Tidelines – September 25, 2014
The Junior Anglers who participated in the 2014 Wide Open Tech Spanish Mackerel Open with the medals and Blue Water Candy prize packs they earned for weighing in fish in the event.
I went fishing with my two oldest boys this past weekend—Owen (age 9) and James (age 6)—and to my surprise it was like a normal fishing trip.
We fished the Wide Open Tech Spanish Mackerel Open, the one Fisherman’s Post event I allow myself to fish each year, and remarkably the focus wasn’t on donuts or playing video games on the phone—the boys’ focus was actually on fishing.
Oh, we had donuts on the boat (and none left by the end of the day), as well as Gatorade and juice boxes and snacks and Gogurts, but none of these selling points were the major draw. The boys’ main goal seemed to be catching fish and just having a good time in general on the water with the new additions to our spanish mackerel fishing team: Uncle J.J. and Uncle Bob.
And while fishing with the boys is getting easier (for example, they no longer ask repeatedly when we are going back in), I’m afraid that fishing with the boys is also going to start getting expensive.
I’m not talking costly in ways you might be imagining—them losing tackle or wanting to buy their own expensive gear or wanting to take the boat out more and burn more gas. No, I am talking about getting expensive as a result of the new “game” we started on the boat this past Sunday, our one fishing day in the tournament.
Before we had even started the boat engine on Sunday morning, it was apparent that something needed to be done about the adults’ lazy language. The boys quickly decided, and we just as quickly agreed, that every cuss word on the boat should cost the adults one dollar.
Though J.J., Bob, and I agreed, we also recognized that the one dollars could add up fast, so we needed a counter. The boys would be expected to listen and behave on the boat, with every infraction of theirs also costing one dollar.
Unfortunately for a number of reasons, the adults racked up several dollar charges before the boys even had time to misbehave. I say unfortunately because (1) I’m their father and should use better language in front of them with or without the dollar game, and (2) I’m also an English Professor at Cape Fear Community College and I think English teachers in general should be able to exercise better language choices.
Even the dollar game, though, faded away to the action of catching spanish mackerel on the troll. Our plan to live bait for bigger fish didn’t play out on this day, as all of our strikes except for a wayward 2 lb. bluefish (and of course we didn’t enter the Bluefish TWT) came close to the beach trolling smaller Clarkspoons.
The boys were engaged, sometimes being the first to see the planer rod trip and other times having to be told, but always running for the rod and arguing over whose turn it was to reel in the fish.
Never did they ask if we could go back home, but often they asked if we could try a new spot since we weren’t catching any fish where we were—a logical question. And playing games on the cell phone just didn’t come up over the course of the day.
The real test of the day for the boys came at the Awards Ceremony. We had a spanish that was heavy enough to earn James the Junior Angler award (I think he was the only Junior Anger age 0-8 to weigh in a spanish), but it wasn’t quite heavy enough to earn Owen the Pre-Teen award (that honor went to Brenden Daughtry, one of three kids in the 9-12 age group that weighed in a spanish).
The lesson? James earned $50 for his top finish, while Owen earned a medal but no cash payout. Would James share his prize? Would he feel sorry for his older brother and recognize that it was a team effort after all? Of course not. That $50 went in James’ pocket, earmarked for some Legos, and Owen had to try and come to terms with James’ victory and his “loss.”
However, Owen is the resourceful one. Given enough time, he might yet be able to explain why it is in James’ best interest to share the money. In fact, I think he already has James’ blessing to keep all of the adult language money.
Me? I’m a few dollars poorer, but I seem to have a couple of boys that are warming up quite nicely to fishing time with Dad.
