CMA719's son

Not my story to tell but I'm going to share it with the board anyway. Hope Mark and his son don't mind.

Mark and his son were recently fishing a small body of water near where they live. Sorry I don't know his son's name, Mark maybe you can add it to the thread. They set up to fish and shortly afterward Mark reeled in a small bullhead. A woman and her very young child saw him land it so the woman went back to her car returning shortly afterwards with what would best be described as a saltwater surf rod. As we've all experienced, the woman literally ended up casting right over where Mark and his son were fishing. Being the gentleman they are, they elected to not say anything.

Not long after Mark's son reeled in a nice 4-5 lb channel catfish. The woman insisted on having a picture taken with her little boy which Mark's son accommodated by holding the fish while her boy stood next to him. After the picture was taken the woman asked if she could have the fish to show people at home. Mark's son insisted he wanted to release the trophy for this lake but the woman insisted and had the gall to take one of their bags, empty the contents, take the channel catfish out of Mark's son's hands and place it in the bag for herself. Imagine the nerve of this woman but most of us have witnessed similar behavior which is what I'm getting to.

In the meantime, Mark was reeling in an eel that ended up being gut hooked. Trying to be polite, he suggested the woman release the channel and take the eel as an option. Woman said she didn't want the eel, wanted to keep the channel.

Here's where the story gets great! With that, Mark's son went over to the bag, took the channel catfish out, walked down to the water's edge and released it. He turned to the woman and said this is a trophy fish, it doesn't deserve to die, you need to respect nature and allow this fish to live while others experience the same enjoyment he did catching a fish that size. This keep in mind from a 9-year-old!

I posted this thread for a few reasons. First kudos to Mark for raising his son with the values obviously he has. Second even more kudos to his son for having the conviction to act in the matter he did. Third because I believe there's a bigger lesson to be learned that most of us already know but bears pointing out. Fishing is so much more than catching. Getting kids involved at an early age teaches them so many values that will be applied throughout the rest of their lives while developing custodians of our sport to insure its future for generations to come. I know Mark was about to jump in when the woman took the channel catfish out of his son's hands but he waited long enough and gave his boy a long enough leash to be his own man even at the tender age of 9 yrs old. I know how proud Mark is of his two boys, I was almost in tears when he told me the story.

Small wins, small victories, recreational fishing as a means for the entire family unit to spend and enjoy time together as well as the values it teaches young adults is what it's all about. Personally I couldn't be more proud of Mark's son and I wanted to give Mark and both his boys a shout out on the site for not only doing the right thing but doing it in a very tactful and professional manner while having the conviction to stick to their guns and not back down when many would have. It's exactly the kind of behavior and values we need to cultivate. Thought it was a great story and wanted to share it with the board. Mark I hope you don't mind me stealing your story but you and your boy are probably too humble to have posted it. I think it's a great story we can all learn from. Kudos again to your two boys who are turning into quite the fisherman and are being brought up the right way in a world where too many kids are only concerned with social media. GREAT stuff!

[Jigman13]

One word...awesome. That is all.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Great story. Mark must be one proud Dad!

[The Hunter]

Wow. Kudos to Mark and the way he is raising his kids. And great job to your son and letting the fish go so that someone else might have the same pleasure of catching he did. Great story and thanks for sharing.

[Chrisper4694]

great story! this is a real issue in every aspect of life right now! people walking around thinking that their freedoms can trump others' freedoms or they have the right interfere with other people's choices...i'm sick and tired of it all and i applaud this kid!

this reminds me of the time jdtuna was caught a pickerel ice fishing and a foreign guy came up to him saying 'i keep? i keep?' and jd looked him straight in the eyes and speared that slime dart right back into the hole HAHAHA.

[crewchief2]

Awesome story, and even more awesome young man. He is definitely going to grow up to be a class act.

[akoop]

Great story.

Very proud of that kid!

[CMA719]

Hey Tom and Company,

Thank you for the kind words. I am very proud of them and also very fortunate to be sharing this sport with them and learning together along the way. As you mentioned it's about time spent with them and the values that are passed along.

Regarding the situation, I'm not surprised that he reacted the way he did. Over the past year we've seen quite a few instances where people are keeping way over the limit, disrespecting spots, trashing areas, etc. It's really sad and shameful. We understand and respect creel limits, but we've seen people make really poor choices. The boys understand (in kid terms) what this could mean for the future of the fishery, and they're as unhappy about it as I am.

Regarding this particular circumstance, the thing that was in the back of my mind when she first asked about keeping it was that she was with a young kid in questionable economic times. If I had any evidence at all that her and her son were hungry I would have been more than fine with taking a few dollars out of my own pocket and giving it to her instead of giving her the catfish. 10 bucks buys what? 2.5 lb of beef? That's a week's worth of dinners for her and her son. She didn't articulate anything like that, instead she just followed my son (closely) around the dock insisting on taking it, not respecting his space or feelings about it at all. Not cool.

There were some things about it that bothered him and he wanted to talk about afterwards. We sat down afterwards to chat, he needed some affirmation, but he knows that he did the right thing.

Thanks again for the kind words. I'm very proud of them both for many reasons. They're good fishermen, and good people.

Mark thanks for the further clarification and very well said. There's an age old saying "The world is what we make of it" and in these challenging times more than ever we need as much positivity as possible. So very proud of both you and your boy(s) not just for the stance you took but also the way it was handled as well as the information you just shared if the woman involved indeed was experiencing financial problems. The march of a million miles begins with the first step, this story is a very good first step for all of us to keep in our memory banks when confronted with similar situations you and your son had. Again a big thank you to your boy and to you for raising your children with in my opinion the right values. Really good stuff all around! Certainly helps counter the things we see or hear about that unfortunately involves complete disrespect for nature and the great resources we have available to us in this state.

[thmyorke1]

very strange to invade someone's space like that, not even in respect to fishing-etiquette, just in general! id be like dang get away from me lady! CMA, glad your son aint taking any crap!