Andy, Andrew, and Me - First Shad Trip
A couple of days ago I booked a shad fishing trip for my grandson (Andrew) and me with Andy Guibord from the shop. I wanted to get my boy out on the water more but he's been so tied up with baseball and now with the All-Stars he's had no time to spend with grandpa.
Well, baseball is over for the season and now it's grandpa's turn to get him into some fishing. I talked with Andy several times about the shad and even though the run is starting to slow down there are still plenty of fish in the river. Great, trip on.
We meet up with Andy at the ramp late in the day. I brought a light spinning rod for Andrew thinking it would be easier for him to cast on the boat. We moved around a bit looking for some schools of fish and finally dropped anchor in some fairly deep water. Andy ties a small fly on Andrew's spinning rod and quickly get it into the water. At the same time I get started with a fly rod and then Andy as well. One of the fly rods gets bit right away and we hand it off to Andrew.
"Wow! these sure pull grandpa" says my boy. He struggles a little with the left-hand wind that he's not used to but manages to land his first shad.
A moment later the other fly rod goes off and again we hand the rod to Andrew. What a great first experience for an eight year old.
We keep trying to get the spinning rod to get bit but they seemed to want the same fly on the fly rod. No problem, we're all having fun, and Andrew is landing shad after shad.
Andy has the patience of a saint dealing with kids and is constantly asking Andrew about everything from school, to baseball, to other fish he's caught. The whole time getting Andrew to relax and have fun.
Andy had been showing Andrew how to net and release the shad with a short flip and twist of the net. Andrew finally asked if he could do that too. "Sure can" says Andy "The next one is yours" and gives the net to Andrew.
A moment later we've got another shad coming to the boat and Andrew gets his first shad to the net. All smiles, now Andy gets down and with careful instruction helps Andrew to get the flip / twist and release down. Harder than it sounds but Andrew's got it. Now it high-fives and pats on the back.
It's starting to get dark and time to head home. We've had an incredible time first shad trip, and I can't thank Andy enough for the time he spent showing my grandson the nuances of shad fishing.
Andrew gets to stay over and spent the night at grandpa's. After breakfast the next morning, the first thing he asks is "Grandpa, can we go fishing this morning?" How can you ever say no to that? We launch the boat (tired as I am) and in the next hour Andrew has six nice stripers in the net.
Again, thanks to Andy Guibord for a great fishing trip and all the personal instruction getting my boy started on shad.
Pictures to come. :) Tony
