Fishing with the kids

I'm lucky enough to have two boys, and truth be told it's the boys that reignited my love of fishing the past few years.   Having fished as a boy myself from the time I could walk, I wanted to see if my boys would love it as much as I had.   Well, turns out they both took to it right away with a passion that only kids can have!

Before I had either the kayak or canoe, I would take my oldest, Fynn, to the public dock in Hampton, NB. This is a well known family friendly place to throw out a worm and catch white & yellow perch, sunfish, smallmouth bass and even the odd catfish or pickerel.   I've heard of people catching sturgeon there, but I don't imagine that would be common. 

Here is a very excited Fynn wearing my fishing vest holding his very first Yellow Perch.

I would sometimes also take my youngest, Rowan, though he would only play with the worms!    I guess 2 is too young to get him fishing!





In the summer of 2012, as I do most summers, I took the boys back home to Newfoundland.   My Dad has an ATV so we took it for a day trip into the woods where Fynn again had a chance to try for some fish.   We didn't catch much that day, but Fynn was able to reel in a baby brook trout.

This past Spring, once we had the canoe, it was time to get the kids out on the water.   In May, while it was still pretty cold, I took Fynn down the Kennebacasis from Sussex to Hampton, camping along the way outside of Norton on the side of the river.   Fynn had a great time, and we even caught a nice size small mouth bass along the way.   By the end, he was an exhausted pirate as you can see here!

Rockwood park did a fishing tournament for the kids earlier this summer and I took Fynn and Rowan out in the canoe.   99% of people were there fishing from shore, while Fynn, Rowan and I paddled around the pond.   They were certianly the center of attention! 

Here, Rowan instead decided to hook one himself, reel it in, and take it off the hook... all before I even realized he had a fish on, as I was fooling with the anchor at the time!

Typically now I take Fynn and Rowan out in canoe to Kingston Creek, NB where the pickerel are pleanty.  We have also caught perch and sunfish out there, and have seen sturgeon jump also.
















Finally the best time I've had fishing with the kids so far has been when I took them home to Newfoundland this past summer while the food fishery was on for cod fish.   Two days in a row, the boys jumped out of bed, full of anticipation, at 5 AM to get ready to be in the boat for 6.      They couldn't wait to go with Poppy out to catch some fish in a boat!

 Cod fishing is typically done with a jigger on a strong line, but I brought out a rod with 10 lb line just to see what it would be like to hook a cod on rod and reel.  The cod were plentyful and the boys had a wonder time.   Both Fynn and myself used the rod to bring up a few cod, and Rowan had a great time making friends with every fish we brought in the boat.

Cod do not fight at all, they are just dead weight.  So to bring them up on the rod you just raise the rod, reel as you drop the rod, and repeat... essentially just lifting the fish.    So while these are big heavy fish, Fynn was able to bring them in himself... though it took him about 4 - 5 minutes each!

Here you can see Rowan has a hold on a cod fish which he fully intends to take home as a pet.










Later, once the fish are back at the dock to be cleaned, Rowan is sitting off in the back quite upset as we won't let him keep a fish!