I'm glad kids are out fishing, but

[Glaucus]

For probably the 10th~ time in the past few seasons I've been fishing when a kid (under 13) by himself or with another kid (never the same one and hardly the same place) gut hooks a bass and I have to go to the rescue before they just cut the line and toss it back. It happened again last night. I was fishing a popper at a pond as the final 30 minutes of daylight was disappearing and a young boy shows up with a bobber and a plastic worm. I don't know how he rigged it up, but after 15 or so minutes he hooked into a bass and was very excited and I was excited for him from the other side of the pond. He yells across to me, "I don't know where my hook went." I told him to put the fish back in the water until I made my way over there. It was gut hooked. I got it out. Had I not been there it would have been left to die or thrown back with a hook in its throat and line hanging out of its mouth. I've had this happen several times where it's just me and some random kid who gut hooks fish. It's a scary thought thinking about how often I'm NOT there to help. These kids need supervision or an adult in their lives to show them how to fish and feel the bites. I asked the kid where his parents were and he said his dad was at home watching TV. I rigged him up with a Senko and taught him how to fish it and feel a bite. We caught another and it was time for me to leave. He asked if he could have some more but I lied and said I only had the one because I could not trust that on his own he wouldn't gut hook another with the gut-hookiest bait of all time. A 10 minute lesson with me isn't enough time but at least it's something.

 

I wish adults were more involved with kids, both for the kids and for the fish.

[flyfisher]

Did you take the time to show him how to unhook a gut hooked fish so next time he may be able to get it out himself?

[Deleted account]

Beginner and casual anglers often mishandle and injure or kill fish, but they on average don't catch as many fish, so it's a wash. Maybe Flair or Jon B can shoot a video....  

[Glaucus]

3 minutes ago, flyfisher said:

Did you take the time to show him how to unhook a gut hooked fish so next time he may be able to get it out himself?

Yeah we went through the whole process but I don't know how much of it stuck. Who knows. Maybe seeing one fish saved and spending 10 minutes fishing a Senko with a stranger turned his whole fishing career around.

4 minutes ago, BassWhole! said:

Beginner and casual anglers often mishandle and injure or kill fish, but they on average don't catch as many fish, so it's a wash. Maybe Flair or Jon B can shoot a video....  

They definitely should. That's their audience. Instead of the obnoxious Walmart challenges maybe they could be educational Googans for once.

[BuzzHudson19c]

I was blessed to have an involved father growing up. Also, we always used hardbaits with treble hooks so gut hooks were rare. My old man considered live bait cheating.

Just teach them how to handle the fish and explain how to avoid gut hooking. Or my other rule, if you can't get the hook eat the fish.

[WRB]

Circle hooks eliminate the problem.

Tom

[dodgeguy]

15 minutes ago, WRB said:

Circle hooks eliminate the problem.

Tom

A kid fishing a bobber wouldn't even know about circle hooks.

[WRB]

41 minutes ago, dodgeguy said:

A kid fishing a bobber wouldn't even know about circle hooks.

That is why we teach them.

[Brew City Bass]

I'd lie if I said I was any different 10 years ago when I was 13. I had no clue about fish care, how to set the hook quick, all that hoopla. I definitely killed my fair share of fish. 

But, I'm not concerned. There's a very healthy population of bass, even a flock of young fishermen couldn't make a dent in it's population from gut hooks or mishandling. It hurts us to see, and we should help when we can, but this is the learning curve a lot of people go through. 

I use to hunt avidly. I stopped when I turned 18. I realized there's beef at Walmart and I don't need to be killing anything that I don't absolutely need to eat. I felt terrible about my past kills and regret hunting for sport. I felt like a murderer. Now I don't expect anyone else to feel this way, but I'm just saying how much I care about our game and fish. 

I've personally got a gripe with the older folks up here who seem to keep every fish they catch, legal or not. I've witnessed many times these geezers sitting on the launch (illegal) with a bucket full of undersized pike, bass, muskie, you name it, they've caught it and kept it. They're there every other day taking limits of small or illegal fish. Those people are doing more harm than a few kids gut hooking bass. 

[The Short Fisherman]

I'm 14 and I always carry a pair of needle-nose pliers just in case if i accidentally gut hook a fish

[NYWayfarer]

4 hours ago, Glaucus said:

maybe they could be educational Googans for once.

The ultimate oxymoron for sure! 

 

Be thankful you were there. Everything happens for a reason.

 

I help young anglers all the time. In the back of my mind I keep, thinking I was taught not to talk to strangers. A baby boomer, generation X thing. But the kids are friendly and I keep my distance. At the end of the day I pass on some knowledge and terminal tackle. Hopefully we help the next generation. 

[Glaucus]

The kid showed back up this afternoon while I was fishing. He said he was hoping I would be there. Couldn't have missed me being that I spend hours fishing basically every trip. 

 

He had that same bobber and plastic worm rig going on. Bobber, small weight, curled up plastic worm as if it was a real one. No idea how a plastic worm ball ever caught that bass last night. I cut that stuff off and set him up with a 1/0 EWG hook and a 4 inch Senko. With guidance he was able to catch 4 bass and gut hooked only 1. I gave him the needle nose pliers and told him to get to work. Had to help a little bit but he more or less was the one who got it out.

 

He got the hang of it so I sent him off with a pack of 1/0 EWG hooks and a handful of 4 inch Senkos and Finesse Trick Worms.

 

Hammered them myself on a black and blue jig with a blue rage craw.

[riverbasser]

 I doubt anyone is eating any bass from this pond so this kid killing a few is probably helping the overall population.

[WRB]

37 minutes ago, Glaucus said:

The kid showed back up this afternoon while I was fishing. He said he was hoping I would be there. Couldn't have missed me being that I spend hours fishing basically every trip. 

 

He had that same bobber and plastic worm rig going on. Bobber, small weight, curled up plastic worm as if it was a real one. No idea how a plastic worm ball ever caught that bass last night. I cut that stuff off and set him up with a 1/0 EWG hook and a 4 inch Senko. With guidance he was able to catch 4 bass and gut hooked only 1. I gave him the needle nose pliers and told him to get to work. Had to help a little bit but he more or less was the one who got it out.

 

He got the hang of it so I sent him off with a pack of 1/0 EWG hooks and a handful of 4 inch Senkos and Finesse Trick Worms.

 

Hammered them myself on a black and blue jig with a blue rage craw.

You are now the young anglers mentor, teach him how to use Gammy octopus 1/0 circle hook with Senko's for zero gut hooked bass.

Tom

[dodgeguy]

4 hours ago, WRB said:

That is why we teach them.

Agreed

[Glaucus]

18 minutes ago, WRB said:

You are now the young anglers mentor, teach him how to use Gammy octopus 1/0 circle hook with Senko's for zero gut hooked bass.

Tom

He asked me when I was coming back. I said Tuesday probably, in the evening. 

 

1 hour ago, NYWayfarer said:

The ultimate oxymoron for sure! 

 

Be thankful you were there. Everything happens for a reason.

 

I help young anglers all the time. In the back of my mind I keep, thinking I was taught not to talk to strangers. A baby boomer, generation X thing. But the kids are friendly and I keep my distance. At the end of the day I pass on some knowledge and terminal tackle. Hopefully we help the next generation. 

That part about strangers has me a bit weary. If it were my kid, I wouldn't like this at first. Some strange man hanging around my kid, helping him, giving him stuff, telling him when he's coming back? I would be sketched out. You just never know. Me being me I know it's all fine, but the parents don't know that. Then again, the stranger is the one helping and giving things away while the parents let a child go to a pond all alone. 

[BuzzHudson19c]

2 minutes ago, Glaucus said:

He asked me when I was coming back. I said Tuesday probably, in the evening. 

 

That part about strangers has me a bit weary. If it were my kid, I wouldn't like this at first. Some strange man hanging around my kid, helping him, giving him stuff, telling him when he's coming back? I would be sketched out. You just never know. Me being me I know it's all fine, but the parents don't know that. Then again, the stranger is the one helping and giving things away while the parents let a child go to a pond all alone. 

Kids (respectful ones) are the only humans I will talk to when fishing. Everyone else gets some northeast hospitality and one word answers.

[WRB]

Ask the youngster to bring a parent along, you can instruct both!

Be prepared parents may not show up and it's not the kids fault.

My experiences with Indian Guides was shocking how little interaction some parents are willing to give their own kids and willing to let strangers teach the kids. 

You are good man, my hat is off to you!

Tom

[NYWayfarer]

7 minutes ago, Glaucus said:

He asked me when I was coming back. I said Tuesday probably, in the evening. 

 

That part about strangers has me a bit weary. If it were my kid, I wouldn't like this at first. Some strange man hanging around my kid, helping him, giving him stuff, telling him when he's coming back? I would be sketched out. You just never know. Me being me I know it's all fine, but the parents don't know that. Then again, the stranger is the one helping and giving things away while the parents let a child go to a pond all alone. 

Exactly my friend. That’s the thought in the back of my mind whenever a kid needs help.   You have to worry about how other interpret your helping kids. It’s unfortunate but it is a sign of the times. 

 

Back in in the day it was don’t take candy from strangers. Candy, fishing tackle, same difference different Pennywise.

[Deleted account]

43 minutes ago, Glaucus said:

He asked me when I was coming back. I said Tuesday probably, in the evening. 

 

That part about strangers has me a bit weary. If it were my kid, I wouldn't like this at first. Some strange man hanging around my kid, helping him, giving him stuff, telling him when he's coming back? I would be sketched out. You just never know. Me being me I know it's all fine, but the parents don't know that. Then again, the stranger is the one helping and giving things away while the parents let a child go to a pond all alone. 

Yeah, but he'll probably give him some candy....

[Glaucus]

54 minutes ago, BassWhole! said:

Yeah, but he'll probably give him some candy....

One could argue Senkos are candy. ?

[Manly Studson]

I don’t see many kids fishing—not even from the bank. If ever I see a kid, it is a small boy with his father and a spider man rod. But that scenario is rare too, and it seems to happen on Memorial Day or another holiday. Although I find satisfaction in teaching my kids to fish, I think it would be great to teach a young stranger how to fish. But I don’t see too many around. Last weekend I fished a small stream, catching many smallmouth bass. Kids were there swimming, but a fishing pole wasn’t in sight. They weren’t too interested in what I was doing.

[Derek1]

The other thing to think about is you know that kid told his dad about you. Because he was glad to see you and he’s excited to go and meet you there again, helping him catch more fish is a big deal to him I would think. If he didn’t tell him the first time I’m sure he did the second time. Now it’s up to his dad to do the right thing and go with the kid to meet you or go with the kid so he can’t meet you. If dad doesn’t have a good reason for not being there I wouldn’t think much of him. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the kid is not allowed to meet you there. It’s kind of a tough situation that really shouldn’t be. Who knows you could end up becoming a great freind/role model for this young man that really shouldn’t be there alone anyway. 

[Carol Knowles]

Man thats the worst... but good on you for taking the time to help them out!!

[Glaucus]

The kid was a no show yesterday. I'm going to take that as his parents weren't too happy about a stranger hanging around him. Maybe they will all show up together some day.