My Day Fishing

Another cub scout campout was upon us and Jacob and I set out Friday for Lake Henshaw. The boys were going to spend Saturday doing a variety of activities, including fishing, kickball, astronomy, conservation, and hiking. It was promising to be a very full day.

We arrived, set up camp and went down for the initial flag ceremony. After the ceremony, the camp leader said he was going to need a couple of volunteers to help out at some of the activity stations, one being the fishing station. I told him I could help in that area.

The next morning, the scout leader that was going to run the fishing activity station and I headed down to the water to find a place to set up. He wanted to put up a 'Not-so' Easy-Up as a make-shift outdoor classroom. The activity wasn't just going to be fishing. The boys were going to learn about different types of reels, regulations, and fish. But the interesting part was they were going to make their own fishing poles. Bill, the leader, had brought several pieces of bamboo. The kids were going to select a piece, rap some rope around one end for a grip, run some line up to the top, tie it off, and extend the rest of the line that a leader could then be tied to. It was right out of Huckleberry Finn.

By the way, this wasn't just a scout camp, it was a family camp, which is a specific kind of scout camp in which families are welcome to join in full. We had approximately 30 cub scouts, plus siblings. In all, we were going to doing this with about 55 kids (my guess). So Bill and I set everything up, went back for lunch, then headed back to the water as the kids started coming.

The camp site was about 1/2 a mile from the actual spot where we were fishing, so they were shuttling the kids back and forth in groups according to scout rank. Each group's session was about an hour and half.

I gave some presentations on the different kinds of reels, and Bill would help them build their bamboo rod. When they were done with the rod, Bill would send them down to me to put a hook on their line, show them how to bait it (nightcrawlers), and help them get their line in the water. Many of the kids had brought their own rods, so after they made their bamboo rod they would put it away and use the one they brought. The activity lasted from 12 noon till 5pm. We went through 3 tubs of nightcrawlers, several plastic worms, and dozens of hooks.

People have been catching crappie out of Lake Henshaw lately, and I know that there are LMB in there also. So with it being spawning time (approximately) I had suggested that we set up on the bank of a cove that we had found. The cove was fairly quiet, away from the main fishermen traffic at the landing. The cove was also totally full of trees and brush that were growing up out of the water. I told Bill that this would be a good place to find fish. He was concerned that we'd spend all day helping kids get untangled from the brush, but the brush stopped about 40 feet before it reached shore. I told him the kids probably wouldn't be able to cast far enough for it to be a problem. He agreed, so we spent the day in that little cove tying and baiting hooks for the kids. Only a couple kids got snagged, but we were able to free each snag without losing the line or hook. I was suprised that we didn't lose any hooks, or really get in any trouble with tangles. The only thing we seemed to be losing was nightcrawlers as many of the kids would come back saying, "My bait's gone!"

As I was giving one of the presentations for some of the younger scouts I noticed the smallest of them with tears welling up in his eyes. He had already finished his time fishing and hadn't caught anything. "I didn't catch a fish," he said. I told him I understood how he felt. "I go fishing a lot and there are a lot of times that I don't catch anything," I told him. "I try to catch a fish almost everyday, but it doesn't always happen. In fact, nobody has even caught anything here today." My timing couldn't have been worse.

At that very moment I heard someone yell, "HE'S GOT ONE!!! HE'S GOT ONE!!!!" I looked up just in time to see one boy fishing on the point at the beginning of the cove and a young large mouth bass come out of the water attached to his line. The entire group of kids and adults took off running. One guy netted the bass and the adults started snapping pictures of this young fisherman with the very first fish he'd ever caught. The great thing about this was he had caught it with the bamboo pole he had just finished making. A simple bamboo pole with about 10 feet of line total. No reel, no fancy tackle. Just a homemade wooden bobber and a nightcrawler and this modern day Huck Finn had himself his first Large Mouth Bass. We were all stoked. He had brushed off the skunk for all of us.

That young scout was the only one to catch a fish that day. A couple of other kids had hooked fish, but hadn't set the hook and ended up losing it. At 5pm the last of kids went back to camp and Bill and I broke everything down and packed it back into his SUV. It had been a very long day. I was exhausted, but it had been an absolute blast.

That evening at the Pack Meeting, the scout leader asked the kids, "You've done a lot of activities today. Kickball, Astronomy, Fishing, Conservation, Hiking. What was your favorite?" In almost perfect unison the entire cub scout pack responded with a loud resounding ....

"FIIIIISSSSSHHHHHHIIIIIIIIINNNGG!!!!!!!"

I couldn't help but smile and hope that I had helped play a part in getting these 50+ young boys and girls interested in this great sport. If so, it would be my biggest catch yet.

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