Fishing with your children

As often as we can, we (Jackie, Jamie, and myself) spend a day at Mauthe Lake in northern Kettle Morraine. It's really a perfect spot. It's not that far, the lake doesn't allow gas motors so there's no noise or smell or recreation craft, the beach is nice, there's a playground, there's a concession stand, there's a general store nearby, there's boat rentals . . . it's perfect. Often we get there by 11:00am and come home at 11:00pm.

We also fish. WHile one can rent a boat and either row or use an electric motor, one can have a lot of fun fishing from shore. There is a fishing pier, several areas to fish from shore, a boat dock, and a dam area. All of these areas offer good fishing.

If you know what you're doing.

I'm no professional. I used to be more avid about fishing years ago. While I still enjoy reeling in a keeper size largemouth, it's really about having fun. As such, there are a few things I know that help keep fishing interesting for my daughter and who ever is with us. For them, it's simply about catching fish. Sure, they'd love to catch a BIG fish, and can. But, there's a little savvy to it with setting the hook, and I usually outfit them with ultralights. Not that it would be impossible to catch a decent fish on an ultralight, I have, but for a kid success could be fleeting.

Anyway, I can't tell you them amount of times we've gone fishing and have been the only ones catching fish. Seeing other kids with their dads, mostly, watch my daughter reel in fish after fish . . . it makes me kinda sad. Here's the thing, when you fish with your children, it's not about you. Especially if you had a litter of kids. Which, to me, is more than two. You're gonna be busy with the kids and likely won't do a lot of fishing. If you're fishing from shore, you're probably not going to catch any trophy fish anyway, so spend some time with your kids. Second, outfit them properly. That doesn't mean you have to use a SpongeBob fishing kit. Though, some of those kits aren't bad. But, it also doesn't mean outfitting them with gear guaranteed NOT to catch ANY fish. Here's a tip: don't use a bobber the size of a softball and a hook the size of a coat hanger, then stick on a worm on that and expect it to work. If you really want your kids to have fun, get them an ultralight rod. Put a small pencil bobber on it, a small hook, a weight, and then use chunks of worm or meal worms for bait. Guaranteed your kids will have fun. Hook a good sized rock bass and it will feel like they hooked a northern.

Now, word about proper beach attire . . .