Great story. I have one that happened today also at Rayburn (Harvey Creek). Not quite as cool, but nice. My sister and her husband and their grandaughter was fishing close by me. I couldn't see them through the bushes but I heard her (11 yrs. old) yelling "It's a big one!" And my sister said "Get the net!" When I worked my way back around where they were, the youngster was grinning ear to ear. I said how big and she said "4 pounds!" They had put it in the live well so she could show me, and I asked only 4?, and she said well, 4.15. I said that's a 5 pounder!! She smiled even bigger and I said it needs to be back in the lake. So without hesitation she eased it back in the water and let it go.

I had my 5 yr old daughter in the boat with me on lake Conroe last weekend and she was throwing a spinner bait..She practises in the drive way stand in my boat and cant use her rod and reel but has to be my kistler heliun ltx..man i was sweatin.. She was reeling it so fast it was like a topwater..I asked he to slow down and she said she didnt want to because she didnt want to catch " one of the ugly fish again" Catfish..she caught a catfish several months ago and was scrared to death..She she it was ugly and to throw it back...It was a good 2 to 3 lb fish..

Awesome story and a great site to witness. I have a 2 year old and he is steadly starting to get better at his casting and loves watching me catch fish. I think he gets more excited about it than i do. I can't wait for the day when he catches is first.

Well I feel soo wronged...

I have a pond behind my house that I and another neighbor have stocked with Floridas. We strategically placed brush piles and rock piles for structure and the whole 9 yards. Anyways, to get to the story...

I take my 4 yr. old daughter down there to fish and to have some daddy daughter time. I refuse to let her use a zebco so I taught her how to cast a baitcaster. I just tightened down the tensioner and let her at it. She figured it out after about 30 minutes so I put her on a brush pile. She makes an almost perfect cast with a t-rigged blue fleck power worm. I told her to lower the tip and reel up the slack. She did just that and her line started to move off. I told her to take a step back and hold the rod tight as she can and pull the rod up as hard as she could. She did and the next thing I know the fish is peeling drag from the curado and ripping the line through the water. She never tried to reel as she was trying to keep from going in the water. I was laughing and she was crying...almost screaming. I tried to calmly demand her to start reeling it in as I thought that she would get over her fears once she seen what the reward was going to be. She somewhat listened and tried as hard as she could to reel it in. She kept saying "Daddy I can't, it's too hard" over and over. I tried to remain calm and get her to trust me that she could. The fish tired out finally(thank the lord) after what seemed like 7-8 minutes and she pulled it in and drug it up on the bank. I was estatic to see that she caught a 7 1/2 lb. largemouth. I was very happy....so happy that I yelled "YEAH" for her. I went to give her a high five and she dropped the rod and ran home into the house to tell her mommy that I made her catch a fish.

Now she won't fish unless she has her pink zebco and a little pink lure. She still goes but she spends more time slapping the water with the rod tip. She says she is trying to scare any fish away from her lure. Darndest thing!!

torq- that's a great story also. My baby girl's 2 and I can picture her being the same way in a couple years.

kest- that is awesome you got to see that. I take my 5yo boy every once in a while, but he just has no interest because I haven't been able to put him on any fish. I think once he reaps the rewards he will be able to focus a little more. The best moment I have had was last week he finally agreed to put down his Spider man pole and try a spinning rod. So for a total of about 5 min. it was just me and my boy on the front deck tossing a spinner bait. Course then he let go of his toy airplane while we were going and the trip was over.

great story! the seed has been planted!

Awesome! That motivates me even more to take my son to "big bass" lakes! I can just imagine the pride in that father while watching his son reel in a big chunk of a fish!

Great read! Nothing better than seeing a young fisherman born on the water. I believe young kids hooked on hishing have the best chance at not getting hooked on the bad things out there while growing up. They just get hooked on the looking for the next opertunity to catch another fish.

Great story. I have four boys of my own and it just doesn't get any better than that.

Great story. Wish i had seen it.

And another sicko is made....

Great read. It made my day for sure.

Great all we need is another Vandam in the world of bass fishing 2 5s in two days by a 4 year old

great story

Brings bank a lot of great memories.
Coming up I thought there was nothing better than catching a biggin or bagging a buck, but I was was wrong. The look on my children's faces when they catch a nice fish,just loving the outdoors, or making the some discoveries I did at that age is the best feeling in the world. Thanks for the post!