Getting youngsters started can be a bit of a test, but a passing grade will be a big step in his/her life
Zane Michael Gowens was born to fish, though he didn’t yet know it at the time. He donned a Bass Pro Shops’ jersey and posed for a photo with his grandfather before he ever left the hospital.
Fishing comes naturally to his family. His mother, Chandler Giles Gowens, won her first fishing tournament, The Sandy Ridge Bream Tournament for Kids Only, at age 6.
His grandfather won plenty of tournaments, youth and otherwise, and enjoyed fishing with his father, grandfather and uncle. So fish-catching is in the family’s blood, passed down for many generations.
So it should have come as no surprise that it comes naturally for Zane, who recently traveled to the Meridian area for his first fishing trip.
There comes a time for every youngster when he or she is introduced to something that has a positive impact on their life. If it is really fun and successful, it could light a spark of desire that becomes a lifelong passion. I didn’t want to push my fishing passion on Zane too soon, but I was biding my time until I thought he was ready to be introduced to our fine sport.
Pier fishing
With that in mind, we recently went to a small pond that had a pier, just the ticket for a young angler. The lake has a lot of small bream and a few bass and catfish.
Since Zane was pretty small, I rigged up an old Lew’s Speed Stick rod for him because it was light and easy to handle. We bought a few crickets, and I put one on the hook and handed him the rod. In just a couple of minutes, a bream hit it and stole the bait. We put on another cricket, and this time, Zane hooked him and quickly pulled him onto the pier.
We were ecstatic and wanted to get a picture with him, but he didn’t know about getting too close to that fish. He just didn’t know what to think about that. We baited his rod again, and pretty soon, he caught a big bluegill; by then, he was pretty intrigued by this fishing thing and wanted to touch the bream.
Hooked for life
We spent about 15 or 20 minutes, and Zane caught quite a few bream and had a ball. He never lost interest, but we decided to knock off for a while. After we got a snack, he checked out the area around the pond, and it was about time to go. As we went to get the rod and crickets from the pier, he didn’t want to leave.
“I want to fish some,” he said. He grabbed the rod, I put a cricket on, and he pitched it into the water. The cricket floated for a minute, and a dark fish rose up from the depths, sending a wake across the surface as he headed for the wiggling cricket.
“Ka-Whoosh!” The bass struck, and Zane held on for dear life as the bass tried to take the rod away from him. He fought the bass with all his might, and the rod did the trick and wore the bass down. He led the bass to the edge of the pier, and I reached down and grabbed the first bass of his life.
The celebration began; we had a ball taking pictures and watching Zane as he wanted to touch the fish and see what it felt like and what this was all about. His first fishing trip was very fun and memorable. Take a kid fishing this fall and you might just light a spark of fishing desire in a kid’s life.
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