Another Good Reason to Retire
I keep confusing several old TV show titles with the last good topic we had about retiring early. One of the shows was something about " taking a kid fishing" and always ended with "dad always had time to take us fishing". I think the show was hosted by ? Shaw Rigsby? Grigsby? One of those southern drawl talking bass tournament guys.
It always struck a nerve because my dad "always had time to take me fishing", and at the same time owning and running a business for thirty years left me with "little " time to take my kids fishing as much as I would have liked too.
Well, part of getting older is retiring and as we grow, our family grow too. Fortunately, my son gave me a grandson, and the good Lord gave me a second chance to do everything I wanted to do with my son over again. And now, I have the time.
This week my grandson Andrew, came to spend a few days with grandpa. What a treat. Now five years old he's a bundle of a million questions about everything, and I've made it my goal to teach him as many of my skills as I can. While I'm sure he can already teach grandpa many new skills on the computer, I want to show him as much as possible about having fun outdoors in nature.
Last night we planned on taking the boat out (with grandma too) for some striper fishing the next day. The rivers are loaded with young stripers all eager to grab an easy meal. So, we needed to tie a special fly and Andrew was good enough to pick a few colors and hold some thread while grandpa put it together for the next day.
So this morning, after a hearty meal of chocolate-chip pancakes and juice, we headed out to the river to go exploring. A little cool but still warm enough for grandma, we launched the boat at the Yuba City ramp and headed across the river toward the Yuba. The water had dropped some but was still navigable with our prop.
We motored up a ways and dropped anchor in a likely looking spot and made our first cast with the fly we had tied the night before. Wham! First cast and I hand the rod to Andrew to reel in his first ever striper. What a treat to see such a big smile on a loved one's face. He held the rod and wound the reel as fast as his small hands could handle while grandpa helped with a little support in the middle section till the fish was about to come aboard. Andrew's first striper on a fly 
The morning turned into a non-stop action fest as we landed one striper after another. Everything in the area seemed to like the fly as well. Andrew took his first small-mouth bass in the midst of the action too.
It seemed everything was eating this morning and next we hooked a nice hen shad that went airborne immediately and fought twice as hard as the little stripers. Sorry, no picture for this one.
After a couple of hours it was starting to quiet down a little and we headed back down to the mouth of the river for one last cast before heading in. Wham-bam again on the first cast and in comes a fitting end to the day, stinking squawfish. All still on that same one special fly.
What a great day. I'm not sure who enjoyed it the most,,,, my boy,,, or me.?
These are the things that memories are made of and will last forever, long after we're gone. Enjoy them while you can.
Tony
TONY BUZOLICH
Feather River Fly
Yuba City, CA.
(530) 790-7180
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks