Teach a kid to fish, feed em for a lifetime

By By Steve Strong / 4-H Youth Agent
March 13, 2002
The old saying actually goes, "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime." Still, the same truths also work for kids.
Studies show that a children have a 90 percent chance of fishing throughout their lives if they go fishing for the first time before they are 9. Sadly, the numbers also state that kids who do not learn to fish early in life will probably grow old without ever knowing what it's like.
More than just a sport, fishing teaches many valuable lessons about patience, self-reliance and reverence for natural resources. The fine art of "angling" combines skill with a lot of luck, and the great part is that you don't need a bunch of fancy equipment to get into it.
My granddaddy taught me to fish with a simple bamboo cane pole that he cut himself, and no more for bait than the grasshoppers and crickets we would catch off the pond bank.
Later, I showed him how to cast with a rod and reel, and we went home at the end of the day with a mess of bream and bass that grandmother cooked for us but we had to clean them outdoors because of the smell.
Even the yucky part of fishing like "dressing them out" has its good points; dogs just love the innards. I also learned that I have some unsavory family members who eat the fish eggs, or roe, right along with the rest of the catch. Yummy… I guess.
Of course, baiting the hook with real live bait is the first squeamish thing a kid has to get over if he or she ever hopes to be called a "reel fisherman." No gender bias intended, ladies. Some of the best anglers I know are women. My sister-in-law schools me on bassing on a regular basis.
Trusting kids with tying on their own hooks can come a little later when they have experienced the thrill of the catch a few times. The "right way" and the "wrong way" principle comes through clearly when that knot slips loose and provides a youngun' with a classic "one that got away" story. That's what fishing is all about.
Success and failure, man against nature, a tasty meal versus an empty stomach. Fishing can teach us a lot about who were are as humans.
The all-important lesson of catch-and-release should also be taught to kids as often as possible. Whether you are talking fishing or any other kind of wild game, harvesting enough for the dinner table comes first, then the occasional trophy for mounting and bragging rights.
Unless, you happen to be my little brother (now 6 feet 2 inches and 250 pounds) who got it backwards. He went out to granddaddy's pond at age 5 and hauled in a lunker bass that weighed nearly 7 pounds! That's when you tend to get spoiled and think the whole thing is just like, I know this is corny, "fish in a barrel."
That's OK, you have plenty of time to learn humility on those days when the east wind blows back all day long, and you can't get a bite to save your life. Your stomach is grumbling while you dream about the sound of cornmeal hitting hot grease, and all you have to chew on is a stale pack of Nabs.
But you learned the right way, and you keep on fishing. Man, ain't it great? Take a kid fishing today. The lessons will last a lifetime.