Get hooked on fishing, along with your kidBy Lee Hadley
lhadley@heraldt.comMy childhood memories of fishing are not joyous. I distinctly recall being dragged out of bed before the sun was even peeking above the horizon and subjected to endless hours of hot and humid tedium on the hard bench of a tiny boat.
Other powerful memories include freezing my feet while ice fishing and, in warmer months, slapping madly at clouds of riverside mosquito swarms. If I ever caught a fish, I can’t picture it today.
As a young adult, I didn’t fare much better. A lack of patience combined with a lack of knowledge does not make for good fishing. I was usually good for snagging a tree, the bushes, my shirt, the tackle box . I’d catch pretty much anything but a fish. That’s just when I could hold on to the rod; on the day that I unintentionally tossed my entire rod straight into the lake I decided that fishing, like playing golf, was simply not a skill I was ever going to be able to acquire.
In the ensuing years, I’ve been blessed with a family of adventurers. My entire household enjoys the outdoors; in the field they’re happy to help and eager to learn new skills.
When I was informed this past winter that the family would like to try to learn how to fish, there was nothing for me to do but swallow my old prejudices and figure it out.
I knew enough to know that Indiana requires a license to fish legally. With a few exceptions, each fisher age 17 years and older and fishing on public land is required to possess a valid fishing license and present it to conservation or other law enforcement officials upon request. Fishing on private land does not require a license but does require permission of the landowner.
Indiana makes purchasing a fishing license quick and easy with the Indiana Online Licensing System, at
www.in.gov/ai/appfiles/dnr-license/index.html. A resident fishing license costs $17; you print your license out at the end of the transaction so there’s no wait. (Hunting and trapping licenses can also be purchased with this system.)
Legal compliance assured, it was time to consider equipment.
In principle, fishing is simple: you need a stick, a string and a hook of some sort. In practice, there is a dizzying selection of fishing equipment available, much of which is completely beyond the comprehension of a beginner. One online source offers more than 800 styles and sizes of fish hooks! That’s not even scratching the surface of lures, flies, jigs, spinner blades, rod type, reel type and whether or not to use live bait.
I decided to keep it as simple as possible. This was an experiment, after all, and if we weren’t going to enjoy fishing I couldn’t see spending a lot of money or brain power on the exercise. At the same time, I wanted to give us the opportunity to succeed and enjoy the sport. I purchased a couple of packaged combo kits that came with rod, reel and all the basic tackle. It was enough for me to feel like we could tie on a hook, head to Griffy Lake and have a fair chance of catching a fish.
It turns out that I’ve been wrong for years.
Fishing is fun!
With a hatful of ignorance and a tubful of garden worms, we’ve opened a whole new world. My own limited success has been gratifying but it pales in comparison to the sense of accomplishment I had while watching my son land his first fish.
We have a lot to learn yet but it’s nice to be making fishing memories that we’ll all enjoy.
Lee Hadley is an outdoor enthusiast who has lived in Bloomington since 1993.
Alex Hadley, 10, of Bloomington, holds aloft his first-ever catch. Lee Hadley | Courtesy photo
