O. Wabbler , third cast ,  bang , big gal on. The wee man grabs the net and after a couple of runs and jumps I have her within seconds of being in the net. My son , who I love with all my heart , makes the worst attempt and netting a fish I have ever seen. Puts the rim of the net straight into my leader and snapppp , I just miss the tail of the fish as she swims off. 
 

Welll #@€£ , I was losing it on the inside but thankfully my Parenting skills kicked in and I didn’t react . We had a good talk about proper netting and what went wrong. Last thing I want to do is make it a negative experience for the lad and have him swear off fishing all together. 
 

Another KO on the line and away we go. Hour later I get another one on and lose her to the rocks . I would repeat this a few times on both KO wobblers and Little Cleos. The spot we were fishing has some serious boulders and on some of those long runs they seem to head directly for safety in there .   
 

The wee man had a rough morning. Countless snags and spoons lost , I think 8 in total . He was tying leaders for days . Poor kid
 

I lost another biggun to the rocks and finally landed a small trout . 

I didn’t want to leave without seeing him get one on but time was against us and he had to get to his Moms for Turkey . Man was he just steaming , cursing all things salmon as we were leaving. I tried to relay stories of the countless hours I have put in and the thousand of fish I’ve lost, but none of it matters, he’s on his own mission and so far he’s losing the battle. 
 

I told him we would get out a few times this week , just gotta get into Peters and restock on lures and I think the Abu needs more line after this weekend 

Fishing, sometimes ya land em, somedays ya don’t . It’s a suckers game I tell ya. 
 

The wee man and I are out on Erie for football sized smallies come Saturday. Throw a few prayers up that I can get him into a Salmon before then. 
 

Tight Lines 

 

Edited October 12, 2020 by JonnyButts

[lew]

Sounds to me like the wee man has a great Dad who's taking the time to teach him the good stuff !

Edited October 12, 2020 by lew

[captpierre]

Great report.

The weeman will hit the jackpot sooner or later. 

[Rizzo]

sometimes struggling in our quest for success can be the most important lesson we learn!

[mamona]

Truly enjoyed the read, thank you

[discophish]

Awesome report man.  If fishing was easy then there wouldnt be much value to this passion we all share.  It is just a matter of time before your little guy hooks up with some fish.  Gotta love both of your persistence to the hunt.  Good luck!