My youngest is probably the most active of all my children. HotRod (10) is one of those who just HAS to get up every so often, do a cartwheel or two, race around the house and then can sit down and read/write for a bit longer.

He’s just like that. He’s my uber-active kid.

And yet, of all of my kids, he is also the MOST patient when it comes to fishing. He can sense where the fish are … where to cast … and waits patiently while they, literally, take the bait.

Case in point: yesterday (Jun 27th), HotRod and dh went fishing at the Lake (at the cove right across the street from our house). Within 90 minutes, that child had caught 6 or 7 fish (all thrown back in to be caught another day) while dh only had 2 or 3 to his credit.

About an hour into their fishing expedition, HotRod came blasting in hollering for a camera and a ruler: he’d caught a large-mouthed bass and wanted to measure it. Being a mom, I not only found him the ruler … I jogged back with him, camera in hand to record this mini-whale he’d caught:

at least 24-inch large mouthed bass

at least 24-inch large mouthed bass


he's just a tad proud of his mini-whale

he’s just a tad proud of his mini-whale


and this would be why they're named "large mouth"

and this would be why this particular type of bass is called “large mouthed”

Once we finished our photo-shoot … HotRod wanted to try again … and within five minutes, hauled in a small-mouthed bass (“only” 15in this time):

15-inch small mouthed bass

15-inch small mouthed bass


yep, 15 inches stem-to-stern

yep, 15 inches stem-to-stern

Again, he put a worm carefully on his hook, wrapping it securely (there are NO free lunches ’round here). He cast out … and caught a 13-inch sunfish. The poor guy had a hard time holding this rather prickly fish; dh had to use the Leatherman to get the hook out. We then called it a day and headed back to clean up.

13in sunfish

13in sunfish


these guys are mean -- prickles all over them

these guys are mean — prickles all over them

In less than 15 minutes, I saw my youngest catch TWO fish … not bad since he’s only been fishing about a year. He’s just got a natural affinity for knowing how, where and when to cast out and what bait will work that day.

We’ll just have to start calling him “the fish whisperer” and maybe someday he’ll be a fisher of men.

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