From Mountain Lakes Resort on Lake Guntersville in Guntersville, Alabama –
Well, my vacation officially started today. All was well until the fish made me mad. Yes, fish can make you mad. You see, I’m the kind of person that likes to catch fish, not drown worms. I spent about 3 hours fishing today and the only thing I caught was Milfoil weeds. My 4 year old daughter even caught her first small (note emphasis) bluegill bream. So, yes, I am mad at the fish. On the other hand I guess you could say I have a future as a fishing guide.
But, (there is always a but), you can learn a lot from fishing, like patience. Patience is important when you are fishing because the fish don’t always realize that you are trying to catch them. Maybe one day I will develop a gadget to let the fish know I am trying to catch them so they will look for my bait and I won’t have to look for them. Learning patience when you are fishing can help you throughout your life when dealing with different trying situations.
You can learn humility. When you humble yourself and sacrifice your fishing time to help those around you, it gives you a good feeling. Like baiting hooks for your wife, daughter and visually-impaired brother-in-law. Or removing the fish they just caught with the hook you just baited!! GRRRR!!! I’m quite sure there is a lesson on envy here but since that isn’t a positive lesson we will move on. You see, you develop humility by helping those that need your help. What a boost to your self-esteem. People need you to help them so sacrifice a little and be patient and help a friend discover that fishin’ is fun!
You can also learn pride. I’m not talking about the pride that can puff you up and make you think you are better than others. I’m talking about the pride you feel when your 4 year old daughter catches her first fish. That ranks right up there with graduation and weddings. (The phrase “You might be a redneck if…” suddenly comes to mind). There is nothing like seeing the surprise on your child’s face as they reel in their first fish, then the fear as the fish come near them, then the joy they express about their accomplishment.
I also learned that fish must be smarter than me. I mean there are a lot of little fishys swimming around down there that the bigger fishy’s could eat. Who am I to think that they would prefer my whimpy worm to a nice juicy shad? Someone defined fishing for me today: Fishing is a jerk on the end of a pole waiting for a jerk on the other end. (Those that didn’t quite get that have probably never been fishing.) Kind of puts it in perspective doesn’t it?
Today I learned that if fishing were easy they would call it catching. Maybe one day my daughter will learn patience through fishing. One day she will learn the humility and pride with her own family and children. And I hope she she learns that nothing in life is easy but you can succeed and have fun if you try. But most of all I hope she learned that Fishin’ Is Fun!!! And I hope she had as much fun fishing as her daddy did watching her.
Brad
That was beautiful and you should be a writer. It was perfect. It was me and my daddy too. That's about when he taught me to fish on Guntersville Lake at Town Creek 🙂 It was the start of some of the best times in my life. We used crickets though which I am scared of so of course Daddy had to bait my hook, and take my fish off, and I'm quite sure he got quite exasperated by the fact that he wasn't getting to fish very much either. But I watched and learned and eventually as I got older it was time for me to take the fish off my daddy's hook. He had even gotten to the point where he would wait for me to catch one before he even started fishing. So did my brother-in-law. With daddy I hoped I was making him proud. With my brother-in-law I thought he was a competitive moocher. I learned a lot of things fishing with my daddy. I'm still working on the patience though. But one thing I did learn for sure. When a daddy who is a good fisherman teaches his daughter how to fish, it makes it harder to catch a boyfriend because they sure don't like to be out-fished.
Thanks for your beautiful blog. It made me smile.
OMG You need to write a book. That was beautifully written and so insightful. I learned to fish when I was that young. And it was my daddy that taught me. I hope I gave him the joy you talked about. Those were some of the best times of my life fishing with my daddy. As we both grew older, I was taking HIS fish off the line or he would even wait until I caught one before he started fishing. My brother-in-law did too. With my daddy it made me feel good. With my bro-in-law it made me competitive because I wanted daddy to know what a good job he did teaching his baby girl. Not a lot of boyfriends appreciated my talent but hey, I was taught by the best 🙂 Thanks for sharing that with me Brad. I felt like I was watching you and your little one fish and that is the true joy in life.
Hi there, I read your blog regularly. Your story-telling style is witty, keep doing what you’re doing!