Fishing with the Grandkids

   I never got to go fishing with my dad. He was always working trying to pay the bills. My brother and I  had to work after school and on the weekends with dad. He had a landscaping business on the side and we mowed lawns and removed trees from the clients yard. So there was no real play time.

   I never went fishing until I got married and several of my high school classmates and their wives got together and went fishing. I had a ball. When children came along we still went fishing but mom stopped going and stayed home with my daughter and then work got in the way and then another child, a boy. I worked in the retail field and was always promoted to management and that meant  a lot of hours and weekend working. Then a divorce came along when my daughter was seven and my son was two and I moved away so no fishing with my children.

   I moved to Wenatchee to work in the jewelry retail field as an assistant manager. That meant a lot of hours too. I meet a guy in Wenatchee who just fished all the time and I started going fishing with him. We fished for about every kind of fish, mostly trout, salmon and a little steelhead.

   I meet a young lady who after a period of time fell very much in love with. We got married after a couple of years and I bought a small 12 foot boat. I put on a fishing pole holder on both sides and fished the Icicle River up in Leavenworth. No motors allowed so I learned how to row a boat. Not an easy thing in fast water.

   My wife and I moved to Lake Stevens, WA. Most of my fishing ended except for some charter fishing. It was good and probably cheaper than a buying a bigger boat. That went on for several years. One day I went to my wife and said our grandchildren were growing up and I didn't want to miss their childhood like I did with my children. She agreed and we put the house up for sale and a week later it was sold.

   We moved back to Kennewick, WA  and bought a new home. Going fishing with 5 grandchildren is a challenge. There is really no need for you to take your fishing rod because they want your attention all the time. After all, the fun is watching them.  If you can get them to put the fishing pole in the fishing pole holder for any longer then a minute you have made quite an accomplishment.  I'm hoping that some of what I tell them gets thru to them. Especially that they learn patients and leave the pole in the fishing pole holder a little longer each time and maybe they will catch a fish. They are awesome.

   I have made from scratch each of them a fishing pole. They got to pick out the color of the rod and the color of the thread. I am hoping they will teach there children to fish and maybe pass the fishing rod down to them if the pole last that long.