Fishing Follies

So, Rocco has become completely obsessed with fishing over the past year. His grandfather took him out a couple times and he enjoyed the outdoors, scaring away all the fish and pooping next to Joe in the middle of a stream. I took him out last October I believe when we were done our first camping trip with the cub scouts. We caught nothing, and again he had to poop in the water. This year, we have gone out a couple times, just the two of us, and had no luck.

A couple weeks back, we went with his grandfather to the shore to cast out of the rocks and jetties. We started with a casting net to secure some bait fish. Rocco had his own, which eventually ended up sinking to the bottom of the ocean. But Joe had a nice haul with a couple spot and even a small flounder. Rocco loves fish, especially flounders. We had to throw it back, but only after Rocco took enough time to observe it before it took its last breath of air. Or its last gasp of air. Or its last attempt to diffuse oxygen from the medium around his gills. Whatever fish do to breath. Unfortunately, tropical storm Karen had passed through the area the week before, and we found ourselves stuck on a sand bar that was going to disappear soon. We had no choice but to go through waste high water to get back to the car and dry land. We moved to the jetty and taught Rocco how to cast the spinning reel, and how to be patient. It was aggravating at first, watching a 7 year old potentially destroy up to a thousand bucks in fishing equipment, but we eventually just let him have at it, doing his best. The catch of the day? Eel. I caught a huge one pictured below plus a slightly smaller one, and I think Joe caught the baby these two eel had after doing eel things together. It was a slow day for a fishing lover like Joe, but Rocco was all about yelling, "FISH ON!!

For the past couple months, when he's with us, I have taken him out in the dark early Sunday morning to fish our local creeks. We had Jo luck, but he is also anti-everything required to have the best environment for catching fish. I don't fault him, he is only seven. That's gotta be tough. He had saved up his money to buy his own spinning reel, but after three and a half hours, his rod was tangled beyond repair. I had enough. Cut him some line with a hook and weight on it and told him to make his own rod. He did, and I was getting close to catching something. By this point, I was out on a rock, and not to be outdone, Rocco starts crawling out on a rock of his own. He gets himself out there, and slowly stands up. It looked like a first timer on the high wire performing in front of a crowd. Once he stood up, he began to lower his arm that he had previously kept out to amazingly keep him balanced. I could see it in his eyes. Once he decided it was time to lower the arms, he just kind of let them go limp. The momentum of his arms dropping suddenly pulled his body forward, and Rocco began his slow motion toppling into the water. The rock was angled down, so his fall took even longer. It wasn't a typical fall on the ground quick fall. Hearing him go "no nononononono" like Cleveland Brown sitting in his bathtub as it falls out of the top of his house on Family Guy was hilarious. He panicked once he hit the water. His faux fishing road was nowhere to be found, which he was scared that I would be upset about. I got over to the rocks in about 0.9 seconds and had him out of the water. It was only 40 degrees out. So was the water. He was crying, obviously upset over what had just happened to him. I got him changed into one of my oversized fat guy sweatshirts and kept him in the passenger seat as I gathered our stuff. He was pretty calm by then, and I turned to him and asked, "You ok?" He nodded, slight smile. "Good thing. That was SOOOOOOO funny to watch happen." We both laughed.

That reminded me of when I was maybe 5 or 6 years old. We used to go to this camp ground every year in our big RV. It was also referred to as our camper. I was a lucky kid to get to travel so frequently and when you are just a little boy, every trip feels like a lifetime. Any who, one year we were down there and I was all set in the dock to fish like we always did. I can't remember what was or wasn't caught, bit I do remember one thing. I needed a large cast to feel better about my day. I put ALL my might into it. My hook and worm flew through the air. Unfortunately, so did I. I soon had that one second realization that I was flying. Before I could flap my arms to fly, I was in the water. Luckily I had my rod still in my hand. Even luckier, I had that Hawaiian GI Joe character in my back pocket. He was my favorite. That's what i panicked most about. My family was laughing. Our fellow campers were laughing. All I could muster was a "Shit up Phil!" aimed at my brother, who was the only one NOT laughing. I can't yell at my parents when my life is on the line! The important thing here is that when I got out of the water, my character was still in my pocket. I got down to some dry clothes and warmed with a fire. Certainly a memory I will never forget because I can never live it down. Rocco's flop will be the same.