The Boy, His Pole and the Little Bluegill

My son has always loved to fish. When he was really little, he had a fishing game that I made of magnets, cardboard fish and a wooden spoon and string..

As he got older, I got him a Snoopy fishing pole. It was one of the made-for-kids-not very sturdy kind, that never really worked well. It always got hung up as he reeled it in and the line would remain twisted after being let out.That pole mysteriously disappeared one day-we figure that my younger brother didnt like the idea of being shown up by his little 4 and a half year old nephew. The competition was too much for an 18 year old to handle.

The next pole was a piece of driftwood that he found floating, a piece of string with a hook on the end and a ball of bread for bait. When he caught a fish, he only had to give it a little jerk and the fish was out of the water-onto the dock.

Yesterday, after watching him fish everday that was not raining and talking about fishing every minute of every day, we took a ride over to a fishing bait/tackle shop and set him up with a real honest to goodness rod and reel.

This spiffy new get up is black with red and yellow stripes on it, fancy reel with smooth reeling action and man o' man is it slick.

When he got home from this purchase, Nathanial decided that the timing was right to catch a big one. He quietly walked down to the end of the dock, leaned over and contemplated the *best* spot to put the line in (using the secret code of fishermen that I am not a party too)and dropped that line-complete with red and white bobber in.

As I sat a couple of feet away on the dock, I saw the beauty of a young boy fishing with a rod/reel just his size. His concentration was complete and it was apparent that he was thouroughly enjoying his fishing time. It also occured to me that he was always *that* happy when fishing. It didnt matter what kind of pole he had. It didnt matter what kind of bait or rod or reel or stick or hook. He just enjoyed fishing for the sake of sitting there and watching the fish nibble on his offering.

After a minute or two, he invited me to go fishing with him. I went to the house and got the only other pole we have- the driftwood stick. There we sat, a mom and a boy, enjoying a simple pleasure just for the simplicity of it. We caught Bluegill and Perch, Nathanial caught a small rock Bass. We talked about why fish do the fishy things they do and how odd it was that they liked worms and bread too..I hope my son always keeps that sense of enjoying hiself in the moment and not equating fancy with fulfilling. I also hope that my son will someday make a driftwood pole for his son and they will contemplate the mystery of the Bluegill under the dock.

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