Two weekends ago.

I took my 4 ( & 1/2!) year old fishing on the mighty W. She fell in on the first cast. I had her in ankle deep water on the edge of a sand shelf drop and she put her whole body into the cast. Like a kid with a baseball bat that weighs too much, the force swung her around and into the drink she went. Crying. Cold. Damnit. I put a jacket around her, put her back in the boat and anchored at a fishy spot so she could eat lunch and warm up. I caught a walleye and a smallmouth while she eased out.

Sandwiches and chips gone , she decided to fish again. I took a seat and encouraged her with "nice cast!" and "you are gonna catch one this cast for sure!". She actually hooked three bass and a walleye of about 2 lbs. on her lead head jig and Mister Twister. I haven't taught her about setting the hook yet (she just keeps cranking) so they all made it close to the boat before making their escape. She was thrilled nonetheless. Better than the fish were the utterances of a 4 1/2 year old. While eating lunch she informed me that "tortilla" was Spanish for "chips". And on one particularly nice cast I said "That cast was money!" to which she replied "...in the bank."