My son's first trout!

[AVA67]

My son has been my fishing partner since well before he could walk. There are pictures of him in a chest pack on me while wet wading for late summer smallies when he was 16 months old. Last summer he had a blast reeling in sunnies and rock bass. This winter while talking about fishing West (my son) told me this year he wanted to catch trout and catfish.

Fast forward to this week, with the uncertain weather i didn't know if i would be able to get him out this weekend or not. (My wife is pretty understanding but taking a not quite 3 year out in the sub 40 degree rain might have lead to a slight disagreement). Still on Thursday night i took a walk to one of the local stocked creeks and found the bows stacked up right where they are supposed to be.

I prepped everything last night and just hoped to wake up to a dry conditions. Well at 5:30 this morning they sky was dry so off we went. From 7:10 until 8:00 we spent looking at deer and deer tracks, throwing sticks and rocks, using the stream side logs as big balance beams. Despite being chilly he hung in like a real trooper. At 8:00 i pitched the first butter worm from Tommy at The Sporting Life, in and at 8:02 West had his first trout.

From 8:00-8:25 we caught 3 and lost 4 (including an 18"er), but because West decided he wanted to release all we caught i didn't both netting anything or he would have had his limit.

At 8:25 he was done. I try to make it a point to never push my son to stay longer than he is willing. I want to keep it fun every trip. This is a day i hope to remember for a long long time.