Our son Jack loves fishing! Therefore, our vacation on a lake in Wisconsin consists of nonstop fishing (swimming too since our daughter Hannah loves swimming - see my past and future posts about her swimming). On day two of our annual vacation, we started fishing on the boat early in the morning for some bluegill, crappie, and even a smallmouth bass.
After a few hours we were ready to come in for lunch and take a break. While Jack did eat a little, he was not ready for a break. Instead he wanted to continue casting his giant musky baits he started collecting last year when he heard that George Lake was a “musky” lake.
Muskellunge are known as the fish of 10,000 casts because of their elusive nature. In the freshwater bodies of water where they live, they are the apex predator that tend to live alone and wait under cover to attack smaller fish.
I didn’t really think Jack was going to catch a musky although he pulled in a nice largemouth bass which was plenty of excitement for both of us. I decided to grab a cold beverage and sit down on the patio in front of the cabin we rented to enjoy the view and watch him fish.
Jack yelled out that he had a fish on and I first thought it was another bass he could handle on his own. Then I saw this giant fish jump out of the water and I knew he would need help.
I jumped out of my chair and first went towards Jack, asking our daughter Hannah to grab the net. When it seemed like he was ok for the moment and Hannah didn’t know where to find the net, I ran to our boat on the next dock over retrieved it and got back to Jack as quickly as I could.
Jack was holding on to the fish pretty well as the initial fight was gone after the fish made a few runs with line pulling out each time.
I got to the end of the dock and wondered how I might net the fish that was larger than the net. I made one swipe and missed but got it on the second try.
We brought the fish to the shore then focused on getting a picture and getting the fish back in the water. There was a crowd that formed by this point from all the commotion and excitement. Everyone was amazed that Jack had landed such a large fish.
After we took a few photos and measured the fish, I put if back in the water and followed techniques that worked in the past on bass to get them swimming again and back to life in the lake. The fish was 45 inches! We didn’t weigh it but considering it bent our full size net it had to be well over 20 pounds, maybe more!
I was still a bit in shock as you can tell by the picture, but as happy as a dad could be to see his son catch the fish of a lifetime at age 9!
So what did I learn? When someone is passionate about something, they may demonstrate a level of persistence that may even be annoying to others, thinking there’s no chance they will succeed. Jack even mentioned to me later in the day that I didn’t believe that he would catch one because I wasn’t too fond of him buying musky lures. I admit that I wasn’t a fan although it was more based on the $20 a lure price tag! Also when Jack wanted to continue casting hour after hour when he was younger, I admit that I got tired of it after about the 6 or 7th hour each day since it was more work for me.
Now I am able to look at the time we spent as precious memories and watching him independently catch a monster fish and his excitement to go fishing with me, I can’t help but be proud and thankful!
Learn In The Flow Of Life
Jason
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