TAKE THE KIDS FISHING

I have always believed in teaching young kids how to fish. It doesn't matter if you teach boys or girls. I have two girls 9 and 3; and I have always taken my 9 year old fishing with me and will teach my 3 year old to fish when she's a little older. There is no reason why girls shouldn't fish.

I personally learned to fish when I was around 6 years of age and to this day I love to fish. It doesn't matter if it is in rivers or lakes, but I prefer the river during the salmon season.

Fighting a big salmon is so much fun if you have never tried it; the power they have is amazing. Not only are you fighting the fish, but you also have to know how to fight the current and turn the fish so it doesn't run to far on you and possibly go into any brush nearby. I must say, last year, I had so much fun fishing and had a hard time keeping the salmon off my line. I caught so many in one day that I was resting for a few minutes after I caught each fish because they fought so hard; my forearms and biceps were screaming at me to stop beacuse they were fatigued so bad after landing them. What a rush it was and every time I caught one, the anticipation was so great of landing a huge monster!

While fishing the river you also have to be smart and not go treading into the water if you have no idea what the bottom is like. I have heard of many fishermen drowning just to catch a fish and they lose their life over a darn fish. Well to me, no fish is that important. I just say to my fellow anglers; please take care when fishing the rivers and make sure safety comes first.

I have also heard of a case where a father took his son river fishing and the father decided to "chase" the fish because it started to run on him and his son watched his dad drown. That will be with that little boy for the rest of his life. Very sad. So the moral to this story is you must learn to read the water and you must remember that rivers slope down also just like a lake or the ocean. Safety is always first, so be sure you teach them right.