Fishing

My Dad has gone on a salmon fishing trip to the Miramichi River in New Brunswick with a good friend of his. He`ll be gone for a week and I`m glad he has the chance to go. It`s been thirteen years since he has been fly fishing and he thinks his skills will be a little rusty but I`m sure they will all come back to him when he needs them. Memories are just the same. As I thought about his upcoming fishing trip I remembered the first time he took me trout fishing. I was three years old and I can remember it vividly.

I can remember that he went out into the river and I stayed on the grassy bank watching and waiting for him to catch a fish. It didn`t seem to be too long before he did and when he pulled that fish up out of the water I got so excited that I was jumping up and down. Dad said he had one hand on me and one holding the rod! Never had there been such excitement over a fish, I`m sure. We took the fish home and Mom cooked it for us that night. It tasted so good!

I have gone fishing with my Dad many times since then and he has taken our children too, as well as anyone else who would like to go. There has been a huge resurgence of interest in leisure fishing lately and I`m glad. There is a whole line of products geared towards the female fisherman which are all pink, even the rods! Fishing is one of those sports where physical ability doesn`t come into play nor does gender. Everyone can fish.

There is an old proverb which says `give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime`. Fishing is one of those life skills we should teach our children. Not only will it provide food for them but it is a great stress reliever too. People from all walks of life enjoy fishing; whether it be a corporate businessman or a blue collar worker, they all can enjoy the peace and tranquillity which come from spending an afternoon on a grassy bank, casting the fly over the water and waiting for a nibble.....unless you have a very excited three year old along!