FarmerDave
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2006
- Messages
- 14,185
LOL!
About 30 years ago, a friend of mine was attacked by a grouse along a trout stream. Apparently it had a nest nearby. In hind site, he probably shouldn't have told us. ;-)
LOL!
About 30 years ago, a friend of mine was attacked by a grouse along a trout stream. Apparently it had a nest nearby. In hind site, he probably shouldn't have told us. ;-)
Bocianka1
Member
Last spring i took my kids fishing, (ages 4, 6, and 8 roughly) at Ridley Creek along the Multi-use trail. I am slowly introducing them to fishing. The girls mostly like to scooter around and haven't taken much of an interest in fishing, but my 4 year old boy is more open to my brain washing. He is just learning to use his little ice fishing rod with some independence. One of my goals for this trip is to help him catch some trout and not just little blue gill. So i tie some tippet onto the end of his ice fishing rod and tie on a regular eagle claw hook with some of the squirmy wormy material hooked on. add some split shot and a tiny bobber and it's almost like he is fly fishing. sort of. or pretend bait fishing but with fake bait. I know the trout will hit the squirmy material in the calm sections where nothing else seems to catch their attention. He was so excited to be casting and reeling in on his own.
so as he starts to get the hang of it, i move down a few yards and try some casts with my fly rod. Well, after a bit I hear this yell. Every parent knows the sound of the yell. The one that means i'm hurt right now kind of yell that is so different from all the other yells they make. So i don't even bother retrieving my line i just hand my fly rod to my 8 year old daughter and race over to investigate. My 4 year old has managed to hook his ear. and not the soft fleshy part, the hook went in parallel to the top of his ear and hooked into the rounded thicker part of his ear. And i hadn't thought to smash the barb on his hook when i cobbled together his set up.
Now i'm trying to back out a barbed hook from the thickest part of his ear and watching his ear stretch and pull like putty with my every effort. My boy is scared and crying and keeps instinctively reaching up to grab the hook every time i pull on it. the barb is completely imbedded and there's no way to easily push it through to so i can smash the barb either.
Then i hear my oldest yelling for help. Apparently a big sunfish thought my fly looked good and got itself hooked while she was staring with horror at the exploits of her poor hooked brother. I don't have time now to teach her how to work a fly rod so i tell her to just sit tight while i work on her brother.
This is when my middle child, the soft-hearted one in the group decides to start panicking and repeatedly asks me if her brother is OK or if he is going to die. (DIE?! really! it's just a hooked ear!!). I talk to him soothingly all the while continuing to try and get the hook out without hurting him too much. Some bewildered stranger wanders past and asks if i need some help. I have my son under control who perversely is the calmest of my three children at this point. I am still wrestling with his ear, so i ask the bystander if he could please help my 8 year old unhook the fish behind us while i attend to the (according to my 6 year old) life threatening mortal wound that has been inflicted on my 4 year old. Apparently fly rods are intimidating because after a half-hearted attempt at helping reel in the fish the bystander quietly wanders off leaving my 8 year old to fend for herself against a decent sized and very feisty sunfish.
Several sets of joggers and walk pass by us and take note of the general calamity going on, but must have come to the assessment that i had things under control because no one else felt like they needed to get involved or volunteer to help. After much stretching and many tears we finally get the hook out of his ear. Throughout the course of this i had been quietly talking to him about what happened to help calm him. Now, he yells "I hate fishing." Feeling all of my efforts to win my kids over to fishing slipping away i instinctively responded loudly and with authority "NO. were you fishing when you hooked your ear, or were you waving your rod around your head and playing?" He reluctantly admitted he was waving it around like a sword and not fishing. So i pointed out that fishing is still fun, but playing around with fishing rods is painful.
Then i reeled in a very heavy sunfish for my daughter who having never felt a fish on a more supple rod before was convinced i must have hooked a world record carp.
He might be 4, but of my 3 children he is the most even-keeled and quick to recover when things don't go his way. He hopped on his scooter and decided to keep our day going to the amazement of his sisters. A little later i even got him casting again, and lo and behold he did manage to catch 3 or four trout that day. He even hooked and reeled in one all by himself. Later that day we regaled my wife with the story of the "Ear Fish" and how much fun fishing was that day. Every time we pass that spot we talk about it being the spot to catch Ear Fish. In the mean time, i'm mashing every barb i see down. I do not want to have to go through that experience again. Kids certainly do make fishing more interesting.
so as he starts to get the hang of it, i move down a few yards and try some casts with my fly rod. Well, after a bit I hear this yell. Every parent knows the sound of the yell. The one that means i'm hurt right now kind of yell that is so different from all the other yells they make. So i don't even bother retrieving my line i just hand my fly rod to my 8 year old daughter and race over to investigate. My 4 year old has managed to hook his ear. and not the soft fleshy part, the hook went in parallel to the top of his ear and hooked into the rounded thicker part of his ear. And i hadn't thought to smash the barb on his hook when i cobbled together his set up.
Now i'm trying to back out a barbed hook from the thickest part of his ear and watching his ear stretch and pull like putty with my every effort. My boy is scared and crying and keeps instinctively reaching up to grab the hook every time i pull on it. the barb is completely imbedded and there's no way to easily push it through to so i can smash the barb either.
Then i hear my oldest yelling for help. Apparently a big sunfish thought my fly looked good and got itself hooked while she was staring with horror at the exploits of her poor hooked brother. I don't have time now to teach her how to work a fly rod so i tell her to just sit tight while i work on her brother.
This is when my middle child, the soft-hearted one in the group decides to start panicking and repeatedly asks me if her brother is OK or if he is going to die. (DIE?! really! it's just a hooked ear!!). I talk to him soothingly all the while continuing to try and get the hook out without hurting him too much. Some bewildered stranger wanders past and asks if i need some help. I have my son under control who perversely is the calmest of my three children at this point. I am still wrestling with his ear, so i ask the bystander if he could please help my 8 year old unhook the fish behind us while i attend to the (according to my 6 year old) life threatening mortal wound that has been inflicted on my 4 year old. Apparently fly rods are intimidating because after a half-hearted attempt at helping reel in the fish the bystander quietly wanders off leaving my 8 year old to fend for herself against a decent sized and very feisty sunfish.
Several sets of joggers and walk pass by us and take note of the general calamity going on, but must have come to the assessment that i had things under control because no one else felt like they needed to get involved or volunteer to help. After much stretching and many tears we finally get the hook out of his ear. Throughout the course of this i had been quietly talking to him about what happened to help calm him. Now, he yells "I hate fishing." Feeling all of my efforts to win my kids over to fishing slipping away i instinctively responded loudly and with authority "NO. were you fishing when you hooked your ear, or were you waving your rod around your head and playing?" He reluctantly admitted he was waving it around like a sword and not fishing. So i pointed out that fishing is still fun, but playing around with fishing rods is painful.
Then i reeled in a very heavy sunfish for my daughter who having never felt a fish on a more supple rod before was convinced i must have hooked a world record carp.
He might be 4, but of my 3 children he is the most even-keeled and quick to recover when things don't go his way. He hopped on his scooter and decided to keep our day going to the amazement of his sisters. A little later i even got him casting again, and lo and behold he did manage to catch 3 or four trout that day. He even hooked and reeled in one all by himself. Later that day we regaled my wife with the story of the "Ear Fish" and how much fun fishing was that day. Every time we pass that spot we talk about it being the spot to catch Ear Fish. In the mean time, i'm mashing every barb i see down. I do not want to have to go through that experience again. Kids certainly do make fishing more interesting.
pcray1231
Well-known member
Swattie and I could blow this thread out of the water. hehe.
Not posting it publicly. Ask me at the jam.
Not posting it publicly. Ask me at the jam.
