Jonah's First Fishing Experience

Jonah and I went to the UNI Dome a couple of weeks ago to see what the Sport Show was all about. I was not going to go this year because I have had my fill of that when I was a kid. My dad would take me every year. We would meet my uncle and cousins at Godfather Pizza just before heading to the Dome. Believe it or not, but it was the same Godfathers that is near my house and the one we go to every week.

My dad had a free adult pass this year and dropped it off in my mailbox. Since I was free and Jonah was free, the two of us checked it out. I knew that he would like to crawl in and out of all those campers and RV's. The free shows were about dogs and a guy who could juggle and ride unicycles. You can guess what those shows are like and be almost dead on with your guess. Jonah really liked the dog show and juggling show a lot. Soon after the two shows, we walked over near the trout fishing pond. It cost three dollars for him to fish. Not a bad price since we saved a lot by getting in free and from Sarah dropping us off. She dropped us off to save five bucks in parking fees.

Jonah really got into it. He learned what tackle was earlier in the morning because we were watching a fishing show on PBS. His previous schema for tackle was in football. Anyway, he was throwing this tackle all over the place. I had to ask a kid to please move down because I didn't want Jonah to snag the kid in the head with his fly tackle. I tried showing him how to move the fly around, but he was very excited and was flinging that thing everywhere.

A couple of times I thought that a trout was going to bite his fly, but he would yank it up out of the water faster that you can say, "Hold on guy!" A gentleman dressed in complete camouflage behind us leaned over the railing and asked me if I was going to keep the fish if he caught one. I told him that we like to practice catch and release. The man was disappointed.

Well, I was very happy for Jonah because he was a good listener and a good fisherman. He didn't catch anything so we talked about how that is more likely the norm with us. It is always a good time, but it is a great time when you catch fish. Not a bad experience for the first time. We will probably go a couple of times this summer.